Escape from New YorkThere's a saying: it's easy to break into prison, but breaking out's another matter. Escape from New York is an action film about former war hero turned criminal, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), who is made an offer he can't refuse by United States Police Chief, Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef), after the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence) is abducted in the nation's most dangerous city-turned-death prison, New York City. Snake is offered a full pardon for his crimes, but only if he can return the President to safety in time to deliver a speech at a summit with the other superpowers. Snake has less than twenty-four hours, and his life depends on his mission's success.
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Escape from New York is set in a dystopian near future, one where the crime rate in the United States has skyrocketed, and as a result, the island of Manhattan has been walled off and made into a maximum security prison. It is implied to be a station of last resort for the nation's worst and most undesirable convicts, a dead city where clans of crooks have organized into a mad, primitive culture, including the notorious leader of the residents, the self-proclaimed "Duke of New York City" (Isaac Hayes). The mission to rescue the President would be fitting of any run-of-the-mill action film; but John Carpenter's writing and direction gives Escape from New York a cynical, bleak edge, evidenced by Snake's indifference to the fate of the President. He is coerced into action by a threat to his safety, not an appeal to his heroism. Prior to being sent into the city by stealth glider, Snake is tricked and injected with miniature explosives, which Hauk threatens to detonate if Snake doesn't deliver the President on time for his summit appearance. Hauk claims that the fate of the nation rests with his delivering a key address about nuclear fusion weaponry--although this "summit" is implied to be little more than posturing to subdue other nations warring with the United States. The ubiquitous sentiment in Escape from New York is not that Snake's success will secure a better world for us all, but that he is a prisoner--like the prisoners in the city--and is a slave to the authoritarian government. The prison central command--ironically situated in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty--is a military-grade compound. It is the kind of hard, sterile outpost in which men in faceless masks patrol with machine guns, and automated recordings advise prisoners that should they wish to avoid incarceration, they may submit to immediate cremation instead. Although Hauk reads Snake's accomplished service record aloud, including multiple commendations and awards, he also comments that the crime that got Snake sentenced to life in New York City was an attempt to rob the Federal Reserve. Snake is a recognized war hero, and virtually everyone he runs into in New York City comments that they "thought he was dead", with the implication being that the media spun a story about the death of a war hero instead of reporting the truth of his apparent fall from grace. After seeing the nation for what it has truly become--a land where freedom is a lie and life is cheap--it becomes easy to relate to why Snake has become such a sardonic, disillusioned man.
From the first time we see Snake Plissken, we can tell that he's a "bad dude", from his eye patch, his leather jacket, his three-day stubble, and his knowing sneer. Snake is a highly trained commando commissioned for an infiltration mission deep in the heart of enemy territory, even if he is no longer a formal member of the military. The character of Snake Plissken was so iconic, that virtually all of these elements were carried over into the popular video game series, "Metal Gear Solid", from the style of the mission to most of all, the character of "Snake" himself. Snake's journey into the wasteland that New York City has become is a mission into the depths of depravity, like a trip into the underworld itself. Snake's journey is similar to that of Dante Alighieri in his epic poem of his descent into Hell, "Dante's Inferno", where he visits increasingly warped and malevolent realms where the condemned reside for eternity. Men fight in mortal combat at the whim of the Duke, and rival gangs patrol the street out of hunger; it is implied that they have turned cannibal, crawling and scurrying through the dark streets just like rats. The grim and dangerous streets of this future New York City are an exaggeration of the image of a pre-gentrified New York City, which was at one point so notoriously dangerous that it earned the nickname of "Fear City". Little to no electricity runs through the city anymore, except for that which has been furnished by the genius of fellow inmate, Harold "Brain" Hellman (Harry Dean Stanton), who happens to have a complicated past with Snake. Snake skulks through the alleys of this warzone--where the streets are lit by flaming barrels and the wreckage of Air Force One--seeking the President. He discovers that in order to track him down, he will have to meet with the infamous Duke, an man so feared that even the knowledgeable "Cabbie" (Ernest Borgnine) is reluctant to cross his path. The Duke has kidnapped the President in a bold plan to use him to open the gates to the prison and let loose these dangerous criminals back into the world. This plan also requires a map in possession of Brain and his girlfriend, Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), detailing a safe route across one of the mined bridges leading out of the city. For Snake to accomplish his mission of escaping with the President, he will need Brain and Maggie to help him sneak into the Duke's demesne, and Cabbie's car to get them off the island when the time comes. Made in 1981, Escape from New York has unintended yet ominous overtones in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks--literally, a terrorist hijacks a plane and crashes it into a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. The World Trade Center still stands in Escape from New York, and is Snake's landing point and his mission hub while securing the President. On the other hand, the President's near assassination by airplane is carried out by a terrorist who claims to be a member of a "liberation front"--in other words, not a radical from another nation. Like Snake, this is another example of a dramatically disillusioned citizen of the United States who has become a terrorist in protest, underscoring the troubling state of the union. This is a country which is so overrun with criminality, that it's willing to sacrifice one of its hallmark cities solely to throw their criminal elements into it. Any attempt to escape comes under the threat of death by missiles and bullets, as if the prisoners were enemy combatants. Snake's mission to save the President may be motivated by self-interest, but his ultimate act of defiance is a humorous snub to a leader who has forgotten how to truly represent the people who elected him in the first place.
