They Live (1988) Movie Review

Hi, welcome to The Real Generation Gap. I'm Rudy Ruiz. I'm Fred Sotelli. And today we're going to be talking about John Carpenter's They Live from 1988. So this film stars Rowdy Roddy Piper. Yeah, Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David and Meg Foster as Roddy Piper plays Nada, a man that discovers a pair of sunglasses that shows him the world for what it really is. Which is ultimately the elites being aliens from another planet that are making us sleep and be submissive so that they can just take over and be in control. And it is such a timeless movie. This was John Carpenter's kind of response to Reaganomics at the time. And I think it just holds up and is a great film. It's super fun. It's pretty wacky at times. I think everyone should see it because it very much is, I think, what we are always going to be living through. Obey, conform, consume, and sleep. Don't ask any questions. Obey authority. I saw this movie back, I think I was probably in high school. Love it. It's a yearly watch for me. John Carpenter is one of my favorite directors of all time. And I mean, you said you had seen it before, but you didn't think too much of it. So on this next viewing, what's your take? Oh, completely opposite. Now I really, really liked it and appreciated what they were doing and saying. I think in my original viewing, because there's no really big stars in this thing, and Roddy Piper does do a good job. I mean, he nails the part and the other two people do as well. The other two major stars, the other two major actors or whatever. The alien faces and everything are kind of pretty cheap. It wasn't really the standard of makeup that we would have now or anything. It was kind of almost like 50s, cheap monster movie kind of a thing. And so I kind of disregarded it. The thing where they show where it says conform and obey. In this picture, all those signs that say these things, consume, yield, sleep, obey, watch television. Without the glasses, those were like advertisements for real big products, RCA, Coca-Cola, whatever. But when you put them on, you saw, oh my God, there's a subliminal message. Everybody's really seeing this. And then the monster you see in the picture, right? When he puts the glasses on, that's what the aliens really look like. Now their identity, it's not like they had makeup. There was a device that was making you see them as normal, beautiful people. But with the glasses, you saw them for what they really were. But in this time we live in now, there is so much media manipulation of us that the fact that a movie in 1988 was demonstrating media manipulation, it's like almost more timely now than it was then. Although then obviously it was equally timely because we've been fed propaganda all our life ever since Bernays invented it. I don't know if you know that Bernays was the father of this and he's the one that figured us all out. He was actually an in-law of Sigmund Freud and he sort of invented propaganda. And now our life is full of it. So there were people that didn't like Reagan, I guess, and they wanted to show that the world was full of it and they were right to do that. And now here it is again. So this movie was kind of campy. They had this scene where he fought against his friend, the black construction worker. They, you know, he's trying to convince them to put the glasses on. And to me, that was very campy. It was like over the top. And first of all, you could never fight like that. If you took those blows, you know, I don't know if you've ever been in a fight. If you get hit two or three times, you're hurt from hitting like everything. It's just bad, you know? So, you know, that kind of thing is over the top. But sometimes campy, it works. And in this movie, when you sort of get like a tongue-in-cheek look at it, I think the first time I saw it, I tried to take it almost like as a really serious, almost like a news report, like really serious movie. It's not. It's a fun, wacky movie, but they sure do drive the message home. Yeah, they do. And I like that it's delivered in such a way. And that fight scene is pretty iconic. The Roddy Piper versus Keith David fight. And it goes on forever. Anytime you show someone this movie for the first time, I feel like you can't help but love it. And you can't help but be into it. Because, wow, what a just amazing idea. And like, yeah, I feel like everybody feels that. Was Keith David a fighter in real life? Or Roddy Piper? He wasn't. He was a championship wrestler. Yeah, and that's why that is in this movie. And it goes on so long because it's clearly Carpenter. And everyone's like, hey, we want to use what you got. Like where he pushes off the building and flips over. Yeah, exactly. And I'd say, whereas you mentioned Roddy Piper does a good job acting for not being an actor. Keith David does a really great job being toe-to-toe with him in these stunts and this whole fight choreography that's going on for a while. And yeah, so I love that. They're just like, hey, we got to use this. Even the famous line when he goes into the bank. Once he discovers all this and the cops kind of catch him and he fights his way out and kills them. I guess his next decision is, well, I'm going to go on a killing spree, which is like kind of wild. So he walks into the store and he does the famous. I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum. It just starts blowing people away. He gave John Carpenter a list of here's like lines I say in wrestling and all that. Right. And John Carpenter was like, you know what? Yeah. He's like, you got to say something