There are endless cliches out there about the importance of a first impression, but whatever truth they may hold in our everyday lives they go double for film. When there’s only a couple of hours to tell a story and capture its players, an audience’s first chance to meet a character is an asset no filmmaker worth their salt is going to waste. So with that in mind, CHUD is going to take a look through the many decades of cinema to extract the most special of those moments when you are first introduced to a character, be they small moments that speak volumes, or large moments that simply can’t be ignored.
Inevitably it will be the major characters and leads that are granted the grandest of entrances, but don’t be surprised to see a few supporting players and minor individuals get their due, when the impact of their appearance lingers longer than their screentime. Also know that these moments may be chosen for any number of reasons, and the list could never be exhaustive. But here you’ll find moments that make a big splash, say a lot with a little, or we think are just particularly cool.
We hope you enjoy, and can’t wait to hear from you about each and every entry. Don’t spend the effort guessing future choices or declaring what must be included– just enjoy the ride!
The Film… Alien (1979)
Director… Ridley Scott
Entering From Stage Left… H.R. Giger’s Alien in the role of Itself.
What Makes it Special… .Sure, there were plenty of monsters before the Alien, but how many of them did we ever get to meet three different times – in three different forms – in the same movie? And how many of them were as vicious as Giger’s nightmare? Few if any. Scope this:
Intro #1: Dallas, Kane and Lambert set down on the garden spot of LV 426. There’s some giant dead non-human cosmonaut sitting in his La-Z-Boy with ribs looking like he shat a torpedo out from his chest cavity. And then, whoa, wasn’t expecting this: a supermarket complete with it’s own egg section from hell. Kane gets too close to check if they’re free range and a ten-legged yolk explodes from it onto his face. The rest of the crew tries to cut it off and oh shit! It’s blood can eat through anything almost as good as Amy Winehouse’s. Then the thing falls off and dies and Kane wakes up, no worse for wear and ready to eat some dehydrated space pizza, powdered eggs and Tang.
Intro #2: Kane got hold of a bad egg! And it’s really pissed! It Landsharks its way out of his sternum, pretty much ruining dinner…and Kane…. It looks at everybody essentially saying, “Yeah, I’ll be back to fuck you all up.” Then it jets off the table like a a giant toothy sperm seeking out Nadia Suleiman. And then anybody who had the same thing to eat as Kane immediately heads for the bathroom to try to vomit their guts out, if they haven’t already.
Intro #3: Cut to a few hours later and ole Xenomorph is now seven feet tall (they grow up so fast you know…especially in AVP). And he’s got some mouth on him…two actually…the mandatory claws, and a tale more prehensile than an Eddie Van Blundht offspring. Brett is his first fuckupee, and as Ripley would later say, it managed to wipe out the entire crew in less than 24 hours. This includes – and this is speculation mind you, unless Ridley has a scene he hasn’t told us about – where the Alien introduces said tail to Lambert’s uterus and pulls it out through her anus. Or vice versa with rectum and vagina. Regardless, it got inserted somewhere and something was definitely pulled out the wrong hole.
Why it Resonates… For the sheer originality in the concept of the monster, the innovation in its design and one of the truly terrifying creations in film history…before it got watered down like a cheap drink. Some monsters killed indiscriminately, and some did so from inside the body, but what other baddie in film history killed both from within and without? What had so many deadly weapons? Put Tom Skerritt on the side of a milk carton? Could be mistaken for plumbing? Was the worst kind of acid reflux? Violated Veronica Cartwright egregiously? None. Alien was an original and is still one of the best ever.
Other Grand Entrances… No other real grand entrances, but a couple of grand exits, particularly John Hurt… and Veronica Cartwright’s virtue. Yes, I keep bringing that up, but come one, am I the only one who continues to think, “Whoa, where’s that thing going? Oh, that’s not going to be good…?”
19 comments
You’re not the only one.
Though I think it’s been “officially” denied (though I could be wrong on that), there’s just too much implication on-screen (especially when all we see of Lambert’s body are dangling, tellingly bare legs). Either way there’s certainly been a fair bit of speculation on the matter over the years.
Yeah, they allude to it but it’s not as obvious as they first intended it to be. Also, your Intro #3 picture is from that blight ROARsurrection. I demand a change, sir!
Those are BRETT’S legs and Keds, people!!
no, they’re clearly Lambert’s, especially as Brett isn’t even in the scene. We’re talking about the scene where the Alien slowly teases Lambert, deals with Parker in about two seconds, then slowly turns to Lambert and puts the tail between her legs and starts up the back of one of them. Cue horrible gibbering then Lambers BARE legs and feet dangling with blood pooling. How is that Brett??
Also ‘watered down like a cheap drink’ – that there is my exact problem with Aliens. Unstoppable killing machines being popped like water balloons.
You see…editting can work wonders!!
I can’t be bothered to explain said wonders, so I’ll let you work it out, if you can be arsed…
Just to confirm, yes, the fourth picture down is from ALIEN RESURRECTION and needs to go. Fast.
Also, yes, Graham is correct: Those are Brett’s legs, pants and sneakers (remember, Lambert wore cowboy boots) in the shot when the Alien’s tail is supposedly about to get rapey with Lambert. You can say all you want about how it was intended for the Alien to violate Lambert, and the editing of her death scene is what ultimately matters, but based on the footage shot, the original plan was for Harry Dean Stanton to get the business end of the Alien’s rape-tail. It’s even depicted in the Heavy Metal graphic novel adaptation of ALIEN, in which the tail continues up between Brett’s legs and then stings him in the back, yanking him forward into the Alien’s clutches.
Classy. You manage to take a film that applied terror unilaterally, (in a decade that focused on tits and psuedo rape) and drag it into the gutter with an extended riff on whether it was vaginal/anal or anal/vaginal forced insertion.
If I remember correctly, (haven’t been back after my comment there “didn’t post”) I read your article guy.com (guys love girls, or some such nonsense) where you referred to a zombie eating her pretty face first. You seem to have a really nice misogyny vibe building, Mr. Oliver. I can’t believe your talents are wasted here when there’s obviously a great future for you at Hustler or, dare I say it, AICN. We can all say, we knew you when…
but regardless of the original plan, in the final cut it’s clearly meant to be Lambert. So he moved around earlier footage to get the effect, rather than using a reshoot. The intention is still the same.
TBH I think this is one of the best edited scenes in any movie ever. The contrast between the slow and oh so deliberate stalking of Lambert and the ruthlessly efficient way Parker is dealt with is just amazing. And those sounds..
Uh, yeah, I explained all that already. But thanks anyway.
Alien is nothing but rape imagery. Scott said it, O’Bannon said it, Hill and Giller said it, the cast said it. Hell O’Bannon wrote alien specifically to be the most uncomfortable rape based movie ever made and it was going to be a low budget schlocky Corman film until Fox and Scott saved it. There are dozens of interviews with all these people over the last 40 years that literally tell you that you’re talking out of your ass.
Yes, Lambert was raped to death. That was the intention of the script. It was just edited to leave it ambiguous.
The only reason Alien is separated from all the shlock from that period was because of the quality of the product, not the thematic content. Please do your research before you spout moronic politicized vitriol where it is not needed, not wanted, nor has any relevance to the proceedings at hand
Heh. OK, first off, over at Guy, the articles to which you’re referring is the Guy’s Best Gal series. And the “zombie’s first course” is a euphemism for saying what is the gal’s most outstanding feature (face, rack, legs, voice, hair, etc) to which a zombie would gravitate. A regular reader of the series should get that. Second, I never disapprove a comment. That’s the big dogs of the site. Third, that tail went somewhere. I may have embellished a wee bit. Sue me, that’s what we do here. Lastly, hell yeah: Larry Flynt calls with some decent scratch, I’m Audi. Till then, hope you keep reading. And thanks for posting. Always a pleasure.
RESURRECTION wasn’t bad, just different. The only really bad thing about it was was the cloning of Ripley which somehow meant the cloning of the alien as well, which doesn’t make sense. Otherwise it was just a leap in a different direction, which the purist cry over.
Oh and FYI, I have heard the cries and gone period specific with the final alien pic in question above. Thx for making me keep it real.
@Bugsport, I get you. My point (points?) is the unique balance within the film in which both genders are victimized that, which is lost in the salacious condensation of this article AND ambiguity; it’s jetisonned here right along with tact. It’s like the shop/office/locker room lout taking a double entendre and boiling away any humor for the sake of the perv content.
LOL.
Oh internetz.
White Knights get less sex than Misogynists. Fact.
No it was bad. Everyone on that movie was doing their worst work.
You’re right. The lack of prison sentences, (for sexual assault, child molestation, and kiddy porn) cuts the the hell out of opportunities to meet those classy guys in cell block I. You can have my share of all that. I wouldn’t cheat you of it.
First off, I must conceed your point: I’m not, nor will I be a regular reader at Guy. Went there to show support for Mr. Nunziata but it wasn’t my kind of party. And, I get you about the moderator/comment approval, no harm, no foul, no hurt feelings. Whoever’s responsible is running a silly ship.
Second, qualifying the objectification is still objectification and it’s still misogyny. The Zombie First Course is no better than the meat-grinder cover from Hustler. It’s still creepy.
Third, it wasn’t the embelishment. You either don’t know (the explanation won’t help) the problem of unpacking the scene or your playing coy (the explanation becomes absurd) to avoid owning it.
Lastly, coy doesn’t suit you. From your own statement, your cool with the misogyny and exploitation and all-too ready to make a buck on some woman’s back. Believe, I’m cool with it, too. I see it daily in the family courts. I won’t change your view or anyone elses however, I must (in the absence of censoring moderators) call you on it. The alternative is go along with it or give up CHUD and God, it’s not AICN, yet.
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