Watching Prometheus this weekend got me to thinking about Alien, the sequel that isn’t a sequel to Ridley Scott’s lastest deep-space odyssey. And thinking of Alien got me to thinking of how hot Sigourney Weaver was and will always be to me. With a lot of the younger audiences today, they don’t necessarily know just how magnificent an experience it was to meet these leading ladies the first time in a darkened room knowing nothing about them. And Sigourney was one of my major, major movie crushes back in the day.
Tall, lithe and fearless, Sigourney was the perfect leading lady for Ridley Scott’s Sci-fi horror masterpiece, Alien. She had the soulful eyes, the tall, slight yet imposing frame and kick-your-Alien-face-in-attitude at the end that made her an instant star. But it wasn’t until James Cameron’s follow-up, Aliens, that I fell completely head over heels for Sigourney.
Aliens, the adrenaline-fueled Bug Hunt of the last century was my saving grace when I was working as a pot-washer during the summer at a local country club. Back then I was so hungry for money that I’d gobble up every double shift I could get. My saving grace was the three hour break I would take in-between and run across the freeway to catch the matinee of Aliens. Sigourney was there, the uber-Space Mom who defended surrogate-daughter Newt against all Alien threats – then went back in for more to destroy all Momma-Aliens kids. And the epic battle scene where she straps on the exo-skeleton front-loader and goes all womano-a-alieno is still one of the hottest kick-your-ass heroine vs alien scenes ever to be shot! I mean, I went back every day and watched Sigourney for three weeks straight! That’s how much I loved the portrayal of Ripley and Sigourney at the height of her powers.
Prometheus is a different movie from Aliens and Alien. Principally, there aren’t the action scenes and motivation that the original Ripley had to wipe out the Alien before they destroy everything she loves. And that’s the difference when you’re talking about a star-role that defines a career as broad-reaching and diverse as Sigourney has had. She was born to play Ripley. Ripley could not have been played by anyone else. Simply put, she will always be remembered as a sexy, fierce feminist from the future who saved us from a terrible fate, over and over again. And there’s nothing sexier than that.
iheartingrid 
My favorite Sigourney performance is Death and the Maiden. SNUBBED!
Sigourney Weaver was easily my first major cinematic crush for all of the reasons you mention in this post but also because her performance as Ripley showed me, and a generation of film goers, that women could be sexy and strong, resourceful and ultimately as formidable as their male counterparts. Loved her then, love her now. Have you seen her performance in Red Lights?
Sigourney is really my all-time favorite movie heroine. I must have watched ALIENS a hundred times over the years. She’s a true movie star because I love her in everything she does – even if the movie she’s in doesn’t hold up/age well. Haven’t seen Red Lights, though. Thanks for all the great movie suggestions!
I am ashamed to admit that I have never seen Alien. I need to fix that.