They Live

[Alisa]

I loved this movie upon my first viewing, over 8 years ago(the aliens scared the crap out of me) and when  i  rented it again last week(of course the aliens faces looked pretty funny now).  After seeing it again i can appreciate the humor and underlying message.  I love John Carpenter's movies, especially The Thing, Escape from New York, and finally the one everyone probably wants to forget...Big Trouble in Little China.

The only qualm i had was that the movie just seemed too short, it stopped abruptly.  One of my favorite scenes was when Roddy Piper(however you spell it) and the big black dude from The Thing duke it out in the alleyway.

[Andrew K]

I think the movie is dumb, overpraised, and has a simplistic message which is distrubing for all the wrong reasons (the fact that Carpenter apparently  can't see those who are different from him as anything other than inhuman monsters is scarier than anything in the film). Also, the fight scene between Roddy Piper and Keith David is one of the worst in movie history, on a level with Miles O'keefe's battle with the giant snake in Tarzan the Ape Man.

[Gerry]

They Live is truly a stinker of a film, but it is remarkably entertaining in its own bizarre, misguided way.  I must have watched it three or four times in a row in about 1991.  The acting was truly terrible, but what do you expect with a 2nd rate wrestler like Rowdy Roddy Piper as your star?  The ending was pretty lame, but in line with the lameness of the rest of the film.

[Andrew]

...and I'm all out of bubblegum.  I actually like "They Live."  It has a whacky plot, but some funny satire and very silly characters.

Andrew

[alisa]

what are some other movies that you like?

[Andrew]

Just look through all the reviews.  If something is a three or higher then I had a pretty good to great time watching it.

Andrew

[The Waffle Man]

So I was reading about They live and some of its problems on the Cold Fusion Video website, and I thought of my own ending to it: after one of the monsters crushes the puny human rebellion, he steps through a doorway into his own dimension and walks back to his house. On the way, he see a down and out member of his own species being dragged away by the police. The poor guy leaves behind a pair of sunglasses, though, and guess what our alien protagonist sees when he puts them on...
I figure the whole scam would be perpetrated on an almost infinate number of levels. In any case, I think It would be cool if the movie used one of the monsters as a protagonist. I think it would make the film work on a deeper level... of course, I haven't seen the film yet, but it just seems like you could still use the concept without making things into an us-them situation. What do you think?

[Mofo Rising]

On the other hand, I think the battle between Roddy Piper and Keith David is one of the best I've ever seen.  Watch how quickly a straight forward punching fight devolves into downright wacky wrestling moves.  Then watch in amazement as it goes on for a full ten minutes.  (Actual time may vary.)  To this day I can yell "Put on the glasses!" at my friends and they'll know what I'm talking about.

On the whole, I find the rest of the movie pretty entertaining.  My only serious gripe is that lady with the crazy eyes.  I had a dog with eyes like that, and they never look right.

In my more hopeful moments, I like to imagine the THEY LIVE TO POLKA movie listed on IMDb is the sequel to THEY LIVE.

[Mofo Rising]

The Waffle Man wrote:
>
> So I was reading about They live and some of its
> problems on the Cold Fusion Video website, and I thought of
> my own ending to it: after one of the monsters crushes the
> puny human rebellion, he steps through a doorway into his own
> dimension and walks back to his house. On the way, he see a
> down and out member of his own species being dragged away by
> the police. The poor guy leaves behind a pair of sunglasses,
> though, and guess what our alien protagonist sees when he
> puts them on...
> I figure the whole scam would be perpetrated on an almost
> infinate number of levels. In any case, I think It would be
> cool if the movie used one of the monsters as a protagonist.
> I think it would make the film work on a deeper level... of
> course, I haven't seen the film yet, but it just seems like
> you could still use the concept without making things into an
> us-them situation. What do you think?

Interesting concept, but the actual THEY LIVE movie isn't deep enough to merit such introspection.

[Nathan]

The movie isn't, but it does(or can) spur thought.  I think that's the most valuable aspect of the movie: It's wrong, and its central conceit is terribly simplistic, but it prompted in me quite a bit of examination to determine exactly how it's wrong.

Nathan