Cast: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George “Buck” Flower, Peter Jason, Raymond St. Jacques, Jason Robards III. Screenplay: John Carpenter, based on a story by Ray Nelson. Cinematography: Gary B. Kibbe. Art direction: William J. Durrell Jr., Daniel A. Lomino. Film editing: Gib Jaffe, Frank E. Jimenez. Music: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth.
Roddy Piper never made the leap from the wrestling ring to action movies with the success of, say, The Rock or John Cena. He might have, if They Live had been a bigger hit initially, but after debuting at No. 1, it faded in popularity, partly because the critics tore it to pieces. Now, of course, it’s joined the ranks of cult movie favorites, and even the critics are willing to admit it was underrated at the time. Still, it’s easy to pick out Piper as one of its weaknesses. He delivers his lines, even the oft-quoted “I’m here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum”, as if he’s not quite sure why he’s saying them. And he doesn’t have the self-effacing wit that makes Cena and Dwayne Johnson such fun to watch. But there’s so much going on around Piper that it doesn’t really matter. A product of the Reagan era, or rather a reaction against it, They Live is an anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian fable that may be even more relevant today. In fact, artist Mitch O'Connell created a billboard with an image of Donald Trump as one of the film’s skull-faced aliens. They Live isn’t a completely satisfactory movie: The fight between the characters played by Piper and Keith David goes on way too long. Would anyone really suffer such punishment rather than put on a pair of sunglasses? The sci-fi element and the violence undercut the political message more than reinforcing it. But John Carpenter (who used a pseudonym as its screenwriter) brings the message home again at the end, including a sly dig at himself and fellow cult-movie legend George Romero.
