The scene is from the Special Edition, the one where the xenomorph is born from an ox instead of a dog.
I find this to be the best single sequence in the entire film and it is nothing short of magnificent. The emotional punch of the scene, the sombre atmosphere, Sigourney Weaver's facial expressions, Elliot Goldenthal's score, Charles Durning's monologue … everything comes together beautifully.
The editing of the scene is particularly a thing of beauty. As Charles Durning says, "for within each seed, there is the promise of a flower", the xeno bursts out of the ox in the next shot, which is immediately followed by Ripley's nose bleeding that serves as foreshadowing for her eventual condition.
In light of how well executed this sequence is, I find it to be a pity that the rest of the film turned out to be such an incoherent mess. I won't write down everything I find to be wrong with the film, just a few points as I remember them.
Elliot Goldenthal's score takes a drastic downturn after this scene. The rock music playing during the gang rape was particularly hideous. Who had that bright idea, I don't want to know. I had seen the theatrical version long ago and therefore, the subplot of trapping the xeno inside a nuclear waste chamber came as a surprise to me. Now I think the entire sequence and its aftermath was a complete waste of time and was rightly excised from the theatrical cut. The finale is an utter mess. I had little idea of what was happening and who was where.
submitted by /u/Hurdy_Gurdy_Man_84 [comments]
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