Ableton Forum

Emissary wrote:
THEY LIVE!!! my favourite film of all time

Here's a little "They Live" story since it's your fave film.

I was in an hotel once when I saw a bunch of costumed weirdos running around a certain section of meeting rooms. Intrigued I checked it out. It was a sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention. Cool.

So I see a gentleman wearing a "They Live" T-shirt, & I commented that I liked his shirt. He asked me "Did you like the movie", I replied that yes, it was a favorite film & brilliant to boot. He said flatly "I wrote it, & I'm giving a talk about it in 5 minutes." It was Ray Nelson.

So I went to the talk, & it consisted of about 5 people & Ray all sitting in a circle; perfect!

He said that he had advised John Carpenter to NOT spill the beans in interviews, in other words, Carpenter was to tip-toe around the obvious messages of the film. Ray told John to let the film do the talking. Carpenter did not follow this advise, & in an interview said that "The aliens are the Republicans."

After that, Ray said that no one who had anything to do with the film was given any work in Hollywood for years! Blacklisted! Carpenter didn't make another film for 4 years.

Another "They Live" note:

South Park did an episode where Timmy (wheelchair), & Jimmy (crutches), have a "cripple fight!", as Cartman exclaims, that is a parody of the amazing fight in the alley in They Live. Wonderful!

oblique strategies wrote:

Emissary wrote:
THEY LIVE!!! my favourite film of all time

Here's a little "They Live" story since it's your fave film.

I was in an hotel once when I saw a bunch of costumed weirdos running around a certain section of meeting rooms. Intrigued I checked it out. It was a sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention. Cool.

So I see a gentleman wearing a "They Live" T-shirt, & I commented that I liked his shirt. He asked me "Did you like the movie", I replied that yes, it was a favorite film & brilliant to boot. He said flatly "I wrote it, & I'm giving a talk about it in 5 minutes." It was Ray Nelson.

So I went to the talk, & it consisted of about 5 people & Ray all sitting in a circle; perfect!

He said that he had advised John Carpenter to NOT spill the beans in interviews, in other words, Carpenter was to tip-toe around the obvious messages of the film. Ray told John to let the film do the talking. Carpenter did not follow this advise, & in an interview said that "The aliens are the Republicans."

After that, Ray said that no one who had anything to do with the film was given any work in Hollywood for years! Blacklisted! Carpenter didn't make another film for 4 years.

I heard this same story years ago in school. I think it's mostly true, but Keith David has provided voice work for cartons for the longest. "Batman The Animated Series" comes to mind.


EDIT: Just checked that BTAS didn't air until '92. Four years as well.

Anyway "They Live" was supposedly blasting Reaganomics and the obsession with commercialism in the 80s.

Here's my "They Live" note to add on....


If you haven't read Ray Nelson's short story "8 O'Clock In The Morning"...YOU NEED TO.


The story served as a basis for "They Live"'s screenplay. Trust me...it's 5 minutes of your life well spent.



http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Acad ... clock.html

oblique strategies wrote:Another "They Live" note:

South Park did an episode where Timmy (wheelchair), & Jimmy (crutches), have a "cripple fight!", as Cartman exclaims, that is a parody of the amazing fight in the alley in They Live. Wonderful!

Supposedly they tried to match the fight sequence shot by shot with the They Live fight. It was also one of the best fight scenes in film history (in my opinion). What a great movie.

Speaking of Rowdy Roddy Piper, any you guys ever seen Hell Comes to Frogtown? I saw that movie a while ago when I was like 11. I thought it was the craziest zaniest and coolest movie ever.

And yeah I completely agree with all the negative opinions with the Matrix CGI styles fights with people flying and bending back like they're limbo champions to avoid bullets. Shit is stoopid. One day I'd like to see a fight scene in a movie that resembles what a real fight would look like in real life, sloppy uncoordinated and nasty.

One of my all time favorite fight scenes was the fight in the subway bathroom in The Warriors.

agreed. especially with the 'flipping thru the air, to electronic music' bit. movies are generally terrible lately, not just the crime/horror genre.

i recently saw a south korean crime/horror that was surprisingly good called 'chaser'. no martial arts, no electronic music, no predictable plot twists... and loosely based on a true story. its sorta like asian shakespeare (with some comic relief characters) meets silence of the lambs. not the best movie ever, but hollywood hasnt set the bar very high. highly recommended!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190539/

oh, 'in bruges' was a good recent movie too.

Sleep Tyght wrote:
Here's my "They Live" note to add on....


If you haven't read Ray Nelson's short story "8 O'Clock In The Morning"...YOU NEED TO.


The story served as a basis for "They Live"'s screenplay. Trust me...it's 5 minutes of your life well spent.

Thanks for providing the link to the story! I'll read it ASAP.

All in all, the film has more resonance than ever.

Tohtruck wrote:
It was also one of the best fight scenes in film history (in my opinion).

No doubt! Hilarious!

Tohtruck wrote: And yeah I completely agree with all the negative opinions with the Matrix CGI styles fights with people flying and bending back like they're limbo champions to avoid bullets. Shit is stoopid.

But, when put into historical context that jazz was very cool the first time around, because it was NEW!

And that's what Hollywood needs to do, & does occasionally, give us something that we haven't seen before. Therein lies wonder!

Since we're talking about good movies now, have you all seen "Dark City"?

i dont know man, one either watches movies like this with low standards or not watch them at all... that's what i do..