Classic Movies Live – Season 4, Episode 23: Alien
May 31, 2023
This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts are joined by Mark Morgan of the Academy of Death Racers to discuss a film so monumental it redefined the concept of sci-fi horror!
Set aboard the mining ship Nostromo, Alien follows a crew of seven blue-collar workers attempting to survive after an SOS call goes horribly wrong. What starts out as a routine investigation quickly becomes a paranoid nightmare as crewmates are killed off one by one by a never-before-seen extraterrestrial lifeform that’s made its way onto the ship.
Released in 1979, Alien would become the breakout role for Sigourney Weaver, while giving a boost to the career of a young John Hurt as well. It would turn new director Ridley Scott into a household name, and later become not just a pivotal film in his career, but a pivotal era, as Scott would go on to expand Alien into a franchise that today consists of seven main-series films with more on the way!
And of course, Alien would spawn iconic scenes, and leave a legacy and impact on pop-culture larger than anyone at the time could have possibly imagine.
So what is the combination of these elements that truly turns Alien from just a well-known film into an undisputed classic? Join us as we break down the film and its legacy!
Mark was last heard in Season 4, Episode 11: Women Tárking, where he shared his review of the film Tár. Before that, he joined our hosts on Kickin’ It With Kendrick Episode 26: Featuring Mark Morgan (Dummy)!
Mark is one of the co-directors of the Academy of Death Racers Film Festival, which you can learn more about at aodr.net. You can also find him over on Discord, where he’ll be happy to explain to you several reasons why Minding the Gap ought to have won Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.
