They Live
(Universal Studios, 1988)
Tonight's movie is the first from John Carpenter that are going to be a part of Halloween Movie Madness. It also stars Roddy Piper. They Live also spawned one of the most popular lines to ever come out of Duke Nukem's mouth.
The movie is about Nada, a poor man looking for work in L.A. He finds a job working at a construction site with Keith David. After spending the night in the local shantytown, Nada stumbles upon some strange things going on at a small church. Strange things like boxes filled with sunglasses. These sunglasses are special though. Not special like X-Ray specs, but special in the fact that they turn everything black and white and you can see all of the subliminal messages. Oh yeah, and the aliens.
That's right, aliens have invaded the Earth and are living as wealthy humans, all the while causing the class separation between rich and poor.
Now, pay attention here, because I seriously doubt I will ever repeat this: This movie is begging for a remake. The subject matter is extremely fitting for the state of our country. And with the advent of the smartphone, the sunglasses could easily be turned into an augmented reality app.
Okay, I gotta step back. I'm getting a little too serious with this remake nonsense. Instead, let's talk about my three favorite things from this movie.
First up, the dialogue. "You know, you look like your head fell in the cheese dip back in 1957."
"Brother, life's a bitch, and she's back in heat."
The ever popular "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum."
And "I'm giving you a choice: either put on these glasses or start eatin' that trash can." This last one brings us to favorite part number two: the slobber knocker between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David. This fight was supposed to be about thirty seconds long, but the two wanted to fight for real. They ended up making the fight a little over five minutes. Oh yeah, they were really beating the crap out of each other. That's why it looked so good on film. More actors should do this. Who wouldn't enjoy watching some of Hollywood's leading men actually pounding the crap out of each other?
The third thing I love in this movie is also my most favorite. At the end of the movie, when the aliens get uncovered, the very last scene is a couple having sex. The woman opens her eyes to look at the lover she is on top of, only to see an alien there. She stops moving, and he says, "Hey, what's wrong baby?" That part cracks me up every single time.
As you can probably tell by now, I really like this movie. If you haven't seen it, make it a point to do so. If you have seen it, watch it again.
COMING SOON:
Bubba Ho-Tep
Pitch Black
Dead Alive
Bio Zombie
The Gate
