| | | | They Live
(1988) |
hey live is the ultimate in paranoia movies -and a sly observation and (unheeded) warning on the perils of "corporate America".
This was the last movie directed in the 1980’s by Horror master John Carpenter, and the first real starring role for former wrestling superstar “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. It will appeal to lovers of sci-fi, drama, and action, because it skillfully blends in all three genre into one movie.
In the opening of the movie, Nada (Roddy Piper) is a wandering homeless construction worker. He wanders into LA looking for work. After being told at the Employment Office that no work is available, he spends the night on the street, and finally lands a job at a construction site.
There he is befriended by Frank (Keith David), who takes him to a homeless encampment on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. That night while watching TV in the camp, a group of pirate broadcasters break into the shows telling people about a conspiracy of a group called only “they”, who is trying to take over through the media.
The TV pirates go on to claim that “they” are responsible for the rising homelessness and joblessness, and that “they” are trying to make everybody into slaves. The strangest result of the broadcasts is that everybody that watched them gets headaches for some reason.
Made suspicious by the activities in the church that run the camp, Nada goes inside, only to realize that it is some kind of front. Instead of a church, it is really some kind of lab which makes sunglasses. And on the wall is spray painted “THEY LIVE – WE SLEEP”.
That night, the police invade the church and destroy the homeless camp, forcing everybody to flee. While leaving, Nada watches the police beating the preachers that run the camp in an alley. The next morning, he and a few others return to the camp, only to find that it is gone, along with what little they owned. About the only thing of substance that remains is a TV set.
Nada goes into the church, finding everything gone, and even the writings on the wall covered up. The only thing he finds is a hidden storage area filled with boxes. He takes one and opens it in an alley, finding only black rimmed sunglasses. He takes a pair and hides the rest.
When we walks back into the street, he discovers that instead of regular sunglasses, these turn everything from color to monochrome. But the most amazing thins is when he looks at billboards and other signs. A billboard for a computer company turns into a large sign with only one word, “OBEY”. A tourism billboard now says “MARRY AND REPRODUCE”.
He wanders down the street, seeing that almost everything has hidden messages. “CONSUME”, “NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT”, “WATCH TV” and “SLEEP” are among the most common signs he sees. Even the money is all filled with the message “THIS IS YOUR GOD”.
But the most amazing thing is when he looks at people. When viewed with the glasses, some of the people are shown to really be humanoid aliens. All of the aliens are upper class, “yuppies”. But Nada’s real problems start when some of the aliens realize that he can see them. With communicators built into wristwatches, they call the police in to capture Nada.
With the aid of wrestling moves, Nada overcomes the alien police, and enters a bank. There, he utters one of the most memorable lines from the movie, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.” He then proceeds to shoot all of the aliens he sees in the bank. He is about to shoot one of them, when the alien uses his watch to disappear. And after leaving the bank, he sees small surveillance drones which were invisible to the naked eye.
In order to escape, he kidnaps a TV executive named Holly (Meg Foster) and forces her to drive him to her house. He tries to tell her about the aliens, but she believes him to be crazy and simply humors him. This is when Nada discovers that a major side-effect of the glasses is exhaustion and a headache. Because of this Holly is able to hit him over the head with a bottle and toss him out of her house. Nada is on the run again, but he accidentally leaves his glasses with Holly.
After hiding out for a few days, Nada returns to the construction site and tries to get Frank to help him. Frank tells him to get away, so he returns to the alley where he hid the remaining sunglasses. When Frank follows him to give him his pay from the construction job, Nada tries to get him to put on a pair of the glasses. What follows is one of the best fights in movie history.
Full of wrestling moves, the two battle it out for over 5 minutes! Finally Nada wins, forcing Frank to put on the glasses and see what the aliens are doing. The two of them team up to protect each other, and are able to get in contact with the organized resistance movement.
At a meeting of the movement, they are given contact lenses with less side effects to replace the sunglasses. Nada also discovers that Holly has joined the resistance. But the new base is attacked by the police, and only a few people survive. Nada and Frank are able to use one of the watches to open a portal, and escape to an underground base.
