(Originally published in Rocky Mountain Bullhorn)
They Live, John Carpenter’s paranoia-drenched 1988 thriller about corrupt capitalist extraterrestrials hoodwinking humans via mind-control, may be the loopiest, and coolest, entry in the director’s canon. A vagabond construction worker (pro wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper) uncovers the real reason behind American economic disparity when he finds a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see that skeletal aliens rule the Earth disguised as WASPs. Piper joins forces with a rebel group to fight the insidious invaders – who use subliminal messages in advertising such as “Obey,” “Consume” and “Sleep” to lull people into zombified submission – but this critique of 1980s materialism is best loved for containing the longest fight scene in movie history between Piper and Keith David (clocking in at over eight minutes!) and the greatest so-bad-it’s-brilliant tough-guy line of the decade, spoken as Piper robs a bank: “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum.”
3 responses to “They Live (1988)”
Remember when he had his WWF “talk show”, “THe Piper’s Pit” … and Adrian Adonis had “The Flower Shop”.
How could I forget? Piper’s Pit ushered in the golden age of WWF “talk shows,” though it was by far the finest. I still don’t know how They Live failed to launch Piper’s film career, given that today we have Vin Diesel and The Rock – two guys who can’t come close to matching Piper’s charisma – as giant action-movie stars. Go figure…
I think it’s the lack of racial ambiguity.
Well, that and the fact he wore a plaid skirt.