The 25th anniversary of Aliens was last year and I belatedly celebrated the landmark by attending a special, last-minute booking at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. One of the speciality groups (I think the Action Pack) planned to show a new 35 mm print, leave it at that. Then the theater managed to get actor Michael Biehn to drop by to promote his latest flick The Divide (something I feel uneasy about watching since I have never overcome my nuclear-war nightmares thanks to St. Reagan’s sabre rattling at the Soviet Union). When Alamo asked if Michael could drop by for Aliens, he willingly agreed.
First came the movie. The opening credits were a tad scratched so I was thinking, new print my foot. It cleared up sometime around the salvage crew discovering Ripley and Jones in hibernation. I must’ve watched Aliens 30 times yet I still jump during the scenes involving the face-huggers. Maybe my body was preparing me for Prometheus in June.
I think the years have been kind to Cameron’s first masterpiece of action. Sure there are some laughable details: how large the computers are, video screens using CRTs and smoking being allowed in spacecraft. Most were there for story-telling purposes, like someone on a Futurama commentary said regarding video games, you can only guess when extrapolating the near-/far-future on how technology will look. The primary winner is how well the special effects have held up. There are some things miniatures did better than CG.
Afterwards, the lights came up, the audience applauded and out came Michael Biehn. For you readers who don’t recognize his name, he played Corporal Hicks in the movie and he’s John Connor’s father from the first Terminator. I had forgotten about his role in Tombstone, Johnny Ringo, a villain and ally of Powers Boothe’s character (the main heavy). The funniest anecdote was about how his agent(s) pitched the Terminator movie. This did require him to explain to the younger audience members how an Arnold film was a huge risk. I could totally recall and relate. If you told my 1983 self about the premise and cast, I would’ve said, no thanks, I’ll stick to The Road Warrior. Back then, the Austrian bodybuilder was a humorless dork on David Letterman, his Conan the Barbarian wasn’t very successful and I remember him being the hero in something worse called The Villain starring Ann-Margaret, Kirk Douglas and Paul Lynde.
What else? Someone asked Michael if there were roles he regretted not taking. There were a few: The Usual Suspects, Internal Affairs and Eight Men Out readily came to mind. He remained rather stoic and modest over his decisions.
Another great, memorable evening from what has become my all-time favorite movie theater. This event ended up being part of a few paragraphs to Nick (my Chicago-based nephew). I hope I haven’t presented the place to be some kind of magical building. Sorry if there are no pictures. I couldn’t find any on the Internet and I sat too far away for the camera to get anything decent.