Look, Ridley Scott, though not quite the finest director in all cinema history, is certainly way above average. He managed to get a very good performance out of everyone in Alien. Tom Skerritt is a very good to great actor always so no surprise here. Even with a lesser director he most likely would have scored. But Harry Dean Stanton was, honestly, a sort of cheap, kinda sleazy and even rather disturbing actor in many roles and even he comes out tolerable here. A testament to Scott's directing is Stanton the most. Sigourney Weaver has turned in performances that easily rival Meryl Streep's quality ones but Ms. Weaver bombed in 'Deal of the Century' (with Chevy Chase) so she missed in quality at least once. Scott may or not may have made her performance. End of actor-director analysis.
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Reply by Fergoose
on September 1, 2020 at 10:53 AM
Absolutely. I think it is just fair to say that in a 90min feature where so much time has to be dedicated to scene setting and exposition, there often isn't much time to insert scenes that would test an actor's range.
Reply by Benton12
on September 1, 2020 at 3:10 PM
Fergoose, though this is off topic from what this started off being about, I add the following. Horror films are rarely truly scary. At least they were rarely terrifying in the intended way and the one viewers most expected or hoped and that is too bad. Most horror films do tremendously miss the mark--far more than comedies do.
Reply by Benton12
on September 1, 2020 at 3:13 PM
Alien got a critique in a movie review book that went sort of this way: "The mixture of 'Exorcist' and 'Star Wars' has a distinctive look thanks to director Ridley Scott. But its a very thin horror film, overly dependent on slimy gruesomeness. The excellent cast has little to do."
Reply by Benton12
on September 1, 2020 at 3:18 PM
The movie also gave Alien two stars meaning mediocre!
Reply by Dark_Sithlord
on September 1, 2020 at 11:03 PM
When Alien came out, I recall a few critics not liking the movie. From a critical point of view, I suppose Alien was a fairly groundbreaking movie. Sci-fi horror was a pretty new concept and I'm not sure how well it was received by the public overall. But over the years, the high regard for Alien has garnered a lot of steam and "thin horror film" is far removed from the praise I hear these days.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 1:21 AM
Sorry Dark. I am afraid the book was written long after Aline came out. Nice try to save it. But failure! And its accurate. I said already--horror films are rarely that scary. Kubrick's 'The Shining' was one very few horror flicks to actually be scary.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 1:23 AM
Actually, it is the unscary but action-packed first sequel that changed Alien's perception. Alien is not that terrifying a film and never will be but the first sequel was a lot of fun.
Reply by Dark_Sithlord
on September 2, 2020 at 4:01 PM
Couldn't disagree more. Huge fan of this genre, and I thoroughly enjoyed Alien. Granted, it won't appeal to everyone.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 4:45 PM
You being a fan and enjoying is not the point. There was no reason for critics to find the film any better (as far as scarier)more recently than back then. It did depend on slimy gruesomeness to try to frighten its audience as critics stated (effort unsuccessful). They called the cast excellent but they obviously knew little of Stanton's pre-Alien roles.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 4:46 PM
And Dark, it is not that scary, horror films in general. Most miss the mark.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 4:48 PM
I wish horror films were all as terrifying as the Shining of 1980 but just about none ever are!
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 4:49 PM
The Shining was listed in a Star TV movie guide as frightening as few films are. (The Shining BTW was made just down the hall from Alien in 1978.)
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 5:15 PM
Dark, what film did you see that you found the single scariest ever?
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 5:27 PM
What must have disappointed the critics about Alien was that its TV trailer was 20 times more frightening than the actual film.
Reply by Benton12
on September 2, 2020 at 5:30 PM
Dark, I did not see every film you did. So it is only fair to give you chance to prove what you said. If you alone choose to answer my above request please base it on horror film that you found the most legitimately petrifying of all films you ever remember seeing. Thanks!