here. And even though it's so out of context and out of nowhere and doesn't even seem like something that character would say, he just says it. But, you know, it's funny. It was, yeah. You had to appreciate. See, the first time I saw it, it was like, well, that didn't belong there. Right. But this was like, no, that's exactly what belongs there. Like it's almost genius. Yeah. You know, at that level. Yeah. And that crazy fight scene. I don't know if you watch kind of like an Ed Wood movie that way. You know, like I don't know if you watch South Park, but even South Park, this is years ago. Now they did an episode where they did a shot for shot remake like between two of the characters of that fight. I would love to see that. Yeah. I'll find and let you know which episode it was like shot for shot. The same thing. It goes on forever fight. Yeah, that exact fight. But yeah, man, I mean, it just it's such a great movie, and I love that, you know, you get the John Carpenter music. He has this kind of John Carpenter, Alan Howarth. He has this kind of standard in his repertoire that, you know, you can tell is John Carpenter music. But in this, it's got the harmonica and it's like bluesy. Music credit. John Carpenter did contribute to the music. Oh, no. Yeah, he does. Like, it's him, him and Alan Howarth, you know, like he does, I think, pretty much all his movies is him doing the music, except maybe the last one. I don't know. It's great. And I love that. It has this bluesy harmonica that really sets the tone in the beginning. And I always love. I mean, we talked about this with the Night of the Comet, but the I love seeing. 80s L.A. and movies. Oh, yeah. The downtown L.A. So I go down that street every day. I know. Yeah, that was a real Skid Row thing. Yeah. With the mission, you know, the blind preacher, you know, I felt bad when they beat up the when the police beat up the blind preacher. It's a rough scene. Yeah. And it's I like how whenever the cops come in, because we're shown that most of the police force is part of this alien race, not all of them, but most of them. They've infiltrated. Yeah. And that's how it is in real life. Yeah. There's like good cops and corrupt cops. Yeah. Right. So the good cops, you know, they're there. Yeah. They're trying to do police work. The corrupt cops or they got their own agenda. Yeah. And that's true. Yeah. I mean, it's just straight up true. That scene when they're destroying kind of the tent city, the shanty town and how he shows the cops and everyone almost like they're monsters in the way that they're silhouetted. It's like they have the helmets on and somehow you never quite see their faces, even when they have the gunfight in the alley towards the end of the movie and they're up on the roof. Right. They're not human beings. Yeah. The cops are never shown as human beings. Yeah. Always silhouetted and. Like automatized. Yeah. And oh, man. I just love the cinematography of his movies, that great anamorphic scope and flares and just, oh, man, I'm a huge John Carpenter fan. I know that. He's just, he's great. And then Roddy Piper in his attempt to get away, he hijacks the car with the most beautiful woman that ever lived. You know, did you see her eyes? Yeah. Her eyes are crazy. It's amazing how really she's just a regular girl. Yeah. But those eyes. Yeah. They pierce into your soul. Right. You fall forward right into them, you know, but she turned out to be awful. Yes. Right. Yep. She, she was the one playing both ends to the middle. Yeah. So, and then it was, it was so great because at the end when they had the big device that shields everybody that shields all this stuff, like that was such a science fiction device. That was like a thing, like in gold finger or something like that was like, that's the device. And, and how could you in LA, you couldn't have a device like that. Not known. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like helicopters would spot it or maybe it had some kind of shielding or something. Yeah. Well, I guess when everyone's involved in it, right. When the, uh, when even the president is shown to be one of these aliens, like, yeah, that was great. The way he'd see people and like, he'd yeah. Like he couldn't believe it so many times. Yeah. Like, is that really. I love when he sees the TV and it's the, the president and the obey and the, you know, he just kind of laughs. He's like, man, go figure. Of course, of course, this is what this is. Right. This all makes it right at the top. We just had a few years of that. Didn't we? Right. Yeah. This all makes so much sense now. And he's, he walks by a guy on the street who's standing in front of the TV store. Yeah. Just looking at the TV is like, that's everyone in their phones now, you know, they had a weird aspect. The sun sunglasses work, right. You can see the truth. But, but then later in the movie, like he said, man, these glasses, they always give you a headache. Like don't keep them on too long. And then he met that girl who had the contact lenses. She's like, here, here, you put these contact lenses in and you see the truth. Of course, you can't take them in and out on the street, but she goes, and you got a lot less of that headache. Yeah. Right. Like it's a common problem for everybody. Yeah. They're too used to that signal being pumped into them. Yeah. The church was trying to tell the truth. And of course they got shut down, you know, and it was, it was great that they disguised the church by having a choir, like people were going by, there was a choir singing, but it was just on tape and that's the campy stuff. You know, that's