ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981)

Director: John Carpenter

Writers: John Carpenter, Nick Castle

Producers: Larry Franco, Debra Hill

Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, John Diehl, Season Hubley, Arden Young, Frank Doubleday, Ox Baker, Buck Flower, Jamie Lee Curtis (uncredited narrator and automated voice), Joe Unger (in deleted scene) 

By 1997 the entire island of Manhattan has been sealed off and used as the dumping ground for all of the criminals in the United States of America. Once exiled in the neglected metropolis, the convicts are left to fend for themselves and are never released. When terrorists crash land the Air Force One jet in New York City, the leader of the prison city’s gangs, the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes), takes the U.S. president (Donald Pleasence) hostage. Liberty Island Security sends a recent convict, decorated former Special Forces veteran Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), on a rescue mission into New York City. If Plissken succeeds bringing out the president and an important audiocassette tape that he was carrying to a peace conference, Plissken will receive a full pardon. If Plissken fails to accomplish his mission in 24 hours, two explosive capsules injected into his neck will kill him. 

The Flashback Fanatic movie review 

During the 1970s, director John Carpenter had helmed several well-received television movies and a couple of cult films before he made one of the most famous horror films ever with 1978’s Halloween. Although that horrific holiday favorite would become his calling card, Carpenter would continue regularly making many more feature films of various genres for the rest of the century. After Halloween, Carpenter’s Escape from New York is probably his most successful film that also has continued to be a venerable cult favorite. He has made other cult films with reputations that have grown over the years, despite lackluster profits or indifferent critical responses at the time of their release. But it seems that Carpenter hit the sweet spot for genre filmmaking with Escape from New York; it was original, offbeat, and immediately profitable. Fans loved it then and revere it now. 

The post-apocalyptic and dystopian sci-fi film was becoming a popular genre in the 1980s. The no-holds-barred action and destruction of social norms provided the edgy thrills that tantalized the audience. Escape from New York lands neatly into that genre and was also an influence on it. 

The world of this film is not explored in any great detail. We only know that the United States is at war and the crime rate has increased enormously, which would seem to indicate that the government is not addressing the needs of the people and civilization. All that we see depicted in this future world is a militarized prison system and the prison island of Manhattan. This drastic measure of dealing with crime by offering convicts the choice of death or being abandoned for the rest of their lives in the lawless ruins of New York City is an indication of the fascism used as a last resort to maintain order. It is never mentioned what conditions and federal failures have led to this bleak state. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of this film is seeing how people behave when they are trapped in a society without rules. These convicts are left to their own devices in the neglected ruins of what was once one of the world’s grandest cities. When these criminal exiles are not preying upon each other, they indulge in entertainments that have devolved to the norms of previous centuries. A dilapidated theater has an all-male cast in drag (as in times before women were allowed to appear on the stage) dreadfully performing a musical and an old boxing ring is used for a gladiatorial combat to the death. 

What everyone remembers about this film is Snake Plissken. The fact that our criminal anti-hero is a decorated veteran of the U.S. military drives home this film’s cynical tone. Plissken is apparently as disillusioned as John Carpenter and many others were with the country after the Vietnam War and Watergate. I do not believe that Carpenter and his character Snake Plissken are making a specific political statement. Plissken never shares any feelings or philosophies; he just reacts and resents authority of any kind. 

Kurt Russell was a frequent child guest actor on many television series of the 1960s and was a popular star in pictures for Walt Disney Productions during his ten-year contract. Although he had an established career since a young age playing wholesome characters, Russell was cast against type in some made-for-television movies, such as The Deadly Tower (1975) and John Carpenter’s bio-film Elvis (1979). 

His role of Snake Plissken made everyone forget about the youth phase of Kurt Russell’s career. The timing was perfect; at age thirty Russell became a one-eyed, anti-authoritarian, ass-kicking icon. Plissken’s dialogue is terse and direct. He does not make wisecracks but still generates laughs with the disarming and confrontational nature of his comments. Best of all, Snake Plissken does not show off. His actions are as direct as his words. That is what keeps this film from falling into action movie absurdity. 

Lee Van Cleef is terrific as Police Commissioner Bob Hauk, the chief of the Liberty Island Security Control facility that admits convicts to be exiled into New York City. Van Cleef has a great presence and I could watch him verbally sparring with Russell’s Plissken for the entire film. Hauk is just as direct and unsentimental as Plissken. He is also quite ruthless in how he enlists Plissken’s cooperation.

This cast is loaded with other great names like Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Adrienne Barbeau, Harry Dean Stanton, and Isaac Hayes. Players from other John Carpenter films, such as Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Stephens, and Buck Flower, are featured in small roles. None other than Jamie Lee Curtis supplies narration to open the film and is also the automated voice at the Liberty Island prisoner admittance facility. 

While Escape from New York never preaches or teaches any lessons, it has an absolutely cynical attitude towards fascistic authority. One may try to discern a political leaning in the film, but that is probably a futile endeavor. Its only message seems to be disdain for those that would want to rule over a dysfunctional world.