aarondevoll
John Carpenter's film stars Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, a rugged, one eyed man who is jettisoned into a thuggish New York City that's been taken over by a crime lord named the Duke (Issac Hayes) to rescue a president (Donald Pleasence) taken hostage. To say anymore would spoil the fun but certainly it is quite memorable.The film uses the tropes of many classic westerns. Carpenter (himself a huge fan of westerns) turns a futuristic New York into a land brimming with grimy, sleazy men. The legendary Snake Plissken resembles the man with no name (who was based on Kurosawa's Yojimbo). Speaking one sentence at a time, Russell plays him with so much macho elegance, it's hard not to be absorbed when he's on screen.Escape from New York is similar in ways to The Warriors, another cult classic, released two years earlier but it's the casting in Carpenters film (Hayes, Stanton, Van Cleef) that give it a certain flavor despite its minimal plot. Carpenter would direct a sequel 15 years later with Escape from L.A. which is mostly dumb and worth watching only for a couple cool sequences with Russell.9/10. Escape from New York5/10. Escape from L.A.
Benedito Dias Rodrigues
Almost a masterpiece,even a tight budge this movie really stands test of time,when l saw it in 1983 on first time in my teenage years this picture hooked me,since then l've watching six times,a priceless sci-fi classic,the anti-hero Snake delivery in every way,the late Stanton as The Brain in a fine and complex role,Adrienne Barbeau in most sexy character ever made,those twin breast were unforgettable forever,Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine are fantastic as supporting casting and finally Isaac Hayes as the Duke had a best performance ever...on a dark atmosphere spent almost in the night this top notch movie explain how John Carpenter becomes a cult director!!Hoping see it on a double Blu-ray in dubbed version and a lot of bonus materials as already release in USA!!! Resume: First watch: 1983 / How many: 6 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 9
Red-Barracuda
This early 80's bit of dystopian sci-fi set in a future America which is now a fascist state has gone on to garner a cult reputation. Set in the future of 1997, Manhattan Island is now a high security prison where the criminal dregs of society are contained. When the president's aeroplane crashes in the middle of this city prison and captured by the resident criminals, a mercenary called Snake Plissken is sent in on a do-or-die mission to retrieve him within twenty-four hours.Escape From New York is another in the long line of strong movies director John Carpenter made in his 70's-80's heyday. After a couple of big horror hits under his belt he returned to the more action-oriented style of his earlier Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), except in this case adding a science-fiction premise to add considerable colour. To this end, the film features dark dilapidated New York settings for the action to take place and these, added to the nice panoramic views of the darkened city add considerable atmosphere. As does Carpenter's main theme music which is amongst the very best be ever composed and given the high calibre of his original soundtrack music, that's saying quite a lot. The film also benefits from a cast of b-movie legends, we have Donald Pleasence as an improbable President of the United States, Isaac Hayes is a blaxploitation styled Duke of New York, Kurt Russell as the iconic eye-patch sporting anti-hero, Adrienne Barbeau appears throughout in an eye-popping low cut tight red outfit, Ernest Borgnine is a comic-relief cabbie, Lee Van Cleef is a hard-bitten police chief and Harry Dean Stanton pitches up as a shifty character called Brain. The film isn't always fully exciting stuff it has to be admitted and it sometimes promises more than it delivers but the set-up, settings and cast are very good, while there are some memorable scenes such as the death match and mine-infested bridge to keep the pace up. Ultimately, this is a very solid bit of early 80's sci-fi action, with enough distinctive elements to ensure its ongoing cult appeal.
socialjusticeexpress
Ah, older movies. There should be an age restriction for reviews on IMDb. You can tell who the young people are by the idiotic things they write about older movies. For some reason, young people just don't understand what FICTION means. Hence, the numerous one-star reviews in which the premise of Escape from New York is reviewed as opposed to the film itself. God love the youth, because I sure don't!Escape from New York is a great example of stretching a budget as far as it will go. For its time, it had a much bigger budget look to it. That explains why it inspired so many artists, including William Gibson. As much as I love Blade Runner, Escape from New York, essentially, beat Blade Runner to the punch with respect to the dark look that Blade Runner would eventually get credit for inspiring.The premise, that New York City would be turned into a giant prison, is actually not that absurd, though, for a work of fiction, that shouldn't even matter. In 1981, New York City was a giant toilet. It makes perfect sense that a totalitarian, post WWIII government might send all its criminals there to, pardon the pun, duke it out.Several of the kiddies here have complained about the script. They are not taking into account that all the Bibles of scriptwriting we know of today (Story, Save the Cat, etc.) were not published until well after this film was made. Regardless, if you actually take the story apart, you'll see it meets all the demands of traditional, storytelling structure.So you kids really have nothing to complain about, other than the fact that your poor generation has been deprived of the joys of REAL fiction. Stop looking for reality in fiction and stop using social media to make your reality a fiction!End of lecture. Now get off my lawn!
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