g5000
Diamond Member
- Nov 26, 2011
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I'm a big fan of John Carpenter's movies. He is the director of the original Halloween which went on to become a huge franchise.
He also directed the original Assault on Precinct 13 from which a horrible remake was made.
Speaking of remakes, Carpenter remade The Thing, and it was epic.
Carpenter also composes the music in his movies. That Halloween them song everyone instantly recognizes is his work.
Carpenter uses a lot of the same actors in his movies, including using Kurt Russell in three movies, one of which is the topic of this review.
Escape From New York was filmed in 1981 and takes place in the future of 1997, yet it still resonates.
In the 1970s and 80s, New York City was a cesspool. I saw this firsthand. Those who complain today about the condition of our cities have no idea of just how bad things were when this movie came out.
John Carpenter extrapolated how much worse things were going to become and made a movie out of it.
Up to this point, Kurt Russell had been a Disney child actor, and made family-friendly movies as an adult.
With Escape, Kurt Russell was reborn as an action star. Snake Plissken.
For the uninitiated, the US government decides the way to handle America's crime rate is to put all the criminals in America behind a giant wall surrounding Manhattan, and then watch that basket.
Inside the wall, it's a free-for-all. Every man and woman for themselves.
Then Air Force One is hijacked and the terrorists deliberately crash it into Manhattan.
Snake, a war hero who robbed Fort Knox, has just been sentenced to life behind the wall, and he is recruited to rescue POTUS, played by Donald Pleasance who is also in three Carpenter movies.
And the adventure begins.
Hey, the wonderful Adrienne Barbeau's tantalizing chest is worth the watch alone.
He also directed the original Assault on Precinct 13 from which a horrible remake was made.
Speaking of remakes, Carpenter remade The Thing, and it was epic.
Carpenter also composes the music in his movies. That Halloween them song everyone instantly recognizes is his work.
Carpenter uses a lot of the same actors in his movies, including using Kurt Russell in three movies, one of which is the topic of this review.
Escape From New York was filmed in 1981 and takes place in the future of 1997, yet it still resonates.
In the 1970s and 80s, New York City was a cesspool. I saw this firsthand. Those who complain today about the condition of our cities have no idea of just how bad things were when this movie came out.
John Carpenter extrapolated how much worse things were going to become and made a movie out of it.
Up to this point, Kurt Russell had been a Disney child actor, and made family-friendly movies as an adult.
With Escape, Kurt Russell was reborn as an action star. Snake Plissken.
For the uninitiated, the US government decides the way to handle America's crime rate is to put all the criminals in America behind a giant wall surrounding Manhattan, and then watch that basket.
Inside the wall, it's a free-for-all. Every man and woman for themselves.
Then Air Force One is hijacked and the terrorists deliberately crash it into Manhattan.
Snake, a war hero who robbed Fort Knox, has just been sentenced to life behind the wall, and he is recruited to rescue POTUS, played by Donald Pleasance who is also in three Carpenter movies.
And the adventure begins.
Hey, the wonderful Adrienne Barbeau's tantalizing chest is worth the watch alone.
