Movie Review: Escape from New York (1981)

Escape from New York (1981) co-written and directed by John Carpenter

In the far flung future of 1997, Manhattan has become the maximum security prison for the United States, walled off with 50-foot barrier and existing as a no-man's land where criminals have to take care of themselves. The system works well until terrorists hijack Air Force One with the President (Donald Pleasance) on board. They crash into Manhattan. The security guards stationed on Liberty Island get a call from Washington that the president needs to be recovered because he was going to a critical conference and was carrying an audio tape with key information to pass along. Luckily, ex-army-commando-now-criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is about to be shipped over to Manhattan to serve his sentence. Security recruits him to save the president, offering him a full pardon. They also give him two subdermal capsules that will explode in 24 hours if he does not bring the president back in time for the conference. They drop Plissken on the top of the World Trade Center, where he makes his way down to the street and searches for the president.

Of course this classic 1980s action film is dated. The special effects are a bit clunky but not too bad. The predicted future is not anywhere near happening even now, three decades after the supposed events. Russell starts his performance with a Clint-Eastwood vibe that seems like he is not even trying to make the character his own, though his character has a cool name and an eye-patch. He settles into the role as the movie goes on and becomes a charming anti-hero by the end. The grimy world is typically strewn with garbage and darkness; the characters are all in tatty clothing of post-apocalyptic landscapes. Actually, there have not been much advances in that in the past forty years.

The film is full of colorful characters played by minor stars. Lee Van Cleef is the head of security negotiating with Plissken and tracking his progress from outside. Plissken keeps running into a taxi driver (Ernest Borgnine) who helps out a lot. The Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) is the science guru of Manhattan, creating gas and other necessities for the isolated island. His girlfriend (Adrienne Barbeau) is the chesty woman, almost the only woman in the prison, though she is a tough woman, not a sex object. The guy holding the president is The Duke (Isaac Hayes), a maniacal crime lord in a land full of crime. He has all sorts of ways to hold his power and to get out of the prison, if they can rely on The Brain's map of a booby-trapped bridge. They all give entertaining performances and give the film some grounding. 

The ending is the typical anti-hero outcome of the 1980s, a bit of nostalgia for me. Carpenter is a solid director and delivers another fun synth score for this film like he did for Halloween. 

Mildly recommended--this is a fun action film though Russell and Carpenter have done better.