Review #1,238: 'Alien' (1979)

Before the stream of sequels, spin-offs, video games, board games, and it's own incredibly underwhelming origin story, and before this year's shameless yet occasionally entertaining rip-off Life, there was Ridley Scott's Alien, a masterclass in how to create an A-picture out of a B-list idea and budget. Even before that of course, there was Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires, but Scott infuses his film with such elegance, sheer horror, and it's very own mythos (which would be tirelessly explored in the aforementioned extended multi-media universe), that to label the seminal sci-fi classic as plagiarism of Bava's interesting, if schlocky, 60's space opera would be preposterous (although it clearly draws inspiration). As a favourite of most children growing up in the 80's and 90's, Alien joins the likes of Jaws, Back to the Future, The Goonies and Close Encounters of the Third Kind as one of the untouchable genre classics.

The crew of the Nostronomo, a starship freighter owned by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation are awoken from hypersleep by an urgent message from the on-board computer, Mother. A signal has been detected coming from a nearby planetoid, and by the terms of their contract they are obligated to investigate. The crew are a rag-tag bunch of what can only be described as working-class space truckers; scruffy, chain-smoking, and constantly complaining about pay. Many of them, including Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), object to the unnecessary risk, but Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) overrules. Touching down on the dark, desolate planet, they quickly come across a crashed alien ship containing the dead body of a large, unknown species. Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt) probes further, eventually discovering what appears to be a nesting area. One of the eggs opens, and a spider-like creature attaches itself to his face, rendering him unresponsive but alive.

It's isn't difficult to work out how things unravel from this point. After the shock of the 'chestburster' scene (which I still recall seeing for the first time as a youngster), Alien follows the tradition of the slasher flick. But one of the many things that separates the film from the formulaic tedium of the slasher genre is the care Scott takes with showing you very little. The brief glimpses of the xenomorph, growing rapidly as the film progresses, are terrifying enough, but it's the long moments between the kills that makes Alien so engrossing. The design of the ship's interior is dark and dank, almost reptilian in appearance, purposely sculpted to make it seem that the creature could pop out of any corner of the screen, at any time. Our fears are confirmed in one particularly effective sequence involving the search for the ship's cat Jones, where what appears to be some harmless tubing in the background suddenly turns into an oozing, snarling face..

Now one of the most iconic monsters in cinema history, the xenomorph is a clever accumulation of our worst fears. A creature of pure survival, it serves only to prolong the existence of its species, whether it be to wipe out any possible threat, or using its victims as hosts for its offspring. James Cameron's admittedly excellent sequel threw more of them at the screen, and the subsequent films opted for CGI. But there is nothing scary about special effects, and Bolaji Badejo's performance inside the suit proves that practical effects can stand the test of time, and completely terrify when employed correctly. The alien isn't the only star of the show however, as Sigourney Weaver's badass survivor Ripley is one of the silver screen's most recognisable and much-loved heroines, in a role that could have been a simple 'last girl' routine in the hands of a lesser actor. She is backed up by a fantastic cast that also includes Veronica Cartwright, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto, all making their archetype characters feel alive. But the real star is Scott who, having gone off the boil in recent years, reminds us of a time when he was capable of delivering pure cinematic magic.


Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #651: 'The Right Stuff' (1983)

"Is that a man?" asks the pilot of a rescue plane headed towards the crash site of Chuck Yeager's attempt to reach the edge of space in a Lockheed NF-104A. An outline of a man appears on the horizon, blurred by heat and mirage, his face bloody and burned, walking at pace with his helmet in his hand. Yeager's good friend Jack Ridley sits in the passenger seat, having seen Yeager conquer several near-suicidal flight records, including the first to break the sound barrier. Ridley smiles. "You're damn right it is!". The Right Stuff, adapted from Tom Wolfe's best-selling account of the test-pilots in the Mercury Space Program, shows what it takes to be a man; to have the 'right stuff' inhabited by these fearless men, who were the only ones crazy enough to risk everything, on live TV, to beat the Russians in the space race.

Besides the many fascinating and frequently hilarious vignettes involving the test pilots - played by a stellar cast of Dennis Quaid, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Charles Frank, Lance Henriksen, Scott Glenn and Scott Paulin - the movie's real ace-in-the-hole is the juxtaposition of this story with that of Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard), a man thought of by his peers to be the finest pilot in the world. Played stoically by an Oscar-nominated Sam Shepard, he is brooding, dusty, a true man's man, but without the college degree needed to join the space program. He is the polar opposite of the 'hot dog's' of the Mercury Program, and when he is not off chasing his wild wife Glennis (Barbara Hershey), he is making sure he is still the fastest man in the world.

Even at over 3 hours, the movie is packed with great and memorable scenes. Director Philip Kaufman managed to retain Wolfe's skill for absurd humour, so we get to see the President crawling on the floor to plug in a projector, two astronauts' slow walk to the bathroom following an enema, and a hilarious moment involving humming and sperm samples. It has an observational aesthetic that America conquered in the 1970's, made even better by some amazing aviation and space travel scenes, easily more exciting than the CGI-laden movies we get nowadays. It's often called the second-best movie of the 1980's behind Raging Bull (1980), and, although I don't necessarily agree with that statement (Blue Velvet (1986), anyone?), it's one of the finest movies to come out of it's era, feeling almost classical despite being modern. Like Shepard's Chuck Yeager, The Right Stuff seems old before its time, encompassing wisdom and poignancy with ease.


