“Call me Snake…”
45 years ago John Carpenter dropped one of his earlier classics that helped codify the image of the cynical grizzled eighties antihero, established Kurt Russel as more than a Disney star (yes, that was his reputation once upon a time) and delivered one of the most iconic movie posters of the age, even if doesn’t reflect anything that actually happens in the movie. Question is, how much does Escape from New York hold up, or is it something to be cast aside into a Manhattan dumpster?
Well, overall, despite being a bit hokey to modern eyes in some parts, it’s definitely got the vibes down—the opening pan of a blacked-out NYC skyline, surrounded by dystopian prison walls, is exactly what it needs to establish the mood. Like a lot of these sorts of stories do, it takes the contemporary and exaggerates it—back then, the Big Apple really was considered a crumbling craphole the federal government had given up on, and turning it into a giant penal colony wasn’t too far off from that darkly satirical next step.
And that’s the essence of the story—in the impossibly far future of 1997 (yes, we chortle), an increasingly totalitarian USA in a slightly ambiguous state of conflict with the still extant Soviets and Chinese has walled off Manhattan for its undesirables. I could make all sorts of references to current events, but you’ve already done them in your head, let’s face it. Anyhow, the President himself (played by Donald Pleasance, who seems unsure of how much of an American accent he should put on) crashes into the city after his plane his hijacked, leading the chief warden Lee Van Cleef to recruit one unique prisoner to go in an rescue him—that being Russel’s Snake Plissken.
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| Kurt here responds to the notion that 40 years hence the kids would know him for playing Santa. |
Carpenter was always a western fan, hence Van Cleef’s inclusion, and the general storyline isn’t too far off from the setup of an outlaw given one job to redeem himself. Either way, while you might think Snake ends up another invincible 80s action hero, it’s not really like that—the tone goes for the serious but surreal, as he delves into a dilapidated city to link up with some of the oddballs that eke out an existence there, to go up against the self-proclaimed Duke himself (Isaac Hayes). And the atmosphere is spot on for that—there’s an elaborate wireframe computer spread of New York for Russel to go through as he approaches, entirely down with practical effects ironically, and the streets are but St. Louis with the lights off. There’s not much rip-roaring violence, but it’s ever so slightly dreamlike in a good way.
Of course some things date it, like Hayes’ very seventies get-ups, and the fight scenes aren’t amazing. Still, it keeps up a piece, and drops enough tidbits of the wider world for folks to latch onto if they so choose. The final chase scene across a mine-laden bridge is a nice highlight, and I do like the ending, which hits that right note of dark cynical satire going throughout.
Of course video game fans will know that Video Kojima also pilfered the character of Snake not once, but essentially twice (sort of) for his Metal Gear games. And then in 1996 Carpenter pilfered himself with Escape From LA, which was basically the same plot but transposed to California, and with more cheesy CGI. The only highlight there was the final scene, which hit really hard for a silly movie like that.
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| Hey, we lost an eyepatch and that makes it totally different! Amazing what you can achieve when you just don't care! |
Either way, what Carpenter undeniably succeeded at was doing a moody future setting on a low budget—and as such we got Italian knockoffs aplenty! 2019: After the Fall of New York was one of the more blatant, complete with its own Kurto Russelino, but hey, at least it took twenty more years before we could chuckle at the date!
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