Escape From New York

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Escape From New York

August 24th 2009 00:40

After the massive success of Halloween (1978) and the relative success of The Fog (1980) John Carpenter was offered the script of The Philadelphia Experiment, but that project fell through. Carpenter dusted off his screenplay for Escape From New York (1981), written in the mid-70s, and it was given the green light with a budget of $7 million.

In 1988 the crime rate in the United States of America rises 400%. In 1991 the United States Police Force is formed. Manhattan Island has been transformed into a huge maximum security prison, completely walled off with security towers camped around the perimeter. The rules are simple; once you go in, you don’t come out. The action of the movie takes place in 1997: “Now”.

Once you go in, you don't come out

Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is a hardened criminal, having just robbed the Federal Reserve Bank. He’s an island to himself. Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) needs his street savvy and fearlessness for a dangerous mission. The President of the United States was jettisoned from Air Force One after a terrorist hijack and following the plane crash (weirdly 9/11) his escape capsule lands in lower Manhattan. Plissken has to retrieve the President and a very valuable audio cassette needed for the President’s imminent summit meeting. To give Plissken motivational edge he’s been injected with microscopic explosives. He has just twenty-four hours.

Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken

Inside New York Maximum Security Penitentiary Plissken hooks up with an enthusiastic cabbie (Ernest Borgnine), and later is connected with an ex-partner in crime, Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) and his girlfriend Maggie (Carpenter’s then wife buxom Adrienne Barbeau). The President has been taken hostage by The Duke (Isaac Hayes) and his band of Gypsies. It’s up to Plissken to try and rescue the President and get him across the heavily-mined 69th Street Bridge and over the 50-foot high containment wall to safety.

Donald Pleasence as The President

Escape From New York is deep trash, packed full of references and visual motifs, glistening with dirty cult glee and ludicrous as all hell. It’s real silly and great fun, the charismatic cast having a ball, but at the end of the movie, it’s like the bubblegum has lost all its flavour. Carpenter’s direction is lacklustre, with no real suspense, none of the dynamic brilliance of tension he exhibited with his first feature Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. He got his mojo back the following year with his second masterpiece The Thing (1982).

Escape From New York Harry Dean Stanton and Kurt Russell

Snake meets Brain (Harry Dean Stanton), an old friend

Where the movie excels is how it captures a graphic novel feel; an adult cartoon, and the B-movie production design enhances this. And then there's the fantastic synth score. In fact it is the main theme that lifts the entire movie head and shoulders above any other urban apocalyptic action flicks of the same kind, and around this time there were numerous Euro/U.S. guttersnipe productions - occasional guilty pleasures - such as the Italian-made 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983). The brooding synthesizer riff which kicks in over the movie’s opening credits lets you know you’re watching an epic of sorts.

Escape From New York Frank Doubleday, Isaace Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau

Brain and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau) are re-acqainted with The Duke (Isaac Hayes) and his squeeze Romero (Frank Doubleday)

The movie is apparently the favourite of Kurt Russell’s filmography (it was he who suggested the infamous eye-patch), and you can tell he’s relishing the role. The other stand-out is Frank Doubleday, who plays The Duke’s insane-looking Gyspy campazoid, Romero (Carpenter often names characters after genre colleagues, as another of the Gypsies is called Cronenberg). Adrienne Barbeau’s cleavage threatens to capsize the movie over, whilst Isaac Hayes owns the rotten Big Apple streets in his chandelier-straddled Cadillac.

Escape From New York Charles Cyphers, Lee Van Cleef and Tom Atkins

Secretary of State (Charles Cyphers), Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) and Head of Security Rehme (Tom Atkins) get a Snake update

Although Carpenter’s direction of action and suspense might not be up to scratch, there are some visual flourishes that linger, like the first rise over the containment wall to reveal an armed guard silhouetted against the skyline of Manhattan (accompanied by a bending synth drone) and a helicopter whirring into the night toward the twin towers (all achieved rather wonderfully by matte painting and miniatures).

Snake has to battle Slag (Ox Baker) for the amusement of The Duke and his Gypsies

I have a fondness for this movie as it was one of an early bunch of “adult” movies I watched on VHS as an impressionable lad. I was so entranced by that music that I taped it straight from the television onto cassette for playback at my leisure. I’ve always loved the idea of derelict cities, and the dark concept for Escape From New York has maintained a particular fascination for me. I love the original poster too, although it's misleading as the Statue of Liberty hasn't fallen. The less said about Carpenter’s ill-conceived sequel Escape From L.A. (1996) the better.

DVD promotional art

NB: However, as much as I enjoy most of Escape From New York I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about the remake due out in 2011. With a big budget, state-of-the-art special effects, and some well-executed ultraviolence it could be a re-boot winner. It sounds hypocritical coming from me, I know, but there’s room for improvement.

Here's the classic original trailer:

Here's the awesome main theme:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

8 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Natalina

August 25th 2009 13:10

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

One of my favorites for sheer fun. Of course it appeals to the geek in me that loves anything about a futuristic world run amok.

Have you heard who's name was being thrown around to play Snake in the remake??

Comment by Bryn

August 25th 2009 23:18

Horrorphile

No idea about casting, it's in development at imdb.com and you have to pay to see those details. I can't see anyone having quite the same charisma of Kurt Russell ...

Comment by Natalina

August 25th 2009 23:24

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

I'll give you a hint...first name starts with a G, last name starts with a B.

Really Long Link

Comment by Bryn

August 26th 2009 00:03

Horrorphile

You're kidding. Where'd you read that? You must be creaming yourself.

Comment by Natalina

August 26th 2009 01:29

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

Consider me partially creamed. I think the deal might have fallen through.. I included a link in my last comment. I think he'd one hell of a fine looking Snake, but not sure if he could drop the accent enough for it to be believable.

Comment by Bryn

August 26th 2009 05:00

Horrorphile

Sorry, I didn't see the link before.
Hmmmm, that post was dated March 2007 ... and still in development over at imdb.com ....
Yeah, I'm not sold on Butler's American accents.
But I am interested in a remake, crazy as that sounds.

Comment by JohnDoe

August 26th 2009 22:38

Film & TV on DVD

Encouraging a remake, my aren't we being a little to honest today

Personally I wouldn't change a frame of the original.

Comment by Bryn

August 27th 2009 00:31

Horrorphile

JD, yeah, I know, I'm being brutally honest here ... For once I'd be keen to see a remake of a cult classic. So sue me. In the same way Zack Synder approached Dawn of the Dead; slicker production values, more convincing special effects, faster paced, even darker vision.

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