Transcript

They Live · Citizen Frame

0:02
You look like your head fell on the cheese dip back in 1957,
0:11
you're okay this one real fucking ugly oh you see i take these glasses off she
0:19
looks like a regular person doesn't she huh put them back on formaldehyde face
0:24
that's what we got enough out.
0:35
Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of Citizen Frame.
0:41
I got some sad news. We actually recorded the full Monty, which we said we would
0:46
be doing for this week's podcast, and we did so.
0:49
Unfortunately, there was a technical
0:50
glitch. I would obviously blame Trevor, but it was not his fault.
0:57
It was my own. I have a new mic here and something just didn't record right.
1:01
Now we go back and we record.
1:03
But the one thing about our podcast, besides being prepped with some notes and,
1:07
you know, some, you know, information about the film and stuff,
1:11
we kind of just go with the flow.
1:14
The only editing we do is sound issues and so forth.
1:21
Because we don't, if we re-recorded it, it wouldn't be as spontaneous and it
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wouldn't be, it'd just come up formulaic and. It wouldn't be the same podcast?
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Yeah, it wouldn't be what we usually do. Cause anytime we fuck up stuff,
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which is usually me, we like to keep it in there just because fuck,
1:39
it's just the way the conversation flew.
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Flowed. Keeps it more natural. See, flew, flow, I screwed that up, but I won't edit it. See?
1:46
Yeah. But we will do the full Monty again. We're just going to let it marinate
1:50
for a a while and redo it maybe in the end of the summer but meantime we're
1:56
gonna put our clothes back on for a while you'll be glad to hear and then we'll
2:01
do it again that was terrible dude I know I know bad joke,
2:06
Wow. Wow. I apologize. You know what?
2:12
I'm not going to end with that. Don't. I want people to know what I have to
2:16
deal with on a daily basis.
2:19
But yeah, so we will get to it. So we had to quickly get one in that we're a
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little more prepared for, one that we knew.
2:25
And we decided to go back to what you guys have been asking us to do for a while.
2:30
And I don't know why it took so long to get to it. It is outside the box of
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the gritty crime drama we've been doing, but it's definitely a pleasant one to do.
2:39
And that is looking at John Carpenter's 1988 cult smash, well,
2:45
cult hit now, which is They Live.
2:49
Yep. Yeah. Life's a bitch and she's back in heat.
2:55
There's actually lots of quotable one-liners in this.
2:58
Obviously the one about, you know, I'm here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.
3:03
You know, but there's quite a few others.
3:05
Yeah, there's quite a bit. Most of it's improv by Roddy Piper himself.
3:10
Yes. So, They Live. This is co-produced by longtime producer and assistant director
3:16
to John Carpenter, Larry Franco.
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It was written by John Carpenter. However, it's based on the science fiction short story.
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It was written by a man named Ray Nelson.
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It was called 8 a.m in
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the morning so there you go yep i
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must be honest and say that i haven't read the short story but it
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is one that i would like to you know yes he's
3:43
written quite a bit but film wise or something that was inspired by his work
3:48
this would be the only one well this very much plays out like an old sort of
3:53
pulp sci-fi story anyway an extended one even in an episode of the twilight
3:58
zone or outer limits or something like that. Yeah.
4:02
Yeah. The short story itself was written in 1963 around that,
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you know, that's that era.
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And it is about a man named George, George Nada.
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He wakes up to find that there is a great secret being kept from the world and
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he's the only human to have found out the truth.
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Obviously the, that's just the, this story He obviously expands on that,
4:28
John Carpenter's version, but we'll dive into it.
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This cost $4 million to make. John Carpenter's stuff has always been lower budget
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and has always profited.
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It made $14 million. Not a massive profit.
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It wasn't a big hit, but it was a massive critical hit.
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And, of course, like most of Carpenter's stuff, massive resurgence on video
4:52
format. Matt and again, like wash carpenter stuff. It's a cult hit.
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I mean, I first saw it on video, like so many of the films we review on here
5:04
and that I watched as a kid. I would have watched them first on video.
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And, you know, this is one of them. And yeah, the thing I love about Carpenter
5:12
and his films is that essentially, and I don't mean this in the best possible way, they're B-movies.
5:18
But they are just greatly entertaining and they most definitely deserve to be
5:23
cult classics, which so many of them are.
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I mean, you can describe his vision as a B movie.
