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John Carpenter month: Escape from New York

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

The character Snake Plisken is one badass dude from the '80s who I think gets overlooked. Surely some of you know who he is… but he's probably not as well known as The Terminator, Rambo, or John McClain. This is a shame because Kurt Russell owns this guy Snake Plisken in Carpenter's wonderful dystopian action film from 1981. 

A one-eyed convict, Plisken is sent into New York City, which in 1997 has been walled off and turned into a prison. His mission? He’s got to save the President whose escape pod has crashed after Air Force One is attacked. In the city, Snake finds the President is being held by a warlord known as The Duke, played by the immortal Isaac Hayes. Assisted by a friendly cab driver named Cabbie and a mysterious woman named Maggie, Snake races against time to save the President and himself. He has a big problem… a small detonator in his arm will explode and blow him up if he doesn't return the President at a certain time!

I have to say, the film is a little dated now. I think The Terminator, Predator, Die Hard, and Aliens hold up better. Some of Carpenter's other films from the same era, The Thing and Star Man, manage to hang in with this same group. But that's not to say this isn't a fun watch. Russell is magnetic as Snake and once he gets to New York, the film just flies. The action is everything you'd want from an '80s film and Carpenter's horror touches lead to some shocking moments of violence. Also like any good Carpenter film, the overall message is extremely nihilistic. One of Snake's best lines…… "I don't give a fuck about your war or your President,” as an example.

The score for this film is terrific. While Halloween is probably the most iconic of Carpenter's scores, Escape from New York is a close second.… a perfect blend of '80s synth and composition, it sets the tone without being overly bombastic, something Carpenter is always good at. 




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