They Live

Author: John Carpenter

Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David have a fight. It goes on a LONG time. That's all anyone seems to remember from They Live, a late 1980s science fiction film, but especially with recent political moves, it's an incredibly intelligent and prescient film. John Nada, played by Piper, discovers a pair of sunglasses that allows him to see the world as it really is... full of aliens. When he tries to get his buddy Frank (David) to wear the glasses and see the real world, well, that's where the fight begins, and the film really begins, as it starts a process that leads to a classic little guy vs. Big World story. The story is really about the messages hidden in everything around us, both the kinds we recognise as advertisements, and those that are hidden in television, art, packaging. Roddy's performance as John Nada is phenomenal, proving he was more than just a wrestler, and the script takes a wonderful short story by the legendary Ray Nelson and turns it into the best critique of 1980s American culture ever filmed. Why it's on the list Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David are both great in this over-looked gem... and they fight!