Title: Escape from New
York (1981)
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald
Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau
Review:
The first thing you notice about Escape from New York is how very
dark it is. Everything is black on this one, the characters are dressed in
black, the cars are black, the helicopters are black, the entire landscape of
this movie is black! The whole film takes place during the course of one night
in which famous criminal/ex-soldier Snake Plissken is forced to go to Manhattan
Island (which has been turned into a prison island) to rescue the President of
the United States. You see, Air Force One was hijacked by a group of terrorists
called ‘The National Liberation Front of America’. The terrorist say they’ve
struck a fatal blow in the name of all of the oppressed by sending the
President of the United
States to the inhuman prison he created
himself. They mean to let him rot and die down there, in the hands of some of
the worst criminals on the planet. and teach him a lesson or two about
humility. But of course, the United
States government isn’t just gonna sit back
and let this happen. They have brought in Snake Plissken, the only man capable
of getting the job done. Like Hauk tells Snake while trying to convince him to
do the job: “You flew the ‘Gulfire’ over Leningrad ;
you know how to go in quiet; you’re all I’ve got!”
Escape from New
York is an interesting film because whenever you talk
about post apocalyptic movies, you really can’t leave this one out even though
technically speaking; it isn’t a post apocalyptic film. There has been no
nuclear holocaust, no deadly virus; the apocalypse in this future exists solely
behind the walls of the island
of Manhattan New York is actually a
social one. Within the walls of this huge jail cell, there’s no rules, no
regulations, no cops, only “the prisoners and the worlds they’ve created”. So
it’s not really a post apocalyptic film, but at the same time, its the best
post apocalyptic film. Carpenter’s Manhattan
is one evil looking place. I think this is what makes this film so fascinating;
this prison world populated by the lowest of the low. It’s the most evil scum bags
that walk through this prison worlds pitch black alleys and streets. When I was
a kid and first saw this movie I was frightened by it, the characters that
lived with in Manhattan
seemed truly evil to me, especially this guy:
Snake Plissken’s the ultimate rebel; he hates “the man” or
doing anything for him, in fact if there’s anything that he can take from “the
man”, he will. Case in point: when the film opens up, Plissken is handcuffed
and being taken to the Manhattan
penitentiary. What we don’t know is that he is being taken their because he was
holding up the Federal Reserve Depository, a scene that was later cut out of
the film because Carpenter didn’t consider it necessary; I agree, it’s more
intense just to meet Snake, not knowing where he is coming from. Kurt Russell describes
Plissken as a mercenary, a mix between Bruce Lee, The Executioner, Darth Vader and Clint
Eastwood. He’s a guy who only cares about the next 60 seconds of his life. This
rebellious character goes in accordance with some of Carpenter’s films, which
have always had a rebellious streak to them. For example, They Live (1988) which
is about how the powers that be control our minds through marketing and
subliminal messages; Escape from New York is
about an imperialistic fascist America .
Escape from L.A.
(1996) is also anti-establishment, but in a whole other way that I will get
into when I review it soon. So what we got here is a film made by two
rebellious, freedom loving individuals,
Carpenter and Russell.
Kurt Russell and John Carpenter have worked together on various films, here they are together on the set of Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Plissken is Kurt Russell’s favorite character. To Russell,
the character represents America ,
the idealistic
free America
all true Americans want; that idealistic version of America where people can be
truly free to do as they choose. Through it’s science fiction story, Escape
from New York
commented on the status quo of the country during the late 70’s, a time when liberty and freedom of expression were constantly under attack.
Some might label Escape from New York
as an anti-government film, and I would have to say that it is. Escape from New York is the kind of
film that warns us of what could come should governments get more oppressive or
fascist. Rule, after rule after rule until you can’t barely move. This film and
it’s sequel is ruled by a government that tells its citizens that they can’t smoke,
can’t drink, can’t have premarital sex, can’t
try drugs, can’t speak foul language, can’t, can’t, can’t. Now I ain’t saying
doing all these things equals liberty, but a person should be able to choose
what they want to do, no matter what it is. It’s all about true freedom of the
self. There is a distinct amount of cynicism towards the figure of the
President of the United
States on this film. He is portrayed as a selfish, self
absorbed individual. A cold man who doesn’t give a damn about the people who die for him,
he has this fakeness to him. He says one thing to your face but means another. But
we have to understand that Carpenter wrote this film coming out of the whole
Nixon era, a time when no American trusted their president, where human rights
were constantly being violated in the country. Escape from New York is a reflection of that time when most
Americans agreed they had a madman in power.
But Plissken’s all about freeing ourselves from all of that;
about living the ideal American dream of freedom and doing whatever the hell
you want with your life, which is probably why this film is such a cult
favorite; people just love Plisskens ‘take no shit from nobody’ attitude. This
freedom theme goes in accordance to Russell’s own personal Libertarian point of
view. Yes my friends, Kurt Russell’s neither Democrat nor Republican, he’s a
Libertarian, and Libertarians are all about maximizing individual rights and minimizing
the role of the state in our lives. They believe in free will and freedom of
expression and thought. Just like Plissken, Russell’s an outcast because of his
beliefs, not everyone agrees with the Libertarians point of view, especially
not Hollywood .
Still, this hasn’t stopped Russell and Carpenter from making a distinctively
rebellious film. It’s obvious that Russell’s put a lot of his own rebellious
persona into Snake Plissken. But I felt that he put more of himself into the
way the character was portrayed in the sequel, but more on that in my future
review for Escape from L.A. Final words on Escape from New York is that it’s a real cult classic, an extremely influential film and simply put, it's a film that just won’t die. New generations keep discovering it and
liking it. I believe that the publics long lasting affection with the film
stems from Snake Plissken and what he represents; our perennial search for personal
freedom in this world; in the end that’s what we all want and need; and don’t
let anyone tell you otherwise.
Rating: 5 out of 5
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