While wandering, they discover a reception going on, full of both aliens, and human collaborators. They also discover a galactic transportation hub, which allows travel to the rest of the galaxy. To the aliens, Earth is just another backwater “third world” planet, and they are exploiting it. Their goal is to remove whatever of value they can, and the humans are to be turned into either pets, slaves, or food.
I will not go any further, because it might give away the ending of the movie. But I will say that it will probably not be expected. The movie ending is very similar to the ending of the original book of “The Running Man”, not the movie.
 Don't forget that They Live is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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I rate this movie fairly high in my collection.
It is fairly original, with a great ending. A classic "sci-fi / horror", with virtually no gore. The story is what makes it great, not violence.
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John Carpenter was the Director, Writer, and Composer. 
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This film has a heavy Liberal subtext to it, sort of a lashing out at the Reagan 1980s where the rich got richer and the poor got left behind. Anyway, one of the movie's original tag-lines was: "You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong." This was 1988 so that's an attack on eventual President George Bush. In fact, when Piper looks up at a television set and sees a leader standing in front of a sign that reads, through the glasses, Obey, the guy sounds an awful lot like George Bush. -Thanks to Dennis O'Brien
Roddy Piper's character is never named in the movie, but in the credits he is listed simply as "Nada", which is Spanish for "Nothing".
The famous "Bubblegum" line was adlibbed by Roddy Piper.
The screenplay was attributed to "Frank Armitage", who is really John Carpenter.
The communicators that the guards in the underground complex use are really P.K.E. meters from the movie Ghostbusters.
The "Bubblegum" line became such a pop-culture phrase, that it was included as one of the lines frequently quoted in the 1990's video game "Duke Nukem".
I have the UK R2 DVD which features a commentary with Piper and Carpenter and Piper states that he agrees with what the film is saying and that it needed to be said. Many, but not all, of the homeless people in the movie were real LA homeless people that were fed and paid to be extras. Many of them were hired, employed actors attempting to get the message of the homeless out to the masses. Piper praises Carpenter for this and says that although the problem is not as bad now it needs to be fixed by the government. He also says that he knows what is like to be homeless as he has lived on the streets. I can confirm from this commentary that Piper is not a Reagan fan. -Thanks to Byron Law
The special glasses are called "Hoffman Glasses". This may be in reference to a US Patent for a way to make capacitors (US3544330: GLASSES AND CAPACITOR DIELECTRIC COMPOSITIONS MADE THEREFROM). Another theory is that they are in reference to Albert Hoffman, the "inventor" of the drug LSD.
The budget for the movie was only $3,000,000.
The fight scene between Roddy and Keith’s characters is the longest in cinematic history. Nearly 8 minutes long. -Thanks to Jeff
While this movie may have had a liberal subtext to it, I read somewhere that Roddy Piper didn't agree with the movie's politics.
A shot-for-shot spoof of Roddy and Keith's fight scene was used in the "South Park" episode "Cripple Fight". -Thanks to John Edward Kilduff
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the They Live DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
They Live or 80's Sci-Fi / Fantasy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Empire Strikes Back ..... Night of the Comet ..... Aliens ..... Back To The Future ..... Last Starfighter ..... Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ..... Circuitry Man ..... Brazil ..... Blade Runner ..... Thing ..... Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan ..... Return to Oz ..... Starman ..... Somewhere In Time ..... Strange Invaders ..... Short Circuit .....[More]
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The fight scene between Rowdy Piper (Nada) and Keith David (Frank) actually occured for real. They just said the hell with it and made contact with each other each time they threw a punch or kick.
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|  |  |  | | They Live
Locations |
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They Live was filmed entirely in Los Angeles, and most of the shots made use of the distinct downtown Skyline for background.
The area where the wasteland is in the movie is around Beverly Blvd, where it crosses over where Second Street becomes Glendale Blvd. The area was cleared in the 60's for a proposed extension of the 2 freeway that was never built. [Thanks to Tom]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Los Angeles, S. California (or any other) filming locations used for They Live, particularly Holly's house? [Please send them in]
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| | | | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette |
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Comments: Excellent quality. Good extras. |
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The soundtrack is sparse, with a simple jazz feeling to it.
It was composed by John Carpenter himself, and worth getting if you can find it.
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Soundtrack Available:
Used On CD
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