They Live

Written by Joe D on August 31st, 2007

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Before there was The Matrix, before V for Vendetta, there was John Carpenter’s They Live. A super cool concept, alien mind control working through Television, Billboards, Newspapers, all media. The Aliens run everything and they keep the humans hopping like hamsters on a wheel. I watched some of Halloween last night and I started thinking about John Carpenter, I really like Starman my old pal Jack Nitzsche did the score for that movie and it’s very cool. Mark Boone Junior , star of One Night With You and prominently featured in the upcoming 30 Days Of Night is in Carpenter’s Vampires. He gets cut in two by a vampire when he answers the door and he slowly slides apart. I saw Carpenter once at Musso and Frank’s, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. I had gone there with Boone to meet a producer when Carpenter called Boone to his table. His hair is white as snow, he wears jet black welders goggle type glasses and he can’t stand sunlight, kind of like a vampire from his film. I guess he got over exposed to ultra-violet radiation while making The Thing ( his masterpiece) and now he must stay covered like a Bedouin when outdoors.
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Look Familiar?

But back to They Live, like I said a great idea, the film is crazy, there’s a fight scene between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David that goes on for a very long time, I found it on Youtube so I’m including it and the trailer. Roddy finds some sunglasses that enable the wearer to see the aliens among us and see their mind control techniques in action. Also Roddy has one of the best action lines in action movies. ” Gentlemen, I’ve come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubblegum!” A guilty pleasure.

Trailer

World’s Longest Fist Fight