- By 1997, violent crime and murder rates in New York City had dropped down to levels that hadn't been seen in twenty-five years. But back in 1981, when Escape from New York was released, it must have seemed like the city's epidemic of violence was never going to end. Thus, we are granted John Carpenter's memorable vision of 1997 New York as a dark dystopia in which the entirety of Manhattan has been converted into a maximum security prison. Managed by men like the calculating Warden Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef), "there are no guards inside the prison, only prisoners and the worlds they have made. The rules are simple: once you go in, you don't come out." That is, until now.
- Just this once, Warden Hauk actually wants one of his most dangerous prisoners to go in for only 24 hours. You see, Air Force One has been seized by terrorists and crashed into Manhattan, leaving the President (Donald Pleasence) to be kidnapped by degenerate street gangs. Enter Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell). A laconic, mulleted, chain-smoking, eyepatch-wearing, disgruntled veteran, Snake is one of those archetypal 1980's tough guys that Russell and, to a lesser extent, Sylvester Stallone excelled at portraying. As part of a running joke, everyone who encounters Snake says "I heard you were dead," but the real joke is that none of them are that far off. So why is Snake willing to rescue the President? Well, he isn't, but it's amazing how microscopic explosives injected into the bloodstream will motivate some people.
- Awaiting Snake behind the towering walls of Manhattan, of course, is a modern urban hell. Filmed largely in St. Louis (on both sides of the river), the debilitated landscape consists primarily of rubbish bin fires, towering piles of garbage, and cars stacked like blockades -- don't even ask about the theatre district. Running the show is a mobster named "The Duke" (Isaac Hayes) who hopes to convert his hostage President into a means of escape. Assisting Snake, on the other hand, are what pass for respectable citizens these days, including a petroleum producer nicknamed "Brain" (Harry Dean Stanton), his girlfriend Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), and the unusually effusive "Cabbie" (Ernest Borgnine). Now everybody knows Snake is tough, but this is the sort of town where you could easily end up getting shot with an arrow or fighting a giant gladiator with a nail bat and trashcan shield. With villains like these, maybe anti-heroes aren't so bad.
- Tough guys aside, the most memorable aspect of Escape from New York is certainly its set design, which creates a terrifying version of New York from which any reasonable person would seek to escape. Sure, it's nothing like the New York of today, but hey -- you try predicting the future sometime. On the other hand, the number of incarcerated Americans really did rise precipitously in the early 1980's, and St. Louis has since become the murder capital of the country. Maybe the film's predictions are better than I initially thought. As for any intended deeper messages in Escape from New York...well, I'm not sure they're there. Much like Carpenter's The Thing, the main point of the film seems to be that there is no point. It's an exercise in nihilism that would be harrowing if only it resembled the real world more closely.
- Dude, if you're the President and you crash-land in the world's largest prison, don't get out of the egg.
- Awesome fake CGI!
- Apparently, the gladiator contest was filmed in a pre-renovation Union Station.
- Snake was obviously the inspiration for the character from Metal Gear.
