Escape from L.A. (1996)

Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

John Carpenter (characters), Nick Castle (characters),

Stars:

Kurt Russell, Steve Buscemi, Peter Fonda

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kurt Russell	...	Snake Plissken
Steve Buscemi	...	Map to the Stars Eddie
Peter Fonda	...	Pipeline
Cliff Robertson	...	President
Valeria Golino	...	Taslima
Stacy Keach	...	Cmdr. Malloy
Pam Grier	...	Hershe Las Palmas
Bruce Campbell	...	Surgeon General of Beverly Hills
Georges Corraface	...	Cuervo Jones (as George Corraface)
Michelle Forbes	...	Brazen
A.J. Langer	...	Utopia
Ina Romeo	...	Hooker
Peter Jason	...	Duty Sergeant
Jordan Baker	...	Police Anchor
Caroleen Feeney	...	Woman on Freeway

Storyline

The year is 2013 and Snake Plissken is back but this time it's L.A., which through the agency of earthquakes has become an island of the damned. But something has gone wrong in this new moral order, because the President's daughter has absconded to L.A. with a detonation device, and Snake is commandeered to retrieve it. But just below the surface there is a coiled Snake ready to strike.

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Plot Keywords:

island | escape | earthquake | terrorist | virus | 

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Taglines:

Snake Is Back.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

JohnCarpenter - movie site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 August 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.

Filming Locations:

Courthouse Square, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

JPY 9,040,640 (Japan) (29 November 1996)

Gross:

JPY 131,401,000 (Japan) (6 December 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Rysher Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Snake's line to Malloy near the end of the movie, "got a smoke?" is the same line that Napoleon Wilson says repeatedly in John Carpenter's other film 'Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)'.

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Goofs

When Snake approaches the Happy Kingdom amusement park on the hang glider (with the others) the sun is just coming up. Half an hour later (in the story), when Snake makes it off LA, it is dead of night.

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Quotes

Duty Sergeant: What would you say to all of us who believed in you, who looked up to you, who thought you stood for right over wrong, good over evil? Be my guest. What do you have to say, Plissken?
Snake Plissken: Call me Snake.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

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Soundtracks

"10 Seconds Down"
Written and Performed by Sugar Ray
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.

User Reviews

one of the most audacious films of the 90's

At first i love both Escape films but this film is the real proof what Carpenter movies are really about and that's the story. It reminds me the fact that those who constantly complains about EFLA didn't get even Escape From New York – this visual style, atmosphere and other great surrounding stuff, as everyone praising these days, doesn't make a good movie, it was, is and will be the story, and as for the richness of this Escape From L.A. is definitely far better including that it's the most personal Carpenter movie ever that is kind of philosophy on the freedom and also today's real problem in modern America. For these elements it‘s unforgettable and only waiting for its time to be reevaluated again.