MAYBE YOU'RE SEEING ADS for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and thinking, "This shit looks like Gladiator 2: Men in Tights. I'm not going for it." Prudent choice, frugal film fan! For the price of two tickets, you can grab some cheap beer, some chips, and a few former glories from Sir Ridley's filmography.

First, an obvious choice with a twist: Older video stores and used CD sellers should have the 20th anniversary DVD of Alien (1979) readily available. A lot of fans sold their copy when they picked up the everything-and-the-chestburster-in-the-kitchen-sink box set, but that old disc has two features that didn't make the transition: The real theatrical version of the movie, and an alternate score/production effects soundtrack that makes the perfect horror film even creepier. Pro tip: Watch on the biggest screen you can with all the lights out. Preferably alone.

The Duellists is Scott's 1977 debut, based on a Joseph Conrad short story, with Ridley blatantly ripping off Stanley Kubrick. Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine play French soldiers who are constantly attempting to stab the hell out of each other with big-ass swords until one of them is dead. Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.

The underrated Black Hawk Down (2001) came out a couple years too soon. On rewatch, it's obvious this is the blueprint that made Paul Greengrass' career possible. Great casting, relentless pacing, and a cinéma ve rité style that not only inspired the Bourne films, but the aesthetic behind shows like The Shield and Battlestar Galactica.

Most special-edition DVDs are bloated spectacles of packaging, attempting to justify their price by telling you that 20-minute documentary about the DP's skin tags is really worth it. But the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven IS worth it. Most who saw Heaven in theaters in 2005 saw an incomprehensible, boring mess. Scott's cut is easily the most epic thing he's done, dwarfing 2000's Gladiator in every way. He even manages to get something resembling an emotion out of Orlando Bloom.