5:30
I would describe Moore as Carpenter as an A-list director with B movie intentions.
5:37
Yep, yep, yeah. He doesn't sell out. Now, he's never sold out.
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Yeah, so he could go play with the big boys, but he's always been a little more grounded.
5:47
It kind of sounds like he's been screwed over a bit with some of his films not
5:51
being hits. hits, like for instance, he wanted to do a couple of films,
5:54
but he couldn't do them for certain reasons. The thing bombed on him and that didn't help.
5:58
Who knew the thing would be crowning success.
6:02
Yes. But that was then, so we kind of stepped away from it. I think,
6:06
I really think he's just stepped away from Hollywood.
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That's not because he didn't want to keep, he didn't want to keep filmmaking.
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I just don't, I think people weren't understanding his style when it tweaked
6:18
into the nineties with movies like Vampires, Ghost of Mars, even the newest, even escape from LA.
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Yeah. For some reason, his be kind of visionary, uh.
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Didn't translate well as the 90s became a darker
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tone era so i think that's what happened carpenter but
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but then as time has went on they've increased the popularity again it's like
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you know peaks and troughs you know yeah i was in the 90s yeah he wasn't as
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popular perhaps but then he his popularity has increased oh john carver never
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went away no he never went away but he's yeah yeah he's He's,
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his stuff is all cult status. I mean, everything he's done.
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But I love that. You know, and so he's, he's found his, maybe he can,
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he's pretty much retired from filmmaking now, but yeah, I mean,
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his, his stuff is longevity,
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his stuff you can watch over and over again, even his later work. Great stories.
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As silly as Ghost on Mars is,
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it's got got rewatchability um as cheesy it is in vampires vampires is actually
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fun a big following and that's very good and james woods is so fun in that movie as well.
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Well like i say he's never sold out and he's
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always stuck to what he obviously enjoys and where
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he feels most at home at he's never went for big budget
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mainstream and you know what good you know i did go
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big budget once and unfortunately it was
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a failure but rumor has
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it it was because of chevy chase it was very
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difficult to work with more well partly he is very
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difficult to work with yeah i don't know what happened on set so i won't you
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know go after chevy chase or anything but carpet always works with the same
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team usually works with universal it has a good relationship with all the people
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he works with so when you put a little tension on the set that he probably We
8:14
just wasn't on, it was uncomfortable with it maybe,
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but we're going to has it. Sam Neill was very cool on the set.
8:19
This movie is called Memoirs of a Visible Man.
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Yes. Actually a very clever film for its time. We'd like to revisit it again.
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But it's definitely the one where Carpenter decided just to go back to what was for him.
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And then I believe he jumped in the mouth of badness, going back to more ground
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and working with Sam Meehl again. Yes.
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How much we covered on this podcast? Yes, we did. Yes, we did.
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Because it's John fucking Carpenter.
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John Carpenter is, if not my favorite director of all time.
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So, but everyone knows that. All right. You could certainly be a blur with myself.
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So we got Roddy Piper, the man with no name.
9:01
He does not have a name, this character, but in the credits,
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the king, carpenter just gave him one. He's called Nada.
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He's just named after the last name of George Nada, who was featured in the original short story.
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And then you've got our boy from the thing, Keith David, who I've always liked
9:20
to see in films, plays Frank. Totally.
9:22
Meg Foster, I can't act at all, but she's Something about her. Her plays Holly.
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Peter Jason is always fun to watch. He's Gilbert.
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And then you got George Buckflower, the drifter. Now George Buckflower has a
9:34
smaller part in the beginning, but we'll get to it. He has a bigger part near the end.
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But the reason I mentioned him is because he's in all the Carpenter stuff.
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And also, and also he also plays another homeless guy in Back to the Future.
9:49
Yeah. He's red. Yeah, that's right.
9:53
George Buckflower just passed away. not just recently, but you'll know him from
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all the, you'll see his face, you'll know right away, Carpenter,
10:00
he's got that raspy voice and
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he's always been the one, he's my favorite line in Carpenter's The Fog.
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He's the fisherman who says, there's no fog bank out there.
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See the movie, you'll get what I'm talking about. But, so it was nice to see him.
10:17
I haven't seen The Fog in years. I'm going to have to revisit it.
10:20
The Fog is, I watched The Fog once every every couple of months,
10:25
if not more. So it's a fucking great.