the stuff that when I originally saw it, it's like, eh, you know, yeah, that's, that's what you're doing. And, but on the, on the, seeing it again, when you recommended it, I thought I hadn't seen it, but seconds into the movie, I realized as soon as I saw those things that said conform and obey and sleep and everything, I remember this movie. I didn't like it, you know, but I'm seeing it again. And that's why reviewing these things is so great. You know, you see more, you, you appreciate it more. You have a different perspective. Maybe your age has changed. I found that sometimes listening to records that I loved as a teenager, I'm like embarrassed now, it's like, that was the thing that I aspired to. I played that song on my garage band, like somehow. Yeah. You know, it's like playing Louie Louie or something. Right. It's like, what were we thinking? Of course I never did that, but I use that as an extreme example, but yeah, the movie's really worth, I think it's sort of underrated, you know, I'm not going to give it a high rating, but it's kind of, it all, you know what I think, Rudy, maybe it should be remade better. I knew that was going to hurt you. No, that's an interesting thing. I didn't mean that. I feel like I've heard whispers over the years that there's been talks. I'm sure it's been brought up in studio circles before. There's no way people have not brought up that idea, but yeah, it's one of these movies that even the wackiness of it and the, those, those lines, like, you know, I'll probably cut this out, but like. Brother, life's a bitch. She's back in heat. I'll cut that out. You don't have to. But, um, I don't know. So much of that is, is the charm of it. And even the time in the air, man, even when he sees the drone too, you know, mama don't like tattletales, like just invisible drones. Right. Cause that's the thing now, like, well, they're not invisible, but you saw the drone with the glasses. Yeah. And when he takes it off, it's not there. Oh, I have friends in New Jersey. They're seeing them. Yeah. Like police. I mean, I know like, yeah. Beverly Hills has police drones on patrol patrol, like all the time. And I'm sure there's even more, but. We call it in my neighborhood. We call them ghetto birds. Ghetto birds. Yeah. In my neighborhood. Like the helicopters. Yeah. There's always one over the highway, you know, where the one 10 and the one, seven, 10 to seven, 10 cross. Yeah. And there's always action there, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. But I think this movie for me, even with the humor, I think that stuff works as part of the charm and it holds up. It's, it's timeless. Anybody can watch this now and be like, wow, this pretty much seems like it was made today. I don't know what any filmmaker now would even do to make it better besides maybe play it like super serious, like dead serious, but then it's not unidentifiable. It shouldn't even it's you can make this, but not as a remake. Yeah. Like this stands, but you, because you know what, I'd like to actually, you, you told me this is based on a short story, right? Yeah. I'd like to read that short. Yeah. I got to find it. I think it's called eight o'clock in the morning is the right story. Yeah. I think I remember that. I haven't read it. I don't even know, you know, I guess I'll have to like go to the library or maybe it's online. Yeah. Hopefully. Yeah. I got to try and find, I feel like I may have read it years ago now that I think about it, but I don't, I don't quite remember. I love short stories. It's, it's my, really my favorite media. Okay. Like there's nothing like a good big novel. I've read all those James Clavell novels and stuff, but a short story really delivers. Yeah. You know, it's sort of trimmed back all the fat and everything. It's like a comedian that just does one line jokes where you, you know, you're laughing every 20 seconds. Right. You know, the short story really lets you have it. Yeah. This, this is kind of a complicated story to have as a short story. So I'd like to see how the author handled it. Yeah. I'll have to try to find it. Yeah. It's definitely worth checking out. And you know, the, there's also the cultural impact of this where Shepard Fairey, the artist, you know, did the Obey Giant, his whole clothing line and all his, you know, art artistry in the streets of Los Angeles and really all around the world, like the Obey with the Andre Giant everywhere in the cities. And, you know, obviously that's what this, this was the influence. Sometimes I can't tell that from the Transformer guy. Like you see the Transformer thing and the Obey, like it looks the same to me. Yeah. So, you know, he, he blew it up and I'm sure just because of that brought a whole new audience's attention to this film. And you have the merch right on your chest there, huh? Yeah. That's really cool. I mean, that's, that's dedication. Oh yeah. You know? Yeah. Heck of a movie. I mean, everyone, everyone ought to see it. It's like, what else is there to say about it? You just have to watch it and you're going to know, like, you know, it just, and I feel like this is the everyday that, that we live in with the, I'm not going to get too deep into it, but you know, a lot of virtue signaling, a lot of. Oh yeah. Just propaganda, period. You know, you said it, but media manipulation. The government just wants submission. They want submission. Don't question anything. And they're, they're putting their thumb or their jack boot on everybody. Yeah. And they, they really want compliance. And it was interesting that the, the one sellout, he said, oh, they're just