What's your problem?
(Music)
I said, what's your problem?
>> It's the 30th anniversary of the action, sci-fi, cult film, They Live.
And yeah, we just did, Halloween,
but can you blame us if Carpenter made another semi-holiday related film?
It's election season.
It's time to look at the film that warns us, that while they live, we sleep.
Here are seven things you didn't know about They Live, probably.
(Music)
>> You couldn't even save your own!
>> We all know you guys are here to talk about the fight scene.
And we promise we'll get there.
But first you may know They Live is based off a short story 8 O'clock in
the Morning, then later the comic Nada both by Ray Nelson.
What you may not know is the film star and professional wrestling legend,
Roddy Piper, believed that the events of the film were
based off a real event called The BRONSWIK Affair.
He describes how in the 1950s, the waves from a specific TV caused people to
buy in excess, specifically recounting the story of a woman who bought
multiple cans dog food but had no dog >> I don't own a dog.
I don't even like dogs.
>> In actuality, The Bronswik Affair was a mockumentary short that Piper must have
seen and confused as a real event in the past.
But hey, he wasn't too far off >> You look like the head fell in
the cheese dip back in 1957 (Sound) The first few times
Nada puts on the sunglasses are just as jarring for the audience as it is for him.
It quickly expresses the effect of subliminal messaging by showing the black
and white truth in, well, black and white.
Both the color and black and white billboards and
wider landscape shots were actually matte paintings by Jim Danforth.
But Nada's view of the grocery store set was so elaborate and
detailed with all the practical subliminal messages printed on cans and
boxes, it became the most expensive cost to the production.
But it was most likely worth it.
The look of the film was nothing short of iconic.
Almost as iconic as this segway.
(Sound) Although Roddy Piper's character isn't
named until the credits, Keith David's Frank shares his name with
the screenwriter of the film Frank Armitage.
You may be familiar with some of Armitage's other work,
such as Halloween, The Thing, Escape from New York.
For those of you catching onto what I'm doing, that's right John Carpenter wrote
They Live under the alias of Frank Armitage, which is a reference to
Dr Henry Armitage, a character in HP Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror.
Both Armitages have to deal with a disguised threat rising to power.
And David definitely holds his own against the evil aliens taking over our society.
Carpenter wrote the part for David after working with him on The Thing, and
after fighting that Thing, he could definitely take on the Theys.
>> You have your authorization cards?
>> Right here. >> Aah!
(Sound) >> The film's
subliminal messages influenced street artist Shepard Fairey,
in the creation of his Obey clothing brand.
It's a little ironic though that Fairey took the film's anti-capitalist
message and kind of sort of used that to create a company for profit.
But in addition to those awesome black and white billboards,
you already know the aliens are a signature look as well.
What you may not know is,
that in addition to coordinating the ridiculously awesome fight scene.
(Noise) Again, more on that later.
Jeff Imada played most of the featured ghouls you see on screen, men and women.
The aliens in the short story have green reptilian flesh or multiple yellow eyes,
which is a more traditional 50s sci-fi interpretation of aliens.
But Carpenter wanted them to look like a corrupted human
to emphasize humanity's corruption at the hands of consumerism.
Or at the very least, like the corruption caused by buying tons of dog food.
>> I don't even like dogs.
(Noise) >> I have come here to chew bubblegum and
kick ass.
(Music)
And I'm all out of bubblegum.
>> Probably the most memorable line from the movie was never in the script.
Carpenter just wanted Nada to say something bad ass when he walks into
the bank.
And Piper kept a book of one liners on hand for
his work in the wrestling ring and shared it with Carpenter.
They came across this one liner and the rest is film history.
>> I came here to drink milk and kick ass.
(Laugh) >> And I've just finished my milk.
(Sound) >> They Live is clearly a scathing
commentary on Reaganism and consumerism in the 80s.
I mean, hell,
listen to the alien politician on TV during the supermarket scene.
>> The feeling is definitely there.
It's a new morning an America.
>> If that sounds familiar, it's because the phrase morning in America played a big
part of Reagan's re-election campaign of 1984.
>> It's morning again in America.
>> So take any other interpretation of this film,
especially that insane, antisemitic one, and shove it.
>> Carpenter has repeatedly stated that he made this film as a direct reaction to
yuppies and capitalism and that he thinks you're dumb and wrong.
(Sound) >> No!
>> All right, all right, now it's time to get to the fight.
The thing you already know about the fight,
is that it's awesome, period, full stop.
What you may not know was the fight inspired John Ford's The Quiet Man
starring John Wayne,
which also features a comically long fight throughout the small town.
Carpenter took advantage of having a professional wrestler in his film and
wrote in a long fight scene.
Piper and David worked the stunt coordinator Jeff Imada for
weeks to get this fight scene right, with every suplex, punch, and groin kick.
Also, and this is according to Piper, it once held the Guinness World Record for
the longest fight in movie history.
We can't officially verify that, but
I wouldn't have argued with him while he was here.
And I'm not going to question him now that he's gone.
That's it for this episode,
but let us know in the comments if you care about democracy.
Thanks for watching and subscribe to Cinefix for
more true-ish things about movies and sometimes being all out of bubble gum,
right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Music)