ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) • Film Review ★★★✩✩
On the 35th anniversary of John Carpenter’s classic action-adventure, does his dystopian vision still hold up?
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, John Carpenter made an unparalleled run of classics that inspired a generation of filmmakers: Assault On Precinct 13 (1976), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Big Trouble In Little China (1986), and They Live (1989). Unfortunately, the ‘90s marked Carpenter’s decline into B movie misfires like Vampires (1998), while this century hasn’t seen him recapture his former glory since the appalling Ghosts Of Mars (2001). His best days are firmly behind him, but what days they were.
Escape From New York’s plot is wonderful high-concept pulp, as you can tell from its title and poster. In the near-future (of 1997, eek) New York City has become a maximum security prison where society’s worst are sent to live amongst themselves. Complications ensue when Air Force One crashes in the city, meaning the authorities have no choice but to send in a criminal to recover the ejected President (Donald Pleasance) so he can attend a crucial seminar.
Step forward Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a swaggering one-eyed badass with a chip on his shoulder. Snake’s the reason this movie remains as popular as it does, decades later, because grizzled anti-heroes age like fine wines. The production itself is soaked in a permanent gloom (courtesy of DoP Dean Cundey) and held together by an eminently hummable synthesised score by Carpenter himself, but while it’s dated (not helped by now poignant shots of the World Trade Center still standing), there’s something undeniably cool and oppressive that works its magic.
For $7 million, Carpenter does a decent job making audiences believe in the scale of the situation being presented — despite never having the money to achieve the poster’s promise of seeing the Statue of Liberty decapitated head blocking a street. A few big moments occur off-camera for budgetary reasons (notably Air Force One’s fateful crash), but the ‘ghost town’ New York, populated by criminal ‘Crazies’, is portrayed well for relatively little money.
Beyond Russell, Escape’s cast is a strange melting pot of talent. Lee Van Cleef plays prison commissioner Hauk with just as much growly brilliance as his Western characters, Ernest Borgnine is annoying as the Cabbie (a character who only serves to hook characters up), Harry Dean Stanton has a nice role as ‘Brains’, Adrienne Barbeau is wasted as Maggie, Donald Pleasance makes for a bumbling President (getting to keep his English accent, oddly), while soul legend Isaac Hayes’ performance as ‘The Duke’ should’ve been more sinister than it actually is.
While the eclectic casting doesn’t work in key roles (a stronger villain for Snake would’ve been appreciated), the film is essentially a means for Russell to stalk a hellish vision of Big Apple brandishing a gun, looking mean, and being grouchy. The cynical ending is also a classic twist of expectation that stays resolutely true to Snake’s selfish personality, and should be praised for providing such a beautifully downbeat ending.
Overall, Escape From New York is an entertaining B movie with a superb first act and fantastic protagonist, but one that deserved a better overarching story and bigger climax. The problem is that Escape is is all premise and setup, so Carpenter doesn’t have anywhere interesting to go once everything’s set in motion. Russell’s performance and the excellent production design compensate for a lot of the script’s shortcomings and the budgetary limitations, but this is nevertheless one of Carpenter’s films I think could be remade and improved upon. Sacrilege?
Cast & Crew
director: John Carpenter.
writers: John Carpenter & Nick Castle.
starring: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton & Adrienne Barbeau.
Originally published at danowen.blogspot.com on July 12, 2006, now with some amendments and improvements to better communicate my current opinion of the film in 2016.
