Escape from New York (1981)

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

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Snake Plissken
Lee Van Cleef	...	Hauk
Ernest Borgnine	...	Cabbie
Donald Pleasence	...	President
Isaac Hayes	...	The Duke
Season Hubley	...	Girl in Chock Full O'Nuts
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Brain
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Maggie
Tom Atkins	...	Rehme
Charles Cyphers	...	Secretary of State
Joe Unger	...	Taylor (scenes deleted)
Frank Doubleday	...	Romero
John Strobel	...	Cronenberg
John Cothran	...	Gypsy #1 (as John Cothran Jr.)
Garrett Bergfeld	...	Gypsy #2

Storyline

In the future, crime is out of control and New York City 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.

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Plot Keywords:

police | year 1997 | 1990s | rescue | prison | 

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Taglines:

1997. New York City is now a maximum security prison. Breaking out is impossible. Breaking in is insane.

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escape from New York City

Filming Locations:

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$25,244,700 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embassy Pictures, International Film Investors, Goldcrest Films International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 106 min (Extended Version)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot from August to November 1980. It was a tough and demanding shoot for John Carpenter as he recalls. "We'd finish shooting at about 6 am and I'd just be going to sleep at 7 when the sun would be coming up. I'd wake up around 5 or 6 pm, depending on whether or not we had dailies, and by the time I got going, the sun would be setting. So for about two and a half months I never saw daylight, which was really strange."

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Goofs

You can see a crew member giving Isaac Hayes a "stand-up" cue quite visibly in the left side of the screen when The Duke is quieting the Madison Square Garden crowd.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: In 1988, the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent. The once great city of New York becomes the one maximum security prison for the entire country. A fifty-foot containment wall is erected along the New Jersey shoreline, across the Harlem River, and down along the Brooklyn shoreline. It completely surrounds Manhattan Island. All bridges and waterways are mined. The United States Police Force, like an army, is encamped around the island. There are no guards ...

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Connections

Referenced in District B13 (2004)

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Soundtracks

Engulfed Cathedral
By Claude Debussy

User Reviews

"The name's Plissken."

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.