Recommended for: Fans of a cynical and dark future action movie, featuring many of the best tropes of John Carpenter's films, including a bleak atmosphere, a synth-heavy musical score, and--of course--Kurt Russell. The characters are colorful and the dialogue is imaginative, which has contributed to it becoming a cult classic, like many of Carpenter's movies.
From the first time we see Snake Plissken, we can tell that he's a "bad dude", from his eye patch, his leather jacket, his three-day stubble, and his knowing sneer. Snake is a highly trained commando commissioned for an infiltration mission deep in the heart of enemy territory, even if he is no longer a formal member of the military. The character of Snake Plissken was so iconic, that virtually all of these elements were carried over into the popular video game series, "Metal Gear Solid", from the style of the mission to most of all, the character of "Snake" himself. Snake's journey into the wasteland that New York City has become is a mission into the depths of depravity, like a trip into the underworld itself. Snake's journey is similar to that of Dante Alighieri in his epic poem of his descent into Hell, "Dante's Inferno", where he visits increasingly warped and malevolent realms where the condemned reside for eternity. Men fight in mortal combat at the whim of the Duke, and rival gangs patrol the street out of hunger; it is implied that they have turned cannibal, crawling and scurrying through the dark streets just like rats. The grim and dangerous streets of this future New York City are an exaggeration of the image of a pre-gentrified New York City, which was at one point so notoriously dangerous that it earned the nickname of "Fear City". Little to no electricity runs through the city anymore, except for that which has been furnished by the genius of fellow inmate, Harold "Brain" Hellman (Harry Dean Stanton), who happens to have a complicated past with Snake. Snake skulks through the alleys of this warzone--where the streets are lit by flaming barrels and the wreckage of Air Force One--seeking the President. He discovers that in order to track him down, he will have to meet with the infamous Duke, an man so feared that even the knowledgeable "Cabbie" (Ernest Borgnine) is reluctant to cross his path. The Duke has kidnapped the President in a bold plan to use him to open the gates to the prison and let loose these dangerous criminals back into the world. This plan also requires a map in possession of Brain and his girlfriend, Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), detailing a safe route across one of the mined bridges leading out of the city. For Snake to accomplish his mission of escaping with the President, he will need Brain and Maggie to help him sneak into the Duke's demesne, and Cabbie's car to get them off the island when the time comes. Made in 1981, Escape from New York has unintended yet ominous overtones in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks--literally, a terrorist hijacks a plane and crashes it into a skyscraper in downtown Manhattan. The World Trade Center still stands in Escape from New York, and is Snake's landing point and his mission hub while securing the President. On the other hand, the President's near assassination by airplane is carried out by a terrorist who claims to be a member of a "liberation front"--in other words, not a radical from another nation. Like Snake, this is another example of a dramatically disillusioned citizen of the United States who has become a terrorist in protest, underscoring the troubling state of the union. This is a country which is so overrun with criminality, that it's willing to sacrifice one of its hallmark cities solely to throw their criminal elements into it. Any attempt to escape comes under the threat of death by missiles and bullets, as if the prisoners were enemy combatants. Snake's mission to save the President may be motivated by self-interest, but his ultimate act of defiance is a humorous snub to a leader who has forgotten how to truly represent the people who elected him in the first place.
Recommended for: Fans of a cynical and dark future action movie, featuring many of the best tropes of John Carpenter's films, including a bleak atmosphere, a synth-heavy musical score, and--of course--Kurt Russell. The characters are colorful and the dialogue is imaginative, which has contributed to it becoming a cult classic, like many of Carpenter's movies.