10:27
I remember, you know, really enjoying it as a kid. I found it really spooky.
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So the film itself is, I don't know how to go with it, really.
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See, you brought in Rodney Piper. In the 80s, you had all these wrestlers,
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like now, where you've got UFC people and wrestlers like The Rock,
10:49
John Cena, Bustista, you know, really finding their niche and doing well,
10:54
and they deserve it. Kudos.
10:55
In the 80s, they tried to do that. It didn't really translate as well.
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Rodney Piper. I think Andre the Giant was a wrestler, but he did The Princess Bride.
11:04
And then you had Hulk Hogan, obviously Rocky III at the time.
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So you have these wrestlers now doing their transition into acting,
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which actually I could see because especially for the action film,
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because people don't realize this, well, I'm sure most of them do actually,
11:20
that a wrestler is an actor because everything they do is staged.
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But it's- It's staged very well. I mean, these guys are pretty much stunt workers.
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Totally so it does make
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sense uh and and i will
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say ronnie piper not the
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greatest actor of all time but man is he likable
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and that's what you get with most of these guys who hit the screen just like
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schwarzenegger and van damme they're just there's a presence there that you
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just like yeah i agree you know he is totally likable but let's just say his
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performance certainly in this This isn't exactly nuanced and he doesn't have
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a great dramatic range, but you know what?
12:01
You know, we're not watching this for sort of, you know, sort of heavy acting chops.
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No, no. I mean, you know. You can hear Carpenter's style in his music.
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Yes. He teams up with his buddy Alan Howa for this score and they play this
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din, din, din, din, like this Ennio Morricone score.
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Yeah, like Western type. Yeah. Yeah, as he's coming into town,
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here comes this drifter, the man with no name, technically.
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Stranger comes to town. Yeah, so, and that's what they're playing with.
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I know Carpenter so well that everything he does is based...
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Usually on, you can just see it, whether it's high Eastern or something, Rio Bravo or high noon.
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I mean, this even has a very magnificent seven feel.
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Yeah, there's two of them, but it's pretty much a one-way trip.
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So it's...
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Concerning the acting, Keith David definitely sort of carries it very much.
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Well, at very least in the scenes that he's in, of course, you know, he can act. Yeah, yeah.
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And then you've also got Peter Jason who plays Gilbert. He's,
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you know, he's worked with Carpenter.
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Uh-huh. Holly, Holly's just, what do you call it? She appears alien just anyway.
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You know, she's like an alien clone of, you know, Vision of the Body Snatchers
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version of Kirstie Alley. Yeah.
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But she's got those, she's got those fucking eyes.
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Yeah, it's weird. It's alien-like, you know? Yeah, exactly.
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So I like the opening shot when Roddy comes into town And right off the bat,
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the great thing about Carpenter is that we're about to watch be hokey, cheesy, fun,
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but at the same time, there's a really good story here.
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It's clever. It's a satire. Yes. And so he knows how to pepper in little moments.
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And it happens at the beginning here where it's about consumerism and how much
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we are easily hypnotized or the subliminal messaging that comes through the TV.
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When Roddy Piper walks into town, there's a man to sit there glued through a storefront TV.
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Yeah. And he's not moving. His eyes aren't, he's not blinking.
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Rankings is memorized and all it is is an advertisement of some sort that's
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on the tv and even even as well whenever before he sort of goes to the sort
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of shanty town whenever he first sort of sleeps rough but at the start one of
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the other homeless guys is basically watching the tv as well through somebody else's window.
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Yeah, and then you have, let me ask you this though. When he goes to the homeless place.
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Yes. There's a blind preacher there. Yes.
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And he's mimicking or he's lip syncing to the words that this evangelist.
15:03
Yes. Is on the TV.
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How is he doing that? Is that because he wrote them?
15:08
Because he's, that's again, the one talking on the TV is whenever the transformations break through.
15:13
Yes. You know, from the, basically, for want of a better phrase, the Rebels. Yes.
15:18
Well, basically, he's probably, I think it's probably because he's heard that
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recording. That's a recording.
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I think he's heard it before. Oh, okay. Okay, I thought it was live.
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Revolutionary gang who know the score about the aliens.
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I think. I mean, it's not fully explained, but I can only assume it's maybe
15:35
because it's a recording and he's heard it several times before.
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It was probably there when it was recorded, even.
