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The Appropriate Tune: "Escape from New York Theme", by John Carpenter
Although I often mention name-dropping certain directors all the time in these reviews, I do feel a little bad when I fill a slot or two with directors I’ve covered numerous times before. There are a lot of movies out there after all, and I’m potentially denying myself a great experience with a new film and/or director, maybe even a great review, by filling space with things that I was probably going to like either way. Today however I had to make an exception, because no other film has been an also-ran on this blog longer than Escape from New York. For years and years Escape had been waiting in the wings, the first name on the list, just waiting for the call-up, and yet every year it ended up pushed aside for something else. Even when I was set on covering a film by John Carpenter, Escape from New York was a victim to my capricious nature. I mean, Village of the Damned? Really? Well no more! The cycle must be broken, and it’s breaking now! Escape from New York baby!
Released in 1981, directed by, co-written by (with Nick Castle), and with music by John Carpenter, Escape from New York was Carpenter’s fifth feature film and the second released during what would turn out to be his most prolific creative period, the 1980s. In an alternate, slightly more dystopian 1988, the crime rate had risen so high that rather than do something crazy like social or legal reforms, the United States decided instead to wall off the entirety of Manhattan Island into a supermax prison, or more accurately a horrific fusion of Lord of the Flies and the Warsaw ghetto where those convicted of a crime are sent to rot with no access to food, water, medical supplies or the possibility of parole or escape. Now the year is 1997; the Cold War has transitioned to World War III, and a hijacking of Airforce One has left the President stranded in the city, and soon after that kidnapped. With only 24 hours to go before a major diplomatic conference, police chief Hauk makes a gamble and brings in Snake Plissken, former soldier and current criminal. If Snake can get into New York City, rescue the President and get him out by showtime, then he’ll be a free man. If he can’t, not only will the survival of the human race be at risk, but the micro bombs that were implanted in his neck will go off. No pressure though.
It makes sense that Escape from New York would come out the same year as another film that took an oddly long time to actually review, that being Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. In fact, prior to looking up the release dates I would have thought Escape was directly influenced by Mad Max 2, given their similarities. Both films center around ‘post-collapse’ scenarios, where society has been forced to reorganize itself into a more primitive form but retains vestiges of modernity, such as the use of automobiles or using trash cans as shields. Both films also take that concept, which on its own can be sobering and even terrifying to consider, and turns it up just enough to push things into surreality. Mad Max’s desert wasteland is populated by leather-clad weirdos with names like Lord Humongous, while Escape from New York has its sewer cannibals and warlords who staple chandeliers on their cars as a status symbol. Even our protagonist is something of a cartoon character, with his eyepatch and his gruff mannerisms, walking around with a name like Snake Plissken like it’s totally normal. You see Snake in this movie and suddenly all those stereotypical badass characters you’ve seen in every other science fiction thing you’ve ever seen, Metal Gear Solid or otherwise, suddenly have a common origin. Suddenly, making Escape from L.A. into a more comedic film makes sense, because he’s such a personification of the stoic badass that contrasting it with more and more ridiculous situations seems a natural fit. Not to mention going the completely opposite route for a protagonist in the case of Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China.
Yet in spite of Snake being the archetypal badass action hero, and Escape being an ‘action’ film, there’s very little of the two-fisted, explode ‘em up fare that we associate with action movies of the 80s, Commando and Aliens and what have you. Rather, Carpenter’s emphasis on stealth and building suspense through the avoidance of combat feels more in line with Die Hard and maybe even post-Vietnam war films like Apocalypse Now. Yes, and with the Metal Gear series as well, although even the first Metal Gear Solid we see Solid Snake have far more in common with Pierce Brosnan in his Bond films or Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible than he ever did with his namesake.
Going into this film blind, I was quite surprised at just how stacked the cast was. Of course you’ve got Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken, right in the middle of his landmark collab with Carpenter, but then you’ve got B-movie and western star Lee Van Cleef as Chief Hauk, Halloween staple Donald Pleasance attempting a Southern drawl as the President, Harry Dean Stanton, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, hell they even got future Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Night of the Creeps star Tom Atkins in on her as well. Very few of those names mean anything to the casual movie goer, but for a guy who has immersed himself in genre film for years now this is the most stacked cast I’ve seen in awhile. Certainly of the Carpenter films that I’ve already covered, although the lack of any Keith David does lose it some points in the final tally.
Of course I couldn’t talk about a John Carpenter movie without bringing up the music, in the case of Escape composed by Carpenter and Alan Howarth. There’s something about that minimalist synth that not only matches perