They Live (1988)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1988
Running Times: 93 mins
Format: colour     35mm     Panavision (anamorphic)
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Alive Films
Executive Producers: Andre Blay, Shep Gordon
Producer: Larry Franco
Associate Producer: Sandy King
Commercials Producer: Larry Sulkis
Unit Production Managers: Alan Levine, Stratton Leopold
Production Coordinator: Marian Shambo

SCRIPT
Script: Frank Armitage (real name: John Carpenter)
Short Story: Eight O'Clock in the Morning by Ray Nelson

DIRECTION
Director: John Carpenter
1st Assistant Director: Larry Franco
2nd Assistant Director: Artist Robinson
DGA Trainee: Scott Senechal

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Gary B. Kibbe
Camera Operator: Jud Kehl
2nd Camera Operator: Raymond N. Stella
Panaglide Operator: Raymond N. Stella
1st Assistant Camera: Jeffrey Norvet
2nd Assistant Camera: Larry Davis
Assistant B Camera: Clyde E. Bryan
Gaffer: Kenneth Spencer
Electricians: Kevin Arnold, Richard Smock, Robert DePerna, Sanford Barr
Best Boy Electric: John Kennedy
Key Grip: Ronald Cardarelli
Grips: Anthony Dimase, Robin Roberts
Best Boy Grip: John Palka
Dolly Grip: David Wachtman
Stills: Bruce Birmelin, Sidney Baldwin
Video Playback: Inter Video
Colour Timer: Phil Downey
Cameras and Lenses: Panavision
Lab: DeLuxe

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editors: Gib Jaffe, Frank E. Jimenez
Assistant Film Editors: Fred M. Wardell, Margaret Goodspeed
Negative Cutter: Gary Burritt

MUSIC
Music: John Carpenter, Alan Howarth
Music Recording Facility: Electric Melody Studios

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Tim Webb
Sound Mixer: Ron Judkins
Boom Operator: Robert Jackson
Sound Re-Recordist: Walter A. Gest
Sound Re-Recording Mixers: Elliot Tyson, Robert J. Litt, Sergio Reyes
Supervising Sound Editor: Jeffrey L. Sandler
Sound Editors: Don Warner, J.H. Arrufat, Hector C. Gika, John Leveque, Larry Carow, Samuel C. Crutcher
Assistant Sound Editor: Mark Boisseau
ADR Recordist: Tom O'Connell
ADR Mixer: Gary Rogers
Supervising ADR Editor: Becky Sullivan-Coblentz
ADR Editor: Solange Schwalbe Boisseau
Sound Effects Recordist: Gary Blufer
Sound Effects Coordinators: John Michael Fanaris, Laurie Ecker
Sound Effects Researcher: Frank A. Fuller Jr
Synthesized Sound Effects: Alan Howarth
Foley Supervisor: Richard E. Yawn
Foley Recordist: Roberta Alstadter
Foley Mixer: Timothy Hoggatt
Foley Editors: Mike Hoskinson, Bob O'Brien, Shawn Sykora
Foley Artists: Gary Hecker, Gregg Barbanell
Dolby Stereo Sound Consultant: Douglas Greenfield
Sound Post Production: Gordon Ecker Productions
Sound Re-Recording: Goldwyn Sound Facility

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Frank Carrisosa
Hair: Elle Elliott
Costume Supervisor: Robin Bush
Costumers: John Young, Robert Bush

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Coordinator: Roy Arbogast
Special Effects Assistants: David Blitstein, Michael Arbogast, William Lee

VISUAL EFFECTS
Special Photographic Effects: Effects Associates Ltd, Jim Danforth
Process Compositing: The Hansard Group
Titles and Opticals: Pacific Title

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Directors: William J. Durrell Jr, Daniel Lomino
Set Decorator: Marvin March
Property Master: Victor Petrotta Jr
Assistant Property Masters: Richard Kerns, John Sweeney
Propmaker: Frank Leasure
Construction Foreman: Michael Wright
Paint Foreman: Richard Girod
Standby Painter: Ernie Millanponce
Labour Foreman: Kenneth Truby
Art Department Assistant: Sean Haworth
Lead Man: Jack Eberhart
Swing: Gregori Renta

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Sandy King
Production Accountant: Joy Ewing
Production Associate: Mathew Dunne
Assistant to John Carpenter: Karin Costa
Assistant to Larry Franco: Sandra Holden
Caterers: Angel Trujillo, Mario's Catering
Craft Service: Richard Chavez
Transportation Coordinator: Kenny Searle
Transportation Captain: Tim Roslan
Drivers: Denny McLaughlin, Jim Brown, Jim Langhorne, Mike Reposar, Steve Latina, Bob Cromwell, Frank Mielcarek, Fred Brookfield, George Bess, John Marendi, Leo Loa, Russ Buckens
Helicopter Pilots: Billie Don Evans, James Deeth
First Aid: Maurice Costello
Production Legal Counsel: E. Barry Haldeman, Jill L. Smith, Mark A. Stankevich
Commercials: Denali Productions Inc

LOCATIONS
Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Location Manager: Ken Lavet

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special Thanks: Control Data Corporation; ETA Systems Inc; Greater St. Peter's Ame Church, Atlanta, GA; The Goodyear Airship Columbia

