Escape from New York (1981) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

UK, USA 1981
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence, Tom Atkins
Rating: R
Release Date: 10 July 1981 (USA)
Running Time: 1 hour 39 minutes

The Movie Review

Escape from New York film still 1


ESCAPE from NEW YORK
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If we mention about post-apocalyptic or dystopian movies, it won't be right if I don't say something about this Sci-Fi Classic which had made the viewing days back in the 80s/90s more pleasant. I actually kind of hesitant to write the review since you can catch Escape from New York fairly easy on TV every other days, but since undoubtedly not everyone knows what this movie is all about, Escape from New York should be mentioned for its big impact on some Dystopian science fiction feature films.

Snake Plissken (What a cool name!) is a convict and is going to be sent to Manhattan Island in the State of New York to live there in freedom... Wait a minute! He's a criminal and is gonna be put in a great county? WTF, right?! Well hold down your horses mate, because in 1997, Manhattan Island is not a fabulous place anymore... but a darn huge penitentiary AKA Prison! In this Manhattan Island, all criminals are to live freely killing each other and pretty much do whatever they want to their fellow convicts. They are divided into gangs with their own turf, cars and arsenal. But no matter how organized some of these criminals are, their chance of escaping the city is almost zero because the perimeter is surrounded by thick high wall.

But, currently the government of Unites States is now facing a harsh fact when their president in the Air Force One crash-lands into the hot zone inside the Huge Prison. And so they use Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) as a former proud military man and war hero to save the president (Donald Pleasence). With a small air glider, Snake penetrates NY, and with the accompany of his fan, a local cab driver simply nicknamed as Cabby (Ernest Borgnine), Snake will find the president in exchange for his full pardon as promised by the sly Police Commissioner named Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef). But, Snake has time of only 24 hours to find the president and bring him back to safe zone. Good thing for Snake, he still has his fans Cabby and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), and an old friend/foe named Brain (Harry Dean Stanton of The Wendell Baker Story (2005)) to help his in this mission. However, Snake Plissken is gonna be surprise to know what insurance Hauk has done to make sure Snake's obedience. Will he save the president?

It's 2011, not 80s or 90s anymore and it's a fact that not all movies stand the test of time... And Escape from New York (1981) definitely does not. The production set looks so fake now and the lack of true intensity makes this Sci-Fi film only good mainly in memory. But believe it or not the impact of this film is so big to popular culture... And one of the strongest aspects of Escape from New York is undoubtedly the character of Snake Plissken portrayed so darn fine by Kurt Russell... This character really a bad a*s and cool. Of course, any martial arts practitioner could kick his a*s in a split second, but that's not what I mean by bad a*s. Snake poses a very cynical and cool (very very very cool) aura as a man who doesn't give a sh*t about anything bullsh*t and goes on to get his job done with such menacing looks on his face and darn fine words articulation. Of course, wearing an eye-patch just makes him more bad a*s, although some still prefer Christina Lindberg from Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974). And the rest of the cast is also fine with Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes, beautiful Adrienne Barbeau and especially Ernest Borgnine as some kind of comic relief, but Donald Pleasance as the President?! He was a great actor and I don't know whether it's the script of his performance, but this President is one of the most lame and cowardice leaders in serious-toned motion pictures.

Zangief looks a lot like this dude

A scene from Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy (2009)

The effect of Escape from New York could also be seen in form of several things in Metal Gear Solid video game which features Solid Snake and also a character in Street Fighter named Zangief which bears striking similarity with Snake's opponent in the ring as you can see in above picture. The movie also had inspired other filmmakers to create a similar movie with all the penetrating, escaping, stalking, and gang leader versus an Anti Hero.

Sadly, like I said before, watching Escape from New York is not fun anymore. It's very very boring and I don't really fond of the overly dark lighting. Besides, if it's about gangs and their wars, I still prefer the awesome The Warriors (1979) any other days to Escape from New York. When it comes to science fiction movie I guess, technicality and the use of more modern visual effects are somehow badly needed to preserve the fun factor. Strangely, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), with all its obsolete look is still fun to view even until today. If I were to review this movie back in the early 90s, I would've given a very high rating and urged movie buffs to see it. Probably, when talking about old movies eventually it'll all come down to your taste and personal memories.

> These movies tie closely to Escape from New York: 1990: The Bronx Warriors (1982), 2019: After the Fall of New York (1983), Escape from the Bronx (1983) and its cheesy but fun sequel Escape from Los Angeles (1996).