Does Ridley Scott receive too much credit for "Alien" ?

[Huggs]

Does he receive too much credit?

Sometimes.

Would it have been the same movie without him?

No.

There were a lot of incredibly talented people that were responsible for the creation of Alien. The removal of any of them would've likely hurt the film.

[whiterabbit]

You know maybe this isn't the right question. Perhaps a better way to ask it is who really is expendable here? We all know the company crew was expendable but which actual production person could be replaced and we'd still have a bonafide Alien?

For example, If we change the sound editor would it be the movie it is today?

[SM]

Probably not.  The sound of the Nostromo helped establish the tone.

[Huggs]

Its pulsating heartbeat can be heard in Blade Runner as well.

[The Old One]

Love the ambiance. <3

[whiterabbit]

Next on the speculation hit list, Les Dilley, surely somebody else could have replicated his work. Any trained excavator can dig a tunnel. What if he got replaced?

Silliness aside, here's the gist, "When one note is off, it eventually destroys the whole symphony".

[Nostromo]

I'd go with these 5 as most important, in this order:

1- O'Bannon
2- Giger
3- Scott
4- Shusett
5- Fox peeps

Goldsmith also, and the person who picked the cast.

[SiL]

Without Shusett the Alien doesn't get on the spaceship.

Without Scott, Giger doesn't get the gig.

[The Old One]

Order of importance is; collaboration.

[Xenomrph]

Does he receive too much credit?

Sometimes.

Would it have been the same movie without him?

No.

There were a lot of incredibly talented people that were responsible for the creation of Alien. The removal of any of them would've likely hurt the film.

Pretty much this. What happens when you start removing people? You get 'Prometheus' (or at best, 'Alien Covenant').

[whiterabbit]

Oh you had to go to the Ridleyverse for that one didn't you.

[DerelictShip]

Yes.

[Naginata]

No, because he fought like Hell to keep H.R Giger, without whom you don't have a movie.

Without Ridley Scott and HR Giger together, Alien has half the budget, no derelict, no Xenomorph as we know it, no anything that makes Alien Alien.

[Voodoo Magic]

No, because he fought like Hell to keep H.R Giger, without whom you don't have a movie.

Without Ridley Scott and HR Giger together, Alien has half the budget, no derelict, no Xenomorph as we know it, no anything that makes Alien Alien.

Dan O'Bannon was the one who was impacted by Giger's work and developed and based his script around Giger's Alien. And Ron came up with the idea about a crew member implanted by an alien embryo. This was long before Ridley was in the picture and they were pitching it to multiple studios.

It's hard to deny that Alien could have existed without Ridley, not the other way around. But it likely wouldn't be anywhere as good of course! 

[Naginata]

^ Fox executives didn't want to go anywhere NEAR Giger; Scott threatened to leave the project if Giger wasn't designing the Alien.