Wow. So there WERE sentry guns. For years (pre-Google years) I used to argue that there was a scene with sentry guns, though I don't think that's what I had called them. Those guns were awesome and they had made a huge impression on me. Problem was, no one else could remember seeing them. My family and friends swore I was crazy. So I asked for the uncut version of Aliens for Christmas one year (probably around 91 or 92) and I was so disappointed. No sentry guns. So I just figured everyone else was right. I must have imagined it or was mixing up my films. A few years later I purchased a "special edition extended version" on VHS which, sadly, also had no sentry guns. So that was that. I was wrong, there were no sentry guns, and that was the last I thought of it until now. I knew I saw those damn guns!
What threw me off is the the "extended cut" with sentry guns was seemingly shown on cable television right off the bat - like as soon as Aliens was shown on cable, it was the extended (or at least an extended version). I don't think that was very common, so it never occurred to me that's what might have happened. They usually saved the special editions for home video sales.
Did you ask her about the auditioning gaffe where she turned-up thinking it was a film about illegal aliens?
Hence the Vasquez recruiting joke that made it into the film.
Anyway, I have found that it's pretty much impossible for a group of adults to sit and watch Aliens. Everyone wants to shout Hudson's lines, at least after dubbing-over Frost for the first 30 minutes. Completely spoils the atmosphere.
Did you ask her about the auditioning gaffe where she turned-up thinking it was a film about illegal aliens?
She said that she did mistakenly think it was a movie based on resident aliens going into the audition, but it was her understanding that the joke was already in the script and was not specifically based on her audition.
The way she phrased her answer suggested that she was pretty sure of this, but perhaps not 100% sure.
My personal and completely uninformed speculation: even if the joke in the script was inspired by her misunderstanding, they may have told her otherwise for politeness' sake. I have no idea how likely that is.
There will always be border disputes, but they don't usually last 200+ years.
The other cuts make sense. They're great scenes that make the movie better but they're not strictly necessary.
The first time I saw Aliens - it was one of the strange TV edits that included the sentry guns, but lacked the other salient bits - holy fuck, it immediately gave me the sense of "this is what films should aspire to."
Roughly seventeen years later, I always experience the same thrill that I did the first time I saw it.
On an unrelated but personal note, which I feel appropriate given the subject matter: it took me YEARS to figure out what the fuck was wrong with my memory, because that strange cut that had the sentry guns (CBS edit, I believe?) was not readily available until the director's cut came out on DVD - I was not fortunate enough (keks) to own a Laserdisc player, so I spent a good number of my formative years thinking I was insane for insisting that "ALIENS HAS SENTRY GUNS! IT'S BAD-ASS!"
Further unrelated note, because I'm that much of nerd, and couldn't afford it, but went nuts anyhow: I purchased a $4,100 replica of the M41A pulse rifle built by Phil Steinschneider, and while I no longer have it - wow. What an amazing piece of film history, even if to only have a meticulously researched, almost exact replica of an item that defined a good chunk of my existence.
TL;DR: Aliens is the greatest film ever, and I hope every future generation (and those that show it to them) have the same enthusiasm that OP and I do for the film. Masterpiece.
There's one in the Smithsonian Air & Space museum in Washington DC if you're in the area and prefer to window-shop without buying. :)
Invariably whenever we run into a dev problem, somebody on my crew will always blurt out, "Game over man, we're fucked!" We're an agile shop of course.
> Don't recall seeing her in anything else.
John? Where are you, honey? It's late. You should come home, dear. I'm making a casserole.
Fun fact: Jenette Goldstein (Pvt. Vasquez) runs several bra stores in the Los Angeles area that cater to women with difficult-to-fit sizes. She is a total sweetheart. If you have a small group and contact her via email ahead of time she may be willing to make accommodations for your group. We had about four couples and she opened the store a bit early for our group. The women got fitting sessions (she personally fitted my wife) and she chatted with us for a bit afterward, including answering some questions about Aliens.
Please be respectful of her time and the fact that she's running a business, obviously. The bras are fairly expensive (but worth it, according to the women in our group) and they don't carry anything smaller than a D cup. So if you're not a potential customer, this is not the way to meet "Pvt. Vasquez!"