Alien

The cargo ship Nostromo is heading home when its computer, Mother, wakes the seven-person crew: there's a signal from the moon LV-426. In a derelict ship, Kane finds eggs, and a creature latches onto his face. Warrant officer Ripley refuses to let him back in, but science officer Ash opens the hatch. Kane seems to recover, until something bursts from his chest at dinner and escapes into the ship. The alien grows fast and kills Brett, Captain Dallas and the others. Ripley learns the company wanted the creature alive, crew expendable, and that Ash is an android. She blows up the Nostromo, escapes in the shuttle with Jones the cat, and blasts the alien out of the airlock.

1. Behind the scenesThe cast's shock was real

   The actors didn't know about the blood spray in Kane's chest scene. Veronica Cartwright took it full on, and her reaction stayed in the film.

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2. Behind the scenesRipley was written gender-neutral

   The script described the crew generically, without saying who was a man or a woman. Sigourney Weaver was the last actor cast.

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3. Behind the scenesBorn from the Dune that never was

   Dan O'Bannon discovered H.R. Giger's art while working on Alejandro Jodorowsky's failed Dune. That's where the idea of bringing Giger in for the creature came from.

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