My last year in Hollywood turned out to be 1979. My buddy on the Hollywood Reporter knew of my penchant for science fiction. He called me one morning and invited me to the 70mm premiere of a new film at The Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. When I got there, the place was a mob of people, press and movie stars. He held a place in line for me and we were the first to enter. The entrance to the Egyptian sits back from the road. We had to walk through this field of "eggs" that had dry ice fog running through it. We went through "mother" and emerged on the other side to a gigantic sculpture of something that looked pure alien. It had an enormous end that shot up at a 45 degree angle with some sort of alien resting in a chair. Its chest had a hole in it. I had no idea what the movie was about. I only knew would see the first showing of a 70mm print.
Instead of the thundering Fox opening, strange music emitted from the speakers. One word formed across the top that huge screen, "Alien." The movie started with a huge mother ship called the Nostromo moving over us. The whole thing delighted me since this was clearly a departure from "Star Wars" still playing up the street held over since 1977! About five minutes into the film, we watched with horror as the print jumped the sprockets and got stuck in the projector. Instantly the print began to burn before our eyes. People screamed. Panic broke out. A spokesperson for the theater asked everyone to be calm. Ridley Scott was there. He was furious.
My buddy pulled me to one side. "Let's go to Westwood," he suggested. "It's showing there in about an hour!"
"What about the 70mm print?" I asked.
"It's showing in 70mm in Westwood!" he told me.
We didn't even wait for a refund. Off we flew in someone's car and arrived to find we were at the back of the line. My friend went to the front of the line and then came back to find me.
"Just follow me and don't ask any questions, "he said.
I followed him to a side door and someone let us in. We had perfect in the middle of the middle seats. My friend asked me if I wanted to meet the person who let us in. I said yes. George Maharis (star of Route 66 and many other television shows) turned around.
"I'm that person," he said with a grin.
"Alien" turned out to be a classic from day one. I would say it is one of the finest science fiction films ever made. All cheers to Ridley Scott for that and the first sequel. The rest are/is crap.
Bookmarks