Escape from New York (1981)

Just perfect...

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Ah, older movies. There should be an age restriction for reviews on IMDb. You can tell who the young people are by the idiotic things they write about older movies. For some reason, young people just don't understand what FICTION means. Hence, the numerous one-star reviews in which the premise of Escape from New York is reviewed as opposed to the film itself. God love the youth, because I sure don't!Escape from New York is a great example of stretching a budget as far as it will go. For its time, it had a much bigger budget look to it. That explains why it inspired so many artists, including William Gibson. As much as I love Blade Runner, Escape from New York, essentially, beat Blade Runner to the punch with respect to the dark look that Blade Runner would eventually get credit for inspiring.The premise, that New York City would be turned into a giant prison, is actually not that absurd, though, for a work of fiction, that shouldn't even matter. In 1981, New York City was a giant toilet. It makes perfect sense that a totalitarian, post WWIII government might send all its criminals there to, pardon the pun, duke it out.Several of the kiddies here have complained about the script. They are not taking into account that all the Bibles of scriptwriting we know of today (Story, Save the Cat, etc.) were not published until well after this film was made. Regardless, if you actually take the story apart, you'll see it meets all the demands of traditional, storytelling structure.So you kids really have nothing to complain about, other than the fact that your poor generation has been deprived of the joys of REAL fiction. Stop looking for reality in fiction and stop using social media to make your reality a fiction!End of lecture. Now get off my lawn!

I had not seen this film in several years but decided it was worth another look. Of course it is now outdated in so many instances but it is interesting to see how the writers perceived what New York City would be like in 1997 from the perspective of 1981. A whole lot of imagination went into that script. But then again, we are talking about the very creative and talented John Carpenter. It was sad to see that the Twin Towers were still standing. No one in 1981 would have ever thought that they would be the site of an American tragedy twenty years later. Kurt Russell was excellent as Snake Plisken, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau equally good as the Brain and Maggie. I always enjoy seeing Ernest Borgnine and he didn't disappoint as Cabbie. I have always said that Manhattan can be a zoo, but a maximum security prison? Very creative, Mr. Carpenter, I also enjoyed the soundtrack!

This movie could make your head explode, literally. New York City has become a big penal colony where the works of the worst are being watched by machine gunned guards. They build a society of their own based on their own traits, murder and mayhem. All is going smoothly until the President's plane goes down in this mess and he needs to be rescued. A guy named Snake, played by Kurt Russell, is sent in to quickly rescue POTUS. With his eye patch and disheveled look, he fits in right away. He has all the necessary qualities to do the job, but he has a serious time line. He will die if he does not complete his task within a prescribed time. It's a pretty idiotic premise, I guess. Why such a short time? The star of this show is the world created by Carpenter and his people. The nouveau prison is really interesting to look at. There is an overriding blackness to the whole thing. Russell's smirking Snake is also pretty good.

It's the future New York has been turned into a cut throat prison Isolated from the rest of the world When Air Force One is high jacked It crashes in New York The President is held hostage by criminals In the cut throat hell that is now New York City And only one man has any chance to enter this hell on earth And escape alive from New York it's the hardened Criminal Snake Plissken This is without a doubt a movie that showed how good actions could be This is an absolute classic it must be seen by all genuine movie fans There is a reason this movie has stood the test of time and always will It's truly one of the greatest films ever to be made at the end of the day to be honest It's how action films should be so do your self a favour watch this movie Watch and enjoy