| | | | Escape From New York
(1981) |
y 1988, crime in the US has risen 400%.
The government has built a 50ft wall around Manhattan Island and converted it into an inescapable huge open prison where the country's toughest criminals are sent on a 'one-way' ticket. The wall is guarded by armed police, the bridges are mined and the bay patrolled by helicopters which blast anything that moves in the water. The island is almost entirely without electricity and the famous skyline has become dark and ominous, like the fledgling society growing in its streets, alleyways and sewers.
1997. The President is travelling by Air Force One to an international summit with a cassette vital for world peace. This tape has to be presented at a summit in twenty four hours to end years of conflict, but the plane is hijacked en route. The highjacker proceeds to crash the plane into the Manhattan Island prison. The President (Pleasence) escapes death via the planes emergency pod, but is immediately found and held hostage by the prisons most notorious gang, run by feared Duke of New York (Hayes).
Prison chief (Van Cleef) decides to send decorated ex-war veteran/hero turned robber of the state reserve Snake Plissken (Russell), whose unrivaled sense of self-preservation and combat prowess make him the man chosen to enter New York fortress to find and rescue the President.
To insure his cooperation, he is injected with two small charges, set in his arteries and timed to go off in 24 hours. The 24hr time limit presents a convenient marker against which to build the tension as Snake Plissken battles with roving bands of sewer dwelling armed convicts (immensely tense scene) and various other murderous cons.
In the search to locate the President Plissken meets a number of colourful characters who assist him in his seemingly impossible task.
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Escape From New York is an enthralling action movie that combines the prison break out genre with interesting futuristic premise.
Kurt Russell is superb as snarling anti-hero Snake Plissken whose rumours of demise providing a running joke throughout the movie. The opening shots of the decayed, walled in New York splendidly set the mood and gritty tone of the film.
The story of Escape From New York derives from the exaggeration of everyday urban crime scenarios, see also Assault On Precinct 13, The Road Warrior and The Exterminator.
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It has been offered by John Carpenter that the film's success was in part aided by America's desire to watch a successful rescue mission in the aftermath of the Iran hostage crisis. Thus, a number of external factors combined to allow Carpenter's film to be made and perhaps to succeed financially. 
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John Carpenter cameos as the guy playing the violin. -Thanks to Rogério Barbosa
Concerning the "Metal Gear Solid" aspect, Hideo Kojima (the game's creator) based his first game on one of his favourite films, "Escape From New York"...the game's storyline apes some of the events of the film...missing president; rescuing president; lead character called 'Snake'...amongst others. A fitting tribute and one that was indeed realised in the sequel, "Metal Gear Solid 2:Sons Of Liberty, when Iriqois Plissken does make an appearance..he does resemble Solid Snake, but Solid Snake himself only has a cameo in the first part of MGS2 (the tanker level). -Thanks to Antony Bennett
Snake meets a young woman and they share a quick scene before she's killed. The actress is Season Hubley, who was married to Kurt Russell at the time.
Snake Plissken was an actual person, a bully who went to John Carpenter's high school.
Maggie is played by actress Adrienne Barbeau, John Carpenter's lifelong girlfriend.
Carpenter's script for Escape From New York was written with Nick Castle, a U.S.C. friend who played the masked killer, "The Shape" in Halloween and went on to direct features like "The Last Starfighter" & "The Boy Who Could Fly" himself.
In the Playstation 2 game "Metal Gear Solid: Sons Of liberty" The main character is called Snake Plisskin. His appearance and voice match Kurt's as well. -Thanks to Many Of You
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the Escape From New York DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Escape From New York or 80's Action classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Angel ..... Raiders of the Lost Ark ..... Beverly Hills Cop ..... Die Hard ..... Predator ..... Terminator ..... Black Rain ..... 48 HRS ..... Untouchables ..... Lethal Weapon ..... Rocky IV ..... Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior ..... Top Gun ..... Highlander ..... Streets Of Fire ..... Commando .....[More]
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Both Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson were considered for the Role of Snake Plissken, and Avco Embassy, the Production Company, wanted Tommy Lee Jones for the Role, but Carpenter only wanted Russell, with whom he'd worked in 1979, on the Biopic 'Elvis, the Movie'. -Thanks to Neil Pike
Film director James Cameron was part of the film crew, assisting with special effects and helped build most of the models used.
The opening 10 minutes of the original cut, where it shows Snake and his crime partner robbing the fed bank, was cut because Carpenter decided the sequence was too long and distracted from the story too much. -Thanks to Chuck
John Carpenter provides the voice for the helicopter pilot who warns the prisoners to start back towards the island in the opening scene.
The 3D 'computer' displays of the city in the cockpit of the glider were created by flying a camera over a model of the city painted with flourescent paint -Thanks to See Pics
Dean Cundey and production designer Joe Alves were responsible for the look of the film, they had previously worked on Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
Carpenter employs his favourite 'Wet Look' technique (spraying streets with water before shooting), to create the required look of the city.
The voice of the Narration at the beginning of the film (and the sequel Escape from L.A.) is Jamie Lee Curtis, star of Carpenter's 'Halloween'. -Thanks to Chris Coombs
In the scene where Snake shoots a hole through the wall while escaping the "crazies", if you look close it's just drywall with no studs attached. He clearly could have just jumped through it without wasting the ammo... Still, a very cool scene! -Thanks to Rick Proska
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|  |  |  | | Escape From New York
Locations |
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The $7 million motion picture released by Avco-Embassy, shot for three months in futuristic locations scattered over five states: Georgia, Missouri, California, Nevada and New York. A large portion of the movie was filmed in East St. Louis after a fire had destroyed a large number of buildings. The area looked so bad the art department didn't think they needed to add anything to simulate a ghetto area of a New York city of the future [Thanks to Travis Milloy]
The filmmakers used the Sepulveda Dam as a detention center.
The lobby of the former World Trade Center was filmed at the California Institute of the Arts, a school founded by Walt Disney. [Thanks to Audie Harrison]
Part of the movie was filmed at Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri. Union Station was once the busiest and largest passenger rail terminal in the world. It's operation ceased in 1978. It reopened 1985 as the largest adaptive re-use project in the U.S. housing a 539 room Hyat Regency Hotel, a 10-creen movie theater, luxury offices, a lake, four active train tracks and a plaza for festivals, concerts and other special events. [Thanks to Barb]
The wrestling scene in the movie was filmed at Union Station. The room the scene was filmed in is now the lobby of the Hilton Hotel.
The subway scene where Snake tries to flee with the Pres. but gets caught, was also filmed at Union Station. Today it is the parking lot for the hotel and mall.
The bridge scene at the end of the movie was shot on the 'Chain of Rocks' bridge which connects Missouri to Illinois over the Mississippi just outside of St. Louis. The bridge also developed a bad reputation for crimes and violence including a rape and murder while it sat unused. In 1999, the bridge was officially re-opened for bicycle and pedestrian usage after renovations and security improvements. [Thanks to Brian Curran]
The Fox Theatre on Grand Avenue in St. Louis, Mo. was used for the musical "Everyones Coming To New York" that Snake went to to find the President. [Thanks to Jerry Cross]
The scene where Kurt Russell is watching a live stage show was filmed inside the Wiltern Theatre, corner of Wilshire Blvd and Western Ave in Los Angeles [Thanks to Robert Vannoy]
Can you help? Do you know any of the filming locations used for Escape From New York? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: 2 disc special edition DVD includes legendary lost original opening scenes |
| | | | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: 2 disc Ultimate Edition DVD includes legendary lost original opening scenes |
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The simplistic but effective synthesized soundtrack for the film was composed by John Carpenter and veteran horror genre composer Alan Howarth (Halloween 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6). An expanded version is available from Silva-Screen Records.
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Soundtrack Available:
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