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Okay. Okay. And the story's pretty quick It's pretty simplified right away When Gilbert tells.
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We have this meeting And you find out that All they have to do is shut the signal
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down It's so simple I know But still clever?
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Yeah it is, that's what I was saying All they have to do is Break down the satellite
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dish On top of this radio station,
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Which could just, you know know sounds like a pretty simple
16:12
yeah but it's not about that i mean while the main sort of objective is simple
16:18
it's more about his journey and i mean it's quite a short film as well an hour
16:23
and a half just and but it's but there's all that clever commentary about sort
16:28
of mindless consumerism and all the rest.
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When Nada finds that the church is kind of like something's going on in the
16:38
church. Yeah. And he finds the glasses.
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Yes. And this is where things turn a bit. And this is where,
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once we're into, we're already introduced to Frank, which is Keep David.
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Yes. And, but he finds his glasses and he goes for a walk and he puts them on
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and he sees everything black and white.
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Again, Carpenter being so stylish.
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I think one of the reasons he went black and white and
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not for the obvious reasons it's you know black and white it's because
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when he when he puts on the glasses it looks like
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something from the 50s oh yeah
17:14
totally i mean this is this is very much got sort of
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1950s b-movie vibes about
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it and obviously carpenter you know going by his other work you know like the
17:25
thing and stuff obviously carpenter is a big fan of this type of story so yeah
17:29
yeah i mean even the spaceships and all that you don't see whenever they have
17:34
the glasses off you know are very 1950s-esque.
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Yeah and that's what he does throughout this entire film is
17:42
that he pretty much shows his
17:44
love for the area he grew up with or the cinema he's
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done it with the salton precinct 13 he's obviously the thing
17:51
which is a remake i think from in the world skip to new york
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even has this kind of vibe to it it's
17:57
like a western escape from new york it's you know yeah i mean everything he
18:01
touches and big trouble on china is a perfect example i i would say as well
18:08
whenever i was watching it for this particular time for the podcast i was thinking
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ruddy ruddy piper is Is basically playing Kurt Russell,
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playing this type of role here, you know, not as good as Kurt Russell,
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you know, obviously, but it's very much, you can 100% imagine Kurt Russell in this role.
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Okay. Let me ask you this.
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When he's got the glasses on and he sees the alien and we see,
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we see subliminal message consume by obey all this stuff.
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And the dude, the alien man, is reading the paper.
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Is he reading a real paper or is he seeing obey, conceal?
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Well, he's an alien, so maybe he's reading the real text. I don't know.
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That's a good point, isn't it? Because he's an alien. I think the sort of subliminal
19:02
stuff is more for the humans to basically brainwash them because they're basically
19:06
using Earth and the humans before moving on to another planet,
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as it's basically said later on.
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So yeah maybe he's just actually reading the news
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you know i like
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the scene where he goes into you know like after that's very straight after
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this he's into the shops and he's like he's seeing
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them all getting their hair done and stuff and they're it's actually
19:29
quite creepy because in the start going for him i think that
19:32
this could have been expanded upon more this this particular scene
19:35
where they go we've got one who can see and
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they all start moving towards him it's actually very creepy well instead
19:42
of them going for him the police come well the
19:45
alien police it's it's kind of a the one drawback i
19:48
have with it is he seems to get away quite easily
19:51
yeah i mean he fucking robs a bank and shoots people
19:53
to shit out of people and stuff yeah there's really no
19:56
at this point threat and he's
20:01
the more of the threat to me if this
20:04
film and i really enjoy this film you know
20:07
there is being honest and being sort of
20:10
like super critical there is a lack of
20:13
tension and threat at times you know oh there's
20:15
no tension or threat yeah but what what
20:18
it does have though is just a good fucking time yeah it's good stuff even at
20:25
the end it sucks when these two get it and so especially david for some reason
20:31
it so it it's done it does Does his job. Yeah. So.
20:37
It's a pretty. But it's a pretty weak death scene. For Nada as well. At the end.
20:43
Yeah. But. I think that's. I think that's the way they wanted to keep it.
20:49
I really do. I really do think that's Carpenter.
20:51
Sticking with the simplicity of certain scenes.
20:55
Like they would do back in the. Like.
20:58
Like the fifties. Yeah. The grocery, I mean, it does pick up the violence quite a bit, actually.
21:04
Oh yeah. So he does, he peppers it on, he peppers it in quite a bit.