STUNTS
Stunts Coordinator: Jeff Imada
Stunts: Rick Avery, Christine Baur, Simone Boisseree, John Borland, Brad Bovee, John Branagan, Anthony Brubaker, Kurt Bryant, David Burton, David Cadiente, Jimmy Casino, John J. Casino, Phil Chong, Gary Combs, Gilbert B. Combs, Bob K. Cummings, Gary Charles Davis, Tim Davison, Shane Dixon, Richard Duran, Eurlyne Epper, Gary Epper, Jon H. Epstein, Debbie Evans, Diamond Farnsworth, George Fisher, Joseph G. Gilbert, Andy Gill, Allan Graf, Randy Hall, Steve Hart, Eddie Hice, Freddie Hice, Marcia Holley, Norman Howell, Brian Imada, John Michael Johnson, Matt D. Johnston, Chris Kent, Henry Kingi, Joel Kramer, Daniel Eric Lee, Al Leong, James Lew, Billy D. Lucas, Eric Mansker, Matt McColm, John C. Meier, Bennie E. Moore Jr, Donna L. Noguchi, Charles Picerni Jr, Branscombe Richmond, Danny Rogers, Ronnie Rondell Jr, Thomas Rosales Jr, Timothy Roslan, Debby Lynn Ross, Mike Runyard, Ben Scott, John-Clay Scott, Walter Scott, Jan Michael Shultz, Russell Solberg, Ceci Vendrell, Michael M. Vendrell, Ric Waugh, Danny Weselis, Cheryl Wheeler-Dixon, Scott Wilder, Dianne Wilson, Merritt Yohnka

CASTING
Extras Casting: Sally Perle
Voice Casting: Barbara Harris

CAST
Roddy Piper (Nada)
Keith David (Frank)
Meg Foster (Holly Thompson)
George 'Buck' Flower (drifter)
Peter Jason (Gilbert)
Raymond St. Jacques (street preacher)
Jason Robards III (family man)
John Lawrence (bearded man)
Susan Barnes (brown haired woman)
Sy Richardson (black revolutionary)
Wendy Brainard (family man's daughter)
Lucille Meredith (female interviewer)
Susan Blanchard (ingenue)
Norman Alden (foreman)
Dana Bratton (black junkie)
John F. Goff (well dressed customer)
Norm Wilson (vendor)
Thelma Lee (rich lady)
Stratton Leopold (depressed human)
Rezza Shan (Arab clerk)
Norman Howell (blond haired cop)
Larry Franco (neighbour)
Tom Searle (biker)
Robert Grasmere (scruffy blond man)
Vince Inneo (passageway guard)
Bob Hudson (passageway guard #2)
Jon Paul Jones (manager)
Dennis Michael (male news anchor)
Nancy Gee (female news anchor)
Claudia Stanlee (young female executive)
Christine Baur (woman on phone)
Eileen Wesson (pregnant secretary)
Gregory Barnett (security guard #1)
Jimmy Nickerson (security guard #2)
Kerry Rossall (2nd unit guard)
Cibby Danyla (naked lady)
Jeff Imada (male ghoul)
Michelle Costello (female ghoul)

Stand In: Gregory Parrish, T.Z. Garrison

PLOT SUMMARY

A never-named construction worker discovers a pair of special sunglasses which allow him him to see the truth of the real world - that the human race has unknowingly been subjugated by an alien race who are keeping the planet's population under control with a series of subliminal messages. He must now try to persuade others of what he can see and lead the fight back and free the human race...

CAPSULE REVIEW

They Live is a wildly imaginative satire is a witty swipe at the Reagan-era administration and was a considerable risk for Carpenter, still smarting from the undeserved critical mauling of Prince of Darkness (1987). Its heady blend of Philip K. Dick-style paradigm shifts, political satire and 50s SF movie cliches could so very easily have gone horribly wrong. But Carpenter's uncanny ability to make even the most preposterous idea work pulled him through and the only thing that really lets it down is a pointless, indecisive denoument that relies too readily on deus ex machina and not enough on narrative development.

AVAILABILITY

France
DVD Distributors: Studiocanal Vidéo

UK
Laserdisc Distributors: Pioneer (PLFEB 30351)

USA
Theatrical Distributors: MCA / Universal Pictures
Video Distributors: Universal Studios Home Video; MCA / Universal Home Video
Laserdisc Distributors: MCA / Universal Home Video (40843)
DVD Distributors: Image Entertainment (ID 4234 USDVD)

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: M

Norway
Rating: 18

Singapore
Rating: M18

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

West Germany
Rating: 18 (nf)

AWARDS

1989
Fantasporto, Portugal
International Fantasy Film Award: Best Film (John Carpenter) - nominated

1990
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, USA (Saturn Awards)
Best Music (John Carpenter, Alan Howarth) - nominated
Best Science Fiction Film - nominated

TIMELINE

1988
November
4: USA - theatrical release

1989
February
Day Unknown: Portugal - shown at the Fantasporto Film Festival

April
19: France - theatrical release

May
12: Australia - theatrical release

June
23: UK - theatrical release

1990
May
4: West Germany - theatrical release

DVD Distributors: Image Entertainment (ID 4234 USDVD)
25: USA - DVD release (Image Entertainment (ID 4234 USDVD))

1999
November
Day Unknown: Italy - shown at the Turin Film Festival

POSTER TAGS

Who are they? And what do they want?

You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they're people just like you. You're wrong. Dead wrong.

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Eles Vivem - Portuguese title
Essi vivono - Italian title
Están vivos - Spanish title
Invasion Los Angeles - French title
Oni zyja - Polish title
Pahan kehä - Finnish title
Sie leben! - West German title
They Live! - US advertising title

LINKS

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
Ultimate Fights from the Movies (2002)

INCLUDES FOOTAGE FROM
The Monolith Monsters (1957)

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

Première May 1989 p.34 - French title
review (by Laurent Bachet)

KEYWORDS

advertising, aliens, alien invasions, police, preachers, short story into film, subliminal messages, sunglasses, teleportation, television

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009