They Live (1988)

[rcv801 1]

1980's, John Carpenter directs Roddy Roddy Piper ..... Need I say more??? It's even on Netflix Instant.

[paultab 225]

No way, dude. This movie is AWESOME.

It had the longest, most multi-faceted one-on-one fight scene in any action movie at its release (Kill Bill probably shattered its record), which was used shot-for-shot for the climactic fight scene in the South Park episode "Cripple Fight."

It has multiple classic quotes, most notably: "I came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass -- and I'm all out of bubblegum."

It made cheap sunglasses into fun toys again, renewing a resource that was dying once Max Headroom went out of vogue.

Jonatham freakin' Lethem wrote a BOOK about it: http://www.amazon.com/They-Live-Focus-Jonathan-Lethem/dp/159376278X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323871992&sr=8-1

I've watched this movie a hundred times, and I'm willing to bet that if they did this movie, it would be in loving tribute, because the answer to the show's question is "low budget and an unflappable auteur's contract."

[Nasher 29]

Yeah i can see them reviewing They Live.. really its low budget with some terribly flat acting from non-actors but its also a classic John Carpenter flick with possibly the 2nd best cinematic fist fight ever.

[TimThompson 22]

Great movie with a cool premise. Minor budget but still made a cool flick under those circumstances.

 

I thought Roddy was a cool action protagonist & I really don't like action movies.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

This movie is awesome in every conceivable way. Sure, sometimes I question how something so good is contained in celluloid, so I could literally pose this question "How Did This Get Made?" However, this movie slays all non-believers and Rowdy Roddy Piper happens to be a totally swell guy in real life, so I don't think it's HDTGM material.

[Nasher 29]

I recall when i was in school i used to have friends come over and and a bunch of us would watch movies i taped of late night satellite TV.

 

I'd watched They Live the day before and, after getting burned with the awfulness of The Exorcist ][ Heretic, I told everyone.. "Stick with it, just watch.. keep watching wait for this scene" As soon as the fist fight started, and seemingly never ended, everyone was sold. Absolute genius film making and proof you can make a really shaky movie with dodgy performances but have one standout feature and suddenly the value of everything else gets magnified.

[seanotron 2307]

I think this could make for a fun episode, despite it being a movie I like. No one can deny the non-acting of Roddy Piper.

[AprilFoolsRebel 457]

How did it get made? They read the script then uttered the words, "Rowdy Roddy Piper is signed to star."

[CPiz 232]

Too much of a cult favorite to really rip on. (I loved it; Saw it in the theater & a million times since then). The only way they could do this is if they did a tribute version with Carpenter, Roddy Piper & Keith David.

[seanotron 2307]

Oh I don't know, they've done cult favorites before. I love this movie but it is also insane and there is plenty of material to work with.

[Lando 2019]

I got some prescription polarized glasses that look like the magic glasses in this movie, I keep hoping to expose lizard people or messages of "CONSUME" and "OBEY" in advertisements. No such luck yet.

[RyanSz 3140]

I loved this movie for how good it was for a such low budget sci-fi flick. The fight scene between Piper and David was great for how realistic it was: you didn't have these guys going 100mph for five minutes like you see in a lot of action movies, but rather they got winded and beaten down in real time, sort of like in Old Boy.

[choochoo_the_wonder_slut 740]

I wouldn't call this a bad movie at all, and it still holds up pretty damed good 25 years later. It's pretty good for what it is. Sure, I wouldn't cast Roddy Piper in "There Will Be Blood" or anything, but he was better in this movie than any other former WWF wrestler has ever been in anything else. I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't rebooted it yet to be honest.

 

By the way the South Park guys did the fight scene shot for shot here.

[seanotron 2307]

Sure, I wouldn't cast Roddy Piper in "There Will Be Blood" or anything, but he was better in this movie than any other former WWF wrestler has ever been in anything else

 

I dunno, I'd say Andre the Giant, The Rock and Big Show are all better actors than Roddy Piper. He seems like a nice man, but he is laughably bad in this. And again, I say that as a fan of this movie. It's not so much that it's bad in say a Uwe Boll way, it's that it's crazy in a Crank 2 way. I think it could make for an awesome episode.

[Wc2280 1]

Stars Rowdy Roddy Piper. Terrible movie. Bad mullets, awful storyline, horrible acting. Right up your alley. Directed by John Carpenter though.