Directed by: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Kim Stanley, Veronica Cartwright, Scott Paulin, Lance Henriksen
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #510: 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1978)

After discovering a strange flower pod and taking it home, health department agent Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) notices her partner Geoffrey (Art Hindle) acting strangely. She follows him, watching him meet up with similarly morbid characters exchanging packages. It is only her work partner Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) who seems to take her seriously. He takes her to meet intellectual psychiatrist David Kibner (Leonard Nimoy), who thinks she has convinced herself of this due to a breakdown in communication between her and Geoffrey. Only when Matthew's friend Jack (Jeff Goldblum) discovers a re-animating body of himself at his work, does the truth hit Matthew, and the group, along with Jack's wife Nancy (Veronica Cartwright), flee to escape the alien onslaught.

Anyone who has seen Don Siegel's 1956 original, which was based on Jack Finney's 1955 novel, will know that the plot serves as a metaphorical interpretation of the U.S.'s political attitudes to communism, which they felt was attacking their countries democratic idealism. Philip Kaufman's 1978 remake abandons this intriguing premise in favour of something more straight-laced and old-fashioned. Not that this is a bad thing, as although inferior to Siegel's version, Invasion... is still a highly entertaining horror, that takes its time in the early stages to establish a foundation of impending dread, and to develop the main characters. This was an aspect that was prevalent throughout 1970's horror movies, with respected directors taking on the genre, and bringing their own artistic aesthetics and embedding them on screen.

It is after the first 50 minutes or so when the film seems to abandon this approach to pursue a more relentless, panicked tone, as the film descends into a chase movie. It was this aspect that brought the film down a peg or two for me, as it seemed to almost sell-out on its atmospheric openings, and resort to more action-orientated tactics, with repetitive scenes of fleeing and hiding. Interestingly though, the camerawork shifts from calm and slow-moving, to hand-held and loose just as things get frantic, a similar approach directors Nicolas Roeg and Roman Polanski would take in their masterpieces Don't Look Now (1973) and Chinatown (1974), respectively.

But, like I said earlier, the film is undoubtedly entertaining, and has plenty of homages to the original (stars Robert Duvall and Kevin McCarthy put in cameo appearances - the latter shouting "they're here!" in the street as if wandered over from the climax of the original), and, differently from the novel, stays true to the original's depressing and unresolved ending, the final image now being somewhat iconic in the world of horror. There are plenty of better films from the era of a similar ilk, but Invasion... remains extremely watchable, and unashamedly B-movieish in its execution.


Directed by: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, Leonard Nimoy, Art Hindle
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #205: 'Flight of the Navigator' (1986)

In Florida, 1978, 12-year old David Freeman (Joey Cramer) goes looking for his brother in the woods and accidentally falls into a ravine. He awakes shortly after to find his parents gone from their home, and everything changed. When the police eventually locate his parents and re-unite them, it turns out that they reported David missing eight years ago. He is examined by doctors, but his brain starts to transmit images of an alien spacecraft directly into the computers. When NASA hear about it, they are quick to take David away for further tests, after a craft was discovered crashed into power lines. They soon learn that David's head is filled with information about the outer reaches of space, and David feels like he is being beckoned by something hidden in the confines of NASA.

This was an obvious favourite of mine as a child, as it was for many of my generation. Whilst I was re-watching, I was surprised by two things. The first is that I remembered next to nothing about the opening 45 minutes or so, yet as soon as David became the Navigator, it all came flooding back to me. And the second was that I couldn't believe how genuinely good the first half was. Playing out like an early Spielberg sci-fi, where all the grown-ups are suspicious and shady with their suits and broken promises, it builds slowly and is actually quite riveting in parts. The second half, however, although fun, just doesn't play well alongside the mature opening half. It introduces Max (voiced by Pee-Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens - here named as Paul Mall), who after bonding with David, develops a silly voice and annoying laugh, a la Pee-Wee Herman.

It is quite ironic that what I loved about the film as a child is now the thing that I feel ultimately lets it down. Maybe I have become a grumpy old man at the ripe old age of 27. It doesn't completely ruin the film, just brings it down a peg. It's very disappointing, as the need to seemingly dumb down to appeal to a young audience being fed on quality like The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Dark Crystal (1982) and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) around the same period just feels unnecessary. Not that it would have touched on those films, but it still could have been very good nonetheless. But apart from the sudden change of tone, this is a childhood favourite for a reason - it is fun, imaginative, and has a sympathetic hero in Joey Cramer's David. And if a film can survive an early appearance from one of cinema's true monsters, Sarah Jessica Parker, then good on it.


Directed by: Randal Kleiser
Starring: Joey Cramer, Paul Reubens, Veronica Cartwright, Cliff De Young, Sarah Jessica Parker
Country: USA/Norway

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie