Escape From New York

Escape from New York (1981)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: John Carpenter

Starring: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes

From: AVCO Embassy Pictures

This was not the movie I was expecting to watch today. But, complications happened (which I won't get into) and I figured it was time to start going through the pile of Blu-ray discs I have that I haven't gone through (that's a big pile, too; I can buy discs easily enough; it's just watching them that I am not so good at) and I decided upon this classic film which of course I'd seen before but not in a long time. They're thinking of doing a reboot but I'd rather not be depressed by thinking of such things. I mean, it's not the worst thing to reboot... I will just presume they will royally screw it up and it'll be a piece of crap. The IMDb synopsis then the Letterboxd review:

"In 1997, when the US President crashes into Manhattan, now a giant max. security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in for a rescue." Yes, that's as basic a description as you'll get without it being inaccurate.

This was not the movie I was expecting to watch today. But, complications happened and I had to fall back upon a film which of course I've seen before but not in a long while and I hadn't checked out the Blu-ray I've had of the film for months now. With talks heating up again of there being a reboot of this (a major “sigh” to that story, by the way) I figured it'd be the perfect opportunity for me to finally review this for the site.

Everyone should know the plot by now so I won't recap that. Instead I'll jump right into my thoughts on the picture. I've always thought that while certain things about the plot/story could be nitpicked, what makes me rate the movie the way I do is a number of factors, from the awesome cast compiled & their performances to the incredible score from Carpenter/Alan Howarth, the look of a destroyed Manhattan being great as they filmed in the worst parts of the pretty much awful city of East St. Louis, to the general plot itself.

Oh, and Kurt Russell-no relation-was a great choice as the antihero Snake Plissken.

I'll be honest and say that there are definitely Carpenter films I prefer to this, such as The Thing or those movies that I need to watch and review for the site; I am looking at you, Assault on Precinct 13. That said, EFNY just has a COOL vibe to it and it helps erase enough deficiencies to give it a 3 ½ star rating. There are many colorful characters and they're cool and I'd like to hang out with them... even the villains.

Also, this is definitely better than Escape From L.A.; what a misguided film that was...

I'll return tomorrow night.