NEWS: I Have Come Here to Chew Bubblegum and Kick Ass ...

CULTURE: I Have Come Here to Chew Bubblegum and Kick Ass ...

"... and I'm all out of bubble gum."

That classic quote is from one of the best films to come out of that horrible, coke-fueled decade we know as the 1980s. The movie? John Carpenter's They Live.

Now go on, go ahead and comment below that you haven't seen it. I know you haven't. That's why I keep writing these.

Done yet? Okay. They Live is part social critique, part dumb shoot-em-up, and all awesome. The plot basically goes like this:

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays a drifter who stumbles upon a secret plan to dominate the human race by aliens... by putting on a pair of sunglasses. The rest of the movie is basically Piper going around trying to convince people they're being invaded, in between getting shot at by the cops- both alien and human alike.

Now, I could go on and list the 843 reasons why you should see They Live. Believe me, I've got the time. Instead, I will show you the number one reason, below:



That's right. The South Park guys based the infamous "cripple fight" scene on the epic five minute slugfest between Piper and his co-star Keith David. That alone is reason enough why you need to see this film.

All action-movie crap aside, They Live is a fairly sharp commentary on the rampant consumerism of the '80s. You'll notice I didn't say "subtle"- this movie is a few things, but sneaky isn't one of them. When Piper first puts on the magic sunglasses and sees a wad of money, the words "THIS IS YOUR GOD" are revealed. When he looks at a billboard advertisement, the glasses show it as actually saying "OBEY". I'm sure the significance of this isn't lost on some of you.

As time marches on, They Live will probably continue to be mostly overlooked as a product of a decade we'll thankfully never have to live through again... unless you take a look around and realize that we're doing exactly that. With the economy in the crapper, more people than ever wanting your hard-earned cash, and VH1 on the rise, Carpenter's classic movie seems more relevant than ever. That's okay, though. I know you won't see it. Just watch more TV and continue to sleep, America.

MisterSatan is going to try to make a regular thing out of these articles, bringing to your attention gems you might have otherwise missed. He and his wife, unravled, have collectively been on SG since 1999.

seriously underrated movie...Carpenter's work in the 80s was great...this film, along with The Thing and Prince of Darkness are fantastic, and form a sort-of trilogy, I think.

Best. Fight. Scene. Ever.

best movie ever!

goddam alien neocons!






carpenter owns
big trouble little china

One of the best movies of all time. The first pirate radio monologue rivals even Quentin Tarantino's monologues.

One of my favorite lines is, "They want benign indifference, they want us drugged. We could be pets, we could be food, but all we really are is livestock."

Greatest last line from any character in film history...

"Fuck it."

That movie could not be any more awesome!

Don't slam the Eighties- It was one hell of a lot better time then now...
Cars went from pathetic slow pieces of crap, to fairly impressive...
The PC was born...
The internet got it's start...
The VCR was born...
There were some really good movies- and more original than now...
(The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Risky Business, Top Gun)
The Space Shuttle was born...
The first Space Shuttle blew up
If a high school party was busted, booze got dumped, we already had hid the drugs, and maybe a parent was called...nobody went to jail...
When you turned 16, you got a drivers LICENSE...not a provisional piece of shit...
Meth didn't exist yet...
Cable TV and that movie where you saw your first tit was on cinemax after your bedtime when your parents went out for the night...
Growing up in that decade wasn't perfect- but I would much rather relive that...and raise my kids in that then now...
This is totally off the subject that you started with, but don't slam living in the eighties unless you were there...as at least a teenager...

And I think I saw the movie on a rental VHS tape, and it was pretty damn good....

I actually have seen They Live and it is, indeed, awesome.

Also, just like the previously discussed Repo Man, They Live is currently available in the free movies section of Comcast OnDemand.

If you've never seen it, you really should.

definitly best use of shades in a film, with Blade being close in the running. thanks for that... showing me the southpark that is. i knew about they live.

keep it up mister satan! these are great!

Good movie.

It's one of those movies that I watch whenever it is on..no matter what time it is. I've seen it so many times...great flick.

I just put it in my Netflix queue.

I rember seeing this fight scene in a montage film called 'ultimate fights' or something on that order, which was simply a compilation of fight scenes from around 10 or so movies ranging from They Live to Blade. It was pretty mindlessly entertaining, and a pretty funny concept only further advertising America's fixation with violence...

thankfully, none of the fights in the films are real, though.

Cars went from pathetic slow pieces of crap, to fairly impressive...

I'll still take a 60's muscle car any day.

I lived through the eighties as a small boy. I suffered under the thumb of Reaganomics and was homeless for part of it. I was practically raised on government cheese. I'll slam it all I fucking want to, thanks.

I am never going to say that the eighties were perfect...you would have to go somewhere else for that...but still better then then now...and in 1987 I was Driving a 6 year old Cutlass Supreme...and now I am driving a 14 year Thunderbird...oh wait, I have a 8 year old Grand Marquis I still owe 8500 on....
The world has moved on....

What the fuck does this thread have to do with your car collection?

*geek snort*

The PC was initially sold en mass in the 80's, it was born long before the 80's began.

The VCR was mass marketed in the late 70's

and the internet was around, long, long before the 80's, it just wasn't widely available as it is until the PC became a household item.

The First "technical" Flight of the space shuttle was in the late 70's, the first mission, however was in the 80's.

I went to jail in the 80's for a underage drinking at a party.

and the provisional license, at least in my mind, is a good thing.

i lived them. they weren't all that great

Coke and Delorians were very abundant.

I also loved this movie.

Writing about being old is neat!

Weelll, as long as we are off the thread, or point of it...at age 16 I had a 6 year old car bought and paid for...at age 36 I have an older, more boring car that I am still paying on...this is not progress...

The only reason we're off topic is YOU.

Never once in your ramblings did you even bother to mention the movie that this thread is about.

NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU AND YOUR CARS.