“Escape from New York” is a 1981 Action/Sci-fi film directed by John Carpenter. The film stars Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, Lee Van Cleef as Hauk, Harry Dean Stanton as Brain, and Donald Pleasence as the President. The film is about a criminal named Snake Plissken who is sent to New York City in 1997, which has been turned into a walled, maximum-security prison. Snake is offered freedom if he can rescue the captured President within 24 hours after his plane crashes in New York.
I think the film has some pretty entertaining and novel ideas turning an entire city into one massive prison and with a budget of 6 million dollars the film pulls off some pretty good special effects shots. It makes you wonder how they got shots of a trashed and empty New York City. I think some of the character designs are very interesting, namely the main character, Snake, wearing a black tank top, camo pants, and probably most notably an eye patch, with him also having a giant snake tattoo on his chest.
I also feel that I should mention the wonderful world design as well. New York is trashed with litter, tons of broken windows, and graffiti all over the city. Overall I think “Escape from New York” is another great film by John Carpenter along with many others such as “Halloween”, “The Thing”, and “They Live”, and is a definite must-watch for fans of his movies.