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

Stars Rowdy Roddy Piper. Terrible movie. Bad mullets, awful storyline, horrible acting. Right up your alley. Directed by John Carpenter though.

As opposed to GOOD mullets? Name ONE good non-Swayze mullet! I dare ya!

[Skeevins 322]

People crap on Piper because he's a wrestler, but he actually turns in a fairly decent performance in this movie. I think what I was most impressed with was the fact that he could stay in character and stay in the scene even when he wasn't doing or saying anything. And this movie would have fallen apart if he couldn't do that, since They Live! had way more quiet moments and reaction shots than most people remember. In fact, Piper was probably better at the more low-key part of the performance than he was at the large, over-the-top stuff, which is where I think a lot of the criticism comes from.

[seanotron 2307]

People crap on Piper because he's a wrestler, but he actually turns in a fairly decent performance in this movie. I think what I was most impressed with was the fact that he could stay in character and stay in the scene even when he wasn't doing or saying anything. And this movie would have fallen apart if he couldn't do that, since They Live! had way more quiet moments and reaction shots than most people remember. In fact, Piper was probably better at the more low-key part of the performance than he was at the large, over-the-top stuff, which is where I think a lot of the criticism comes from.

 

I think you're being very, VERY kind.

[therealjayknox 26]

Oh its terrible, bad, cheap, weird, ridiculous and might be one of my all time favourite most awesome movies of all time!

 

*But that still makes it HDTGM worthy because I have to admit 'Sleepaway Camp' is also one of my new favourites all-time awesomely bad movies.

 

Rowdy Roddy was actually pretty damn good in this. I put his performance well above most sports/wrestling acting attempts I've ever seen.

[HeyKiddo 1]

Roddy Piper. PUT THE GLASSES ON!! Along with the greatest fist fight in cinema history.

[PhillipMedoc 648]

Jonathan Lethem's book on They Live is basically the most amazing thing ever. It's like that time you got your peanut butter mixed up in my chocolate. The whole Deep Focus series of books seems to be pretty great; the Heathers one was very good as well.

 

If you want to read it, PM me and I'll send you my copy along with a breakfast burrito. (Surprisingly, no one has yet to take me up on this offer).

[ErikBishoff 2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso

 

This movie really does need to be done. It is so awesome and so awful at the same time! (so awful and so awesome?)

[PhillipMedoc 648]

One of my favorite contemporary authors, Jonathan Lethem, who one would believe to be above something like this (them high-falutin' fancy ass liberals), wrote a gobsmackingly good book on They Live. It breaks it down, scene by scene, and is both entertaining and illuminating. I highly recommend it.

[nrkist 71]

 

No way, dude. This movie is AWESOME.

It had the longest, most multi-faceted one-on-one fight scene in any action movie at its release

 

I think the discussion would hit this scene and stalemate into a ton of hilarious conjecture as to exactly why 99 percent of this fight scene did not hit the cutting room floor. Is there really no other conceivable way to convince this guy to put some sunglasses on? Cause I can think of almost an infinite number of less goofy ways...

 

This film did raise my awareness though. If I'm walking through a mall and some dealer at a sunglass kiosk asks me to try some glasses on...I better roll up my sleeves, cause the gauntlet has been thrown and I've got a good 10-15 minute awkward street-fight on my hands.

 

Edit: I would like to point out that there were no stakes to this fight. Either party could have walked away easily. Instead Piper tries to murder the guy while demanding he try the glasses on. "Seriously, time out for a second <wipe blood from chin with 2x4-less hand>...just try on the glasses".

 

You know, once I guy tackles you for the third time and crushes your nuts with repeated knee-strikes to the groin because he doesn't wanna try on your magic glasses...he's just not the ally you're looking for.

 

Piper also absurdly crashes the back window of a car with the most monumental whif of history whilst trying to cave in Keith David's skull. It is at this point the the bloodied Piper comes to his senses, drops the 2x4, and realizes things have been a little crazy for 10 minutes. "Sorry..." THAT's where it became too much? These guys have been trying to MURDER each other over sunglasses. Minor incidental vandalism is the straw that broke the camel's back here...and we're about half-way through this fight scene now...

[nrkist 71]

I watched the fight on youtube just now and noticed something else. Keith David brandishes a bottle, breaks it, then looks at the jagged remnants disprovingly, and then dashes the make-shift bottle-shiv into pieces. WHY?! What is the thought process here?!