going to take what they want and leave. We, we can help them. We can, the sooner we help them and get them what they want, they'll get out of here. And there's people like that in society today. Like, oh, we'll just let these politicians get away with a little bit of stuff and they'll go away and we'll be okay. It's money in my pocket. So it's all good. Like, just look at this watch they gave me, which man, I'm glad you brought that up. That's a great moment. The skeptic. That guy's in a bunch of John Carpenter movies. It feels like he's always playing a bum or something, but you know, he's the guy. Yeah. That reveal at the end when he's in the suit, like, oh boys, you're here. And that was a great way to deliver the exposition and the info on them without giving too much detail. Like even he still only knows a certain amount. Right. That idiot was betraying everything. Yeah. And he didn't know he was doing that because he was so stupid. And we have a lot of that too in the government. Like people, they're called useful idiots, you know, and he was a useful idiot. Yeah. Just excited to, to be there. He's like, Hey, I'm rich. Now I'm wearing the suit. I'm here drinking champagne. Yeah. He looked like the rich guy on the Monopoly board. Yeah. I got everything I want now. And like, man, you sell out your own kind. He's like, what does it matter? They're already here. And that's the thing. That's a sad thing, right? They're already winning. They're already, they're already embedded in everything. Yeah. Can't beat city hall. Yeah. Might as well join them. You know, let's again, makes it, it makes it easy for them. And, but, and then that's the thing, right? It is, at least you get, you know, John Carpenter, isn't afraid of doing a, a sad, dark ending. And this one teeters that line where, you know, both of our heroes, like unfortunately get betrayed by Meg Foster or Holly. Yeah. Like I guess so bummed that Keith David just gets shot in the head. When she capped him like that. Just nothing, just nothing. And he didn't want anything to do with any of the whole movie. He's like, just keep me out of it. I'm just trying to do my job, make my money, get a living. I'm almost, you know, that's. Isn't that, that's yeah. He was the real innocent victim. Yeah. That sucked in. Yeah. That was a terrible moment. Yeah. It's really sad, but it was a micro climax. Yeah. You know, at least, you know, not a ends up destroying the big signal. Like he gets killed. He's there ultimately. It was so stupid. I, I do, I do like, see, that's the kind of thing in the original view. And it's like, Oh God, you know, but it's, but it's all, it tracks with the character up to that point. It's like he, he would be that guy. You know, that would be his last move. But I like how they even parody the Cisco and Eber when the signal goes off and you're seeing all, and basically everyone on television is one of these aliens. And there's like the Cisco and Eber, like all these filmmakers, like John Carpenter and George Romero, and they're over violent movies and all that. I have to add that clip. That's so funny. Let's do that. Kind of. It's not really a spoiler alert, but let's just tell the audience when, when, when he nodded, when Rowdy, Rowdy, Rowdy, Rowdy, Rowdy Piper, when he shoots the device, that's masking everybody. Now you don't need the glasses. Now the whole world can see who's an alien or not. And now, because they're unmasked because they're unmasked. Now they're vulnerable and the people are going to get them and kill them because they can see them. Yeah. But as long as they couldn't see them, the subterfuge was working, but now the jig was up. And, uh, I'm looking forward to a lot of people being revealed for their crimes in the upcoming years. I can say that, you know, it's a very satisfying things when people who were really getting away with murder, when they finally get taken a task. So hooray for the earth is the earth won that one. And it was all because of a championship wrestling star. Did a good job. Yeah. You know, and he's still with us. He passed away just a few years ago. Oh, I didn't even know that. I didn't know. That's a shame. Yeah. Let me, let me confirm. He really was a great WWF guy. Oh, 2015. That was longer than I thought. I thought I was like, oh, like four years ago, but 2015. That's a shame. I thought he was still with us. Yeah. You know, I think I saw maybe a documentary from me from 20 years ago and I thought it was yesterday. Anyway, I'm glad you told me that. Yeah. I kind of feel bad about that, but those guys don't live long. Yeah. But anyway, um, I'll let you rate it first. Cause this is your movie. Yeah. I, this one's a 10 for me. It's a 10. It's a straight 10. Everybody. John Carpenters. They live. Yeah. John Carpenters. They live. I was going to go with a five. I'm going to upgrade it to a six. All right. I'm going to upgrade it because of perspective change. Yeah. You know, it's still goofy. Yeah, for sure. But a lot of important messages, a lot of important ideas exposed and discussed and shown and everything. It's heavier than it seems. Yeah. So great movie. Great. Worth watching. Oh yeah. That's for sure. Glad I did. Yeah. It was review. I'd seen it before, but I didn't remember how great it was. Yeah. Well, that's a wrap on this one, everybody. Thanks for joining. Please leave a comment. Let us know. Have you seen this movie? Do you enjoy this movie? What are your thoughts? Do you think it should be remade? I think not, but I wonder if there's anyone out there that could make a case for it, you know? And yeah, that's a wrap everybody. Cheers.