moonspinner55 Review of Escape from New York

Escape from New York (1981)

"Are ya gonna kill me now, Snake?" ... "I'm too tired. Maybe later."

[6/10 · 29 March 2009]

One of director and co-writer John Carpenter's best-sustained pieces of counterculture pop-trash, an adventure with enough plot for three pictures, and yet pared down in the final act to a snatch-&-grab which is completely satisfying. In 1997, nearly ten years after the U.S. crime rate has risen to astronomical proportions, a walled-up Manhattan Island has been deemed the world's prison center; after the President ejects himself from a hijacked Air Force One and ends up amongst the nasty, scurrilous gangs, master criminal Snake Plissken is assigned to rescue him. The catch: he has less than 24 hours to do it. Although the effects and computer graphics are badly dated, Carpenter's film blessedly moves instead of preaching...and surprises by not making Kurt Russell's Plisskin an indestructible hero (already wearing a patch over one eye, like a pirate, the guy gets a real beating). Interestingly cast, and with good performances here and there (particularly from Harry Dean Stanton as nerdy Brain, who has connections with icy-cool villain Isaac Hayes, and tough, bosomy Adrienne Barbeau as Brain's fiercely loyal girlfriend). Russell is so low-keyed he barely flinches when he gets hit in the leg with an arrow, and Donald Pleasance as the President doesn't even try to disguise his British accent, but the cast works uniformly well together, overcoming the deficiencies with the budget and the exhausting opening set-up. Followed by a sequel in 1996. **1/2 from ****