Friday Flashbacks: Escape From New York

Escape From New York 1981
Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Nick Castle and John Carpenter
Starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, Isaac Hayes, Season Hubley, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Atkins and Charles Cyphers

The post apocalyptic film genre has a few stalwart classics, one of them being The Road Warrior and the other being this seminal John Carpenter film, Escape From New York. This is one of Carpenter's masterpieces that is riveting with great action sequences and brimming over with a dark sense of humor. It is anchored by a intelligent and witty script and a great cast that is spearheaded by the iconic performance of Kurt Russell as the ant hero Snake Plissken. A laconic protagonist that can only be compared to The Man With No Name with the way he plays the character. Plissken is a gruff no nonsense character that at times is still able to have moments of true humanity that shine through. The idea of turning New York into a prison city is a brilliant idea and Carpenter really mines the idea for all it's worth. This is a great dystopian SF film and it hits all the notes one wants to see in a story like this. From its jab at modern politics too Snake's utter disregard for any kind of authority this is a film that is a delight to watch from beginning to end.
The plot basics are this, it is the year 1998 and New York has become a huge prison due to increasing crime rates. The President (Pleasance) is on his way to a peace summit when terrorists take over Air Force One and the President escapes through an escape pod but ends up landing in New York and is taken hostage by the de facto ruler of New York, The Duke (Hayes). The Duke decides to keep the president and that is when the Government decides to give a new prisoner en route to the prison, Snake Plissken (Russell) a chance at freedom if he will go in and rescue the President. To ensure his going along with it they inject him with explosives that will go off if he doesn't succeed in rescuing the President within 24 hours. Snake goes into the city and proceeds to find the President dealing with any problems he runs into as harshly as possible. Soon he reacquaints himself with a old partner of his The Brain (Stanton) and uses him to get to the President and then Snake and his new found allies try to find a way off the island with the Duke and his army not far behind him. Will Snake win against all these odds and if he does what will his final gambit be to the Government that is trying to use him and screw him over?
This is a great film and one of the gems of the post apocalyptic genre. Carpenter's direction is solid. The way he films the entrance of Plissken really brings the viewer to mind the character of Leone's "The Man With No Name". The way he shoots all the action scenes there is never any doubt that Snake will prevail, because you can see he has disdain for everything and is just trying to survive and keep himself in one piece and the hell with what anyone else wants. The script is great too. It really has a spaghetti western feel to it and that really works in its favor. All the characters are really delights to watch and it is ingenious how it keeps most of Snake's motives secret, so the viewer is never sure exactly what he will do and why he is doing it. The time limit for the President's retrieval is another great idea that is used in the script. The fight scene in the ring is another example of a greatly written action scene that is pulled off flawlessly. The cast is phenomenal. Russell as Plissken is perfect and this was the film that really put him on the map and was one of the first of many partnerships he would have with Carpenter. He does so much with having to say very little. Pleasance is greatly over the top as the President and is a joy to watch. The finest example of this is when he goes crazy at the end, I truly love it when he yells "I am the Duke, A number One!" Barbeau as always is mesmerizing to watch and is a important component to the climax of the film. Hayes is a great villain as the Duke and the viewer just loves to hate him. Cleef as Snake's handler, Hawk is amazing and is another actor who brings everything to his performance. You can really feel the animosity that Snake and Hawk have with each other. The SFX and effects are great too, especially considering the time they were done. I especially liked Snake's flight into New York, as that is one of the best choreographed scenes in the film. The final piece of the puzzle is the score by Carpenter. As always the score really breathes life into the film and it also gives it the feel of a spaghetti western. The repeating of the same chord really makes the viewer fell that time is of the essence, which was something that really came into play in the story. This is one of the finest SF post apocalyptic films and any fan of those type of films should check this film out.
This gets 5 out of 5