<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

They Live
Release Date	June 3, 1983
Genre	Comedy, Sci Fi
Director	John Carpenter
Screenwriter	John Carpenter Ray Nelson
Stars	Roddy Piper Keith David Meg Foster George 'Buck' Flower Peter Jason Raymond St. Jacques Jason Robards III
Studio	Universal Pictures

They Live, written, directed, and scored by horror maven John Carpenter, premiered in 1988. Its budget was modest but it earned itself the status of cult favorite with its combination of science fiction and black humor.

Carpenter sets up a future world not too different from our own, a world in the throes of a depression, complete with shantytowns warmed by oil-barrel stoves. Our Hero: Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, played with panache by pro wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Nada's looking for work but he's going to find something else entirely: a conspiracy of aliens who secretly dominate the planet, controlling the human population via subliminal messages.

Nada obtains a pair of special sunglasses made by a resistance group. In a spooky scene, the sunglasses reveal messages everywhere—on magazines, on billboards, and even on dollar bills. What concepts are the aliens disseminating? Marry and Reproduce. Obey. Consume. Stay Asleep. Dollar bills prove to be, once the veils have been lifted from Nada's eyes, blank rectangles of paper imprinted with "This Is Your God." He also sees that many ordinary folks are actually freakish, ugly aliens in disguise.

Nada tries to share these shocking truths with his new buddy, Frank (Keith David). He requests that Frank try on the sunglasses, but Frank refuses. They embark on what may be the best schoolboy brawl ever filmed. Uppercuts, right hooks, body slams, round after round—until the two are so battered and exhausted that they can't lift an arm to deliver one more punch.

Other highlights of the movie include Nada's famous line, "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass . . . and I'm all out of bubblegum," and the silver-eyed Meg Foster in a standout performance as the devious Holly Thompson.

Cast

• Roddy Piper as Nada
• Keith David as Frank
• Meg Foster as Holly Thompson
• George 'Buck' Flower as Drifter
• Peter Jason as Gilbert
• Raymond St. Jacques as Street Preacher
• Jason Robards III as Family Man
• John Lawrence as Bearded Man
• Susan Barnes as Brown Haired Woman
• Sy Richardson as Black Revolutionary
• Wendy Brainard as Family Man's Daughter
• Lucille Meredith as Female Interviewer
• Susan Blanchard as Ingenue
• Norman Alden as Foreman
• Dana Bratton as Black Junkie