21:07
The grocery store scene is funny.
21:09
I mean, when he walks in with the girl and he goes, yeah, he goes,
21:12
Jesus, he goes, your head looks like it fell into the cheese dip back in 1957.
21:17
And then he turns to the normal woman and he says, you, you're okay.
21:22
This one, real fucking ugly. That's right.
21:26
And then he goes it's you know with the watch he goes i've got
21:29
one that can see you know i think it's her or
21:32
one of the other ones and then it starts that's when they start sort of
21:34
moving towards him yeah um and then you're obviously he
21:37
like fights the cops and stuff and you know whenever they
21:40
come after him but like you say it's all a bit too easy you know well yeah well
21:45
it he gets away with it a couple times because they didn't expect it coming
21:49
then he goes into the bank and he blows the face off one of them so it's brutal
21:54
and i think that's That's why it was black and white when you were seeing that
21:58
shot, because otherwise you'd be pretty brutal.
22:00
So I think that's why some of the violence is.
22:04
Well, it's possible. I know that Quentin Tarantino had to do it,
22:08
or well, he did it anyway with the first Kill Bill.
22:10
You know, that crazy idiot battle where it's just a bloodbath.
22:14
Well, he had for the Western world.
22:18
I actually have watched the color version of it that was released in sort of the Asian market.
22:24
But for the western world version it was filmed and it had to be put in black
22:29
and white due to the I know it's comic book violence but it is you know over
22:32
the top blood splatter and heads rolling you know so maybe yeah it could be the same case here when,
22:39
he has to escape from all this chaos he kidnaps Holly right how convenient and
22:46
oh yeah she just happens to work at the TV station as well really convenient.
22:50
I mean I,
22:53
She should have sold this better. She's so bland. Now, I don't,
22:56
and obviously this is Carpenter's direction to tell her to be emotionless because
23:00
she's pretty much like a robot. So I don't. Is she like an android?
23:04
What's that? She's like an android? A robot, yeah?
23:07
Yeah, like I just said. Thank you. I was agreeing with you. Yeah,
23:11
but you'd have to repeat it.
23:14
Is there a fucking echo? What? Is there an echo? People, you see? You see? Obey, consume.
23:23
You know, don't ask questions. Put your glasses on and fuck off.
23:28
So yeah, but that's my point. The point is that is obviously corporate would
23:32
tell her just do it emotionless. Okay.
23:35
Because the big twist that she's involved in all this.
23:38
She's a conspirator. But. Yeah. But a double agent too.
23:42
I see the problem I have with that is that it doesn't work for me because A,
23:46
I wouldn't give a fuck if she was, cause I don't like her already.
23:50
Uh-huh. and yeah that's it
23:53
i mean also it appears she also has super strength as
23:55
well because you can throw rowdy roddy piper
23:59
who's built like a shit brick house a massive and
24:02
he's about twice the size of her but she can like casually with like the flip
24:05
of a hand throw him outside or throw him through a window yeah so yeah she chucks
24:10
him out the window and then when we see him see when she sees him later he's
24:14
like she's like oh yeah i thought i killed you sorry about that and he's He's like, yeah, we're cool.
24:20
And what I don't get, the way she just, the way she presents herself is so boring.
24:26
It's the complete opposite. Is he a body catcher? Yeah. Like he's a clone?
24:29
It's the complete opposite of what we got, what we get from Frank and Nada's character. Yeah.
24:36
Yeah, well, I think they have a connect again, you know, and he's lively,
24:40
whereas Roddy Piper, not the greatest actor, but he has that presence, like you say.
24:46
But yeah, but also what really myths me, I don't know, it's just a bit of a
24:49
sort of plot convenience thing, but despite her being completely emotionless
24:53
and trying to kill him, he falls in love with her, love at first sight. What?
24:58
You know? Oh, I don't think he did that. We'll have to go back for Holly. You know, all this.
25:03
Really? You know, why?
25:06
He's a good guy i know not if
25:09
you were working in the bank that day you know but
25:13
he only killed aliens oh that is true
25:16
no he didn't kill any
25:19
humans i know that i know but it's still quite graphic ah fuck them they're
25:24
aliens fucking assholes so let's talk about the famous was supposed to be a
25:30
few seconds fight scene they trained for a couple weeks for a couple of months And yeah,
25:37
so this is weird because, well, I think only Carpenter could pull this off, maybe Tarantino.
