Alien (1979).  Director: Ridley Scott.  Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt.

When the Alien films (at that point four of them) were first released to DVD, they were presented in a (then) expensive box set that featured “Special Editions” or “Alternate Cuts” of each film.  Ridley Scott presented an “alternate” version of the original film, though he was quick to state that this was an exercise only.  The “Director’s Cut” of the film was the one released theatrically way back in 1979.

And why not?

The original Alien remains, to me, one of the best horror/sci-fi fusions ever made.  Those who weren't around when the film first came out know likely don't realize, for example, that for a good chunk of the film Tom Skerritt’s Dallas seemed to be the “hero” of the piece.  Sigorney Weaver’s Ripley was cleverly left in the background with several other characters, just another crewmember, neither very out front nor overtly heroic.  When the going first got tough and the crew realized they had a deadly danger onboard running around the ship, it was Dallas that heroically chose to go into the air vents to search out and destroy the creature.

Those who haven’t yet seen the film yet should probably stop reading right here.

For all the rest (and I suspect most people who have even a casual interest in the Alien films know this), what happens next is one of this film's great suspense set pieces.  Dallas, his image a blip on a computer screen the rest of the crew watches, moves along the vents.  In his hand is a flame thrower.  Somewhere out there in the dark is the alien creature.  Dallas and the crew are communicating by radio, moving section by tense section, trying to smoke out their prey.  And then a second blip, the alien creature, shows up on the crew's monitor.  The tension builds.  The second blip approaches Dallas.  The crew's panic builds.  So too does Dallas' panic.  He knows the creature is coming, yet he doesn't see it.  Where is it?  What direction is it taking?

Dallas and the crews' panic grows.  The creature is almost on top of Dallas.  It's almost…

Dallas turns, the alien is there, right next to him.  It reaches out and screams a blood-curdling scream.

Dallas’ computer blip disappears, replaced by the single alien blip.

In the theatrical cut, that’s the last we see of Dallas.  He is another victim of the alien stowaway.

But that wasn't the filmmaker's original intention.

One of the most fascinating cut scenes from Alien also, to some degree, proved to be much of the basis for the second film (at least insofar as the alien creature's nesting habits).  When the crew of the Nostromo has been wiped out and Ripley is all alone, she sets off the ship's self-destruct mechanism and runs to her escape craft.  It is during this run that Ridley filmed an eventually cut sequence involving her stumbling upon the alien creature’s nest.

She finds Dallas there, fused to the creature's nest wall.  He's been impregnated by the creature and is half-dead.  When he realizes Ripley has found him, he begins to moan.  He knows he's done for and he begs Ripley to put him out of his misery.

As difficult as it is, Ripley does this for her beloved teammate, torching him and the nest with her flamethrower.

Why was this scene removed from the film?  For pacing reasons.  The fact is that by this point Alien had kicked into a tense, white-knuckle sprint, having Ripley (literally) run full speed with no apparent time to spare to reach the escape pod before the Nostromo blows up.  Having her suddenly stop and tearfully linger precious seconds with her half-dead crew-mate killed this segment of the movie's pacing.  I believe cutting the scene was the right thing to do, but it doesn't negate the fact that the scene itself was intriguing and far from a pointless shot.

I recall there were rumors that a similar scene was filmed for Aliens, the excellent sequel to Alien.  In that movie's case, Ripley stumbles upon Paul Reiser’s weasily “Burke” character in almost the exact same position as Dallas was in.  In the later half of the film, Ripley returns to the Nuclear plant to find Newt.  On her way, she stumbles upon Burke.  Like Dallas, his body is fused to an alien nest wall and the villainous character has been impregnated.  He begs Ripley to put him out of his misery.

Ripley does not, moving on to find Newt.

Bottom Line: Theatrical Cut is the version to see, but don't miss the cut Dallas scene!