"Saving The Cat" and Veronica Cartwright

By all rights, Sigourney Weaver should've been eaten by the xenomorph when she went after Jonesy the cat.

But I'm guessing that Veronica Cartwright didn't look quite as awesome in her underwear, so out she goes, along with Yaphet Kotto.

Veronica Cartwright (a fine actress) seemed to age terribly fast didn't she? One moment, she's the precocious 14-year-old in The Birds, next she's playing second fiddle to upstart Sigourney Weaver (who's the exact same age!). OK, granted, she did something like 100 other things in-between those two movies, but I wasn't paying attention. Next thing you know, she's spitting out pits as the foil to Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer and Susan Sarandon in The Witches of Eastwick.

It's probably that she makes such a good foil that she gets the unflattering roles. Either that or she smokes a lot.

Actually, all snark aside, Veronica Cartwright is one of the great character actresses of the past four decades. You gotta admire the actors who a) started as children and didn't get messed up; b) keep on working without ever phoning it in.

It's sort of funny, though. You can go on to IMDB and see the Cartwright/Weaver fan wars. Guys? Whatever connections Weaver used to get the lead in Alien, her 30-year-career is the result of her ability (and looks) as is Cartwright's. Ridley Scott was "made" by Alien. Sigourney Weaver was "made" by Alien. That's because no one had heard of them before. Everyone else's career more-or-less went on like it did, and I doubt part shuffling would've changed that.

Besides, come on: Weaver owns that role. It's surpassed only by her performance in Aliens. And the only serious challenger for the title of "toughest '80s chick" was Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. (Cameron loves him some tough chicks.)

But she still should've gotten it when she went back to save the cat. That's, like, a rule.