25:46
And the reason I say that, it's brutal, but it's slapsticky.
25:51
It's dragged out too much as well, I think. It's what?
25:54
Dragged out too much. Well, that's what I think.
25:59
I think it's a little too much. But when you ask people about they live,
26:05
they say two things they love about it.
26:08
I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and I'm all out of bubblegum and the
26:13
fight sequence, they love this scene.
26:16
And I think it's kind of overdone.
26:19
It is overdone. And it's not so much overdone, but overly long. It's too long.
26:24
It goes on for ages. It's like, eventually like, well, what do you think overly done means?
26:30
Means well yeah well yeah well overly
26:33
done could also mean like overly acted or whatever you know
26:36
so it could mean several things actually god
26:39
but anyway where's podcast ever well no it's not you know but anyway it's it's
26:46
also it's almost like a fucking advert for wwf as well you know because yeah
26:51
sort of slick moves in there yeah you can tell roddy piper helped out a bit it there,
26:56
some of the stunt work and all.
26:59
It was fun, but I was looking at my watch and I mean, don't get me wrong,
27:07
the outcome of it works because when he makes him put on the glasses finally-
27:13
And he's like, what the fuck? Them walking out of the alley and they're just
27:16
beating the shit out of each other. That is funny.
27:19
So maybe the payoff works for having to be so long because the payoff is funny.
27:25
Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it could have been edited, I think.
27:28
Also, what that sort of meant for me as well is whenever, and it is funny,
27:32
whenever they're walking down the street to go to the hotel together.
27:35
After, you know, he finally got him to put on the glasses and they're really
27:39
badly injured. And even when they're in the hotel room, they're really,
27:42
really like, you know, beaten up and bruised and cut and all sorts.
27:46
Then they just get a quick shower and then they're like completely cured,
27:49
fixed again, you know, back to normal.
27:53
But see, isn't that what makes Carpenter so good? Because he can get away with this.
27:59
No, no, no. I mean, I still enjoy it. Yeah. No, I'm not saying anything negative.
28:04
Are you listening to anything that's coming out of my mouth?
28:06
I am. I'm agreeing with you. Are you listening to me? No. No,
28:09
you're not. You just. Oh, my God.
28:13
Anyways, let's get. Yeah, well, Carpenter can get away with it because Carpenter can.
28:19
And I do think Tarantino will get away with it because it's.
28:25
I don't know. There's something about it where if there's any other film,
28:30
any other filmmaker that is, and they just did a six minute fight scene way over the top.
28:36
They're wounded and busted we're having a good laugh with them we're walking
28:40
and they can barely stand up and then two seconds later they're like okay let's go fight aliens.
28:45
I think it's because with Tarantino and Carpenter I think it's because it's
28:51
almost like it's self-aware and it's also homage to sort of old sort of B-movies
28:57
that would have done those sorts of things as well people are, the audience,
29:01
people like ourselves are sort of in on the joke with them which is pretty cool,
29:06
Yeah, a carpenter and Tarantino can bring people in like that.
29:09
Yes. Even when he got Rowdy Piper as the lead, and God love him.
29:12
God rest his soul, by the way, he passed down too long ago, a couple of years back.
29:17
But yeah, it's just, there's a, and I use the word a lot, and I'm going to say
29:22
it, there's charm, and it's the charm that makes it.
29:26
Yeah, enthusiasm. It's just there's something about it. It puts a smile on your
29:31
face. Totally, yeah, yeah, definitely.
29:33
So they, when they meet Gilbert at the hotel, and he tells him about this big meeting.
29:40
And then Holly shows up. I'm like, what the fuck's going on here?
29:44
There's actually a really good scene. It's quite a surprise whenever the bomb
29:49
goes off and they're attacked by the alien sort of cops.
29:53
Yeah, I have that on my notes. This is where the killing kind of goes to an art.
29:58
This is the rating starts kicking in a bit because the last act of this film
30:03
is all aliens is getting blown up and this part, the humans are getting it.
30:07
And there's women getting shot in the back as they're running away and they
30:12
don't pull any punches here.
30:15
No, it basically is just to put the point where it turns into Assault on Precinct 13.
30:20
Yeah, I saw that, especially in the alleyway.
30:23
Yes, I saw that. It did have glimpses of that.
30:26
And I do love, oh, we got this watch and it makes them transport.
30:30
Like, no way. Yeah, but we don't
30:32
know the code. So Frank and Nada are running, and they drop the watch.
30:38
Oh, here's your destination.
30:41
Oh, what is that? Oh, you must have set the – so come on.
30:46
I don't, but again, it's part of the sort of – it's tongue-in-cheek.
30:50
Almost remember then on the joke yeah and then they they jumped in the little
30:54
hall and then boom they're the headquarters i love i absolutely love whenever
30:59
they go to basically the alien airport you know where the people are could just
31:03
like being zapped off into space you know yeah.
31:07
Where they weren't on the top tower where are they looking out of what window was that,
31:13
who knows you know don't make sense you know what i mean it's
31:16
just it's they're they're they're fucking out in space
31:18
now you know it's it's no longer who knows and
31:22
i love even you know their former mate
31:25
who's basically portrayed them but yeah you know the the homeless guy
31:28
yeah i love her he says yeah where instead
31:31
of explaining it he says that's just something to do with folded up space time
31:35
or something you know what i mean it's just like again that's a joke to say
31:38
is we're not even going to try and explain this shit yeah well you just run
31:43
with it you can get aware of this the The Hollywood one line fix,
31:46
right? Yeah. And I love that.
31:48
I love when he's just named the homeless guy, but Buck Flower,
31:53
who's the one who betrays him. He's in his tux.
31:57
And I love how. He's sold out completely. I love how there's nobody in the corridors
32:03
and these guys have got fucking, they're armed to the teeth.
32:06
They walk into a formal dinner of some sort and none of them says anything to him.
32:11
And Nicholas Buck Flower, he's like, Like, oh, hey guys, what's up?
32:16
Are you here for the meeting? And they're like, uh, yeah, sure.
32:19
Can I invest for the occasion, he says, or something like that.
32:23
And then they ask him, why are you doing this? And he says, oh,
32:27
it's for fame and stuff and wealth.
32:31
And so wait a minute, they did say, he said something about they're treating
32:37
this planet as a third world.
32:40
They're just using us for the resources and then leaving?
32:43
Pretty much so and then he says so why not
32:46
get rich off the back of it by helping them out he sold out completely
32:49
so he has but won't they if he
32:52
what resources are they taking i believe
32:55
it's i don't even think that's fully explained but
32:58
it's something like just natural resources and i think
33:02
well won't we die then and what's what's what
33:04
good is that gonna do him well i don't know maybe he's planning
33:07
on being whisked off you know and space airport and the
33:10
tv station you know to their planet which
33:13
again just totally reminded me of the twilight zone and that famous episode
33:18
of the twilight zone to serve man oh yeah yeah people are going on holidays
33:22
to the alien planet but with a very dark twist you know so when they start blowing shit up and yeah.
33:32
And going through the corridors, blowing everyone away. Everyone's getting shot
33:36
and they got contacts on now.
33:39
So, and. Again, convenience, so they don't have to wear the glasses.
33:43
Well, that actually works for me. I was aware of that. And then. Oh no.
33:46
So they, they, they go in and they start blowing everyone away and then he'll
33:51
stop and talk to a secretary.
33:53
Oh, hey, lovely. Listen, do you know how we can get to the blah, blah?
33:56
And she's like, yeah, I just go this way. Thank you. Oh, she's, he's, he's human.
34:00
That's why he's talking to her so nicely. And then he'll blow the shit out of
34:03
someone else. Yeah, like a myth. So you know the ones he's killing are the baddies.
34:08
Yep, the aliens. Yeah, I thought that was kind of funny.
34:12
And then he'd start, you'd be like, yeah, blowing everyone away.
34:14
And then two seconds later, oh, hey, sweetie, do you know where I can get a.
34:17
You expect to be on the charmer?
34:21
It's quick, but it's a cheat and it works.
34:25
Again, I don't think I'd appreciate it in other films, but this one,
34:29
we're going with it, right?
34:31
And it's when Frank gets it, man, right at this point, I can't remember what
34:39
I felt of Holly when I first saw it. Did I figure it out or not?
34:43
It's not really a big plot twist, but she just walks up behind him.
34:46
It's like a really weird cut.
34:48
She comes up behind him. It cuts away. Yeah, and it cuts away.
34:52
And then she shows up on the roof without Frank. And then obviously Nada puts
34:57
the pieces together, but it's a nice cheat.
35:01
But it shouldn't work, but it does. Does it make any sense what I'm saying?
35:05
No, no, I know what you're saying. It's basically, I mean, yes,
35:08
he's killed off screen, especially, which is a bit weird considering all the
35:11
violence that we've just witnessed.
35:13
So, you know, maybe the effect or whatever, you know, didn't work right and
35:18
they didn't have time to shoot it again or Keith David wasn't available or whatever.
35:21
So they just, you know, made that quick edit. Who knows?
35:24
I mean, generally, this film, there's a lot of, you could pick holes in this all day.
35:29
But I'm not picking a hole at it. That's my point. No, I know that.
35:32
It works for some reason.
35:36
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think with this film overall, it gets away with a lot
35:42
because it is so likable, essentially.
35:47
Yeah, yeah. I know, but I don't know. And I think as well, again,
35:54
come back to the, I think we're in on the joke with Carpenter.
35:58
It's a nudge and a wink and homage to sort of B-movies, 50s B-movies and all sorts.
36:03
It's that old saying, you're laughing with it, not at it. 100%.
36:09
But yeah, so they live. Yeah, I have. And I revisit it once every few years. Same here.
36:16
But it's, of all my Carpenters, it's not one of my favorites.
36:20
Which the last couple we did was In the Mouth of Madness and just this one.
36:24
And there are two, there'd probably be two, even though I love all the Carpenter
36:28
stuff, period. All of them. Yes.
36:30
These two would be at the bottom, believe it or not. Really?
36:33
Yeah. This would be one of my favorite Carpenters?
36:35
Yeah, this would be, there's some, there's, I just can't, you know,
36:39
Salted Priest, like 13, The Thing, Halloween, Big Trouble in Old China,
36:44
Escape from New York, Escape from LA, Starman, Christine.
36:49
Christine i mean prince of darkness these are
36:52
far superior films yes yes i know that they're
36:54
they are far better films and they're most definitely
36:58
far better carpenter films you know in terms from a
37:01
technical part of you but again this one is just it's just so like it puts a
37:05
smile on my face yeah yeah you're right and like i said just because it's lower
37:09
my carpenter scale my carpenter scale is fucking everything's above you know
37:13
way above water here so So it's not an insult, but you're right.
37:18
At the end of the day, it's just good comic book fun.
37:22
And the aliens look cool as fuck as well. You know, with their sort of,
37:26
they look like basically zombies, because that's obviously a play on people
37:29
who are sort of brainwashed by consumerism, that they're basically zombies.
37:34
I just like the fact you need them on my skinless.
37:37
Yeah, you know. Yeah, they're quite ghoulish looking. And, I mean,
37:41
it even ends on a big joke where, you know, it's basically the fella and the
37:45
girl's having sex, and he's an alien.
37:47
He goes, and this is when we're going to see them all. He goes,
37:50
what's the matter, baby?
37:52
Or something like that. There's Siskel and Ebert are in it as well.
37:55
As the movie reviewers are complaining about too much violence in films by Carpenter
37:59
and Romero. Yeah, that was funny.
38:03
Yeah, don't get me wrong. It's definitely a good time.
38:07
And it's nice taking a break after seeing, talking about that,
38:11
just depressing down her dead man's shoes as good as it was.
38:17
Yes. All right. Oh, in terms of toneness, it's like a world away. Yeah.
38:22
So next up, we're going to be going back to the gritty crime with the long good
38:27
Friday with Bob Hoskins and the very young Helen Mirren.
38:33
And so join us for that one. And the new issue of Phantasmagoria is out now.
38:38
It's available on Amazon worldwide and, of course, locally here in Forbidden
38:41
Planet and other stores within the U.S.
38:44
Yep. You could give us a shout here. citizenframe underscore
38:48
podcast on instagram and of course facebook give
38:52
us a shout they live was a recommendation a few
38:55
times by a couple different people and so we
38:58
do honor most requests if they come through and we'll certainly try to tackle
39:03
them in a quick and timely manner we will update as long as we don't fuck up
39:10
the recording again and trevor doesn't echo me,
39:16
At Trevor doesn't echo me.
39:19
You know what? I opened the window on that one. I fucked up.
39:22
I opened the window on that one. All right, guys. Listen, take care of yourselves. We'll chat soon.
39:27
Music.