Escape from New York

In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter, Nick Castle

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine |

Storyline

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City's Manhattan is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed lone warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables.

Version 1

User Reviews

"The name's Plissken."

14 January 2002 | by Backlash007 (Kentucky) – See all my reviews

First things first, Kurt Russel is just plain cool. That said, on to the review. Escape From New York is a classic action movie with a great horror cast, including Donald Pleasence, Tom Atkins, Charles Cyphers, and who could forget Buck Flower. Buck, who has one of the best scenes in the movie ("Sure, I'm the president!"), is hilarious. John Carpenter proves that he is a versatile director and can make a hell of a film outside the horror genre. In Carpenter's classic, Kurt Russell plays the immortal Snake Plissken, New York has become a prison state, and the president has just crash landed there. Enter Snake Plissken. Freshly captured and about to be incarcerated in New York, he must save the President (Pleasence, who isn't even American but pulls it off well) from the clutches of Isaac Hayes in order to regain his freedom. It's all great stuff and you can't stop watching as Snake fights his way from one famous landmark to another (he even has to wrestle Ox Baker). But it leaves me with one unanswered question: What did happen to Fresno Bob?

Note: A couple of the Duke's cronies are credited as Romero and Cronenberg. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis does the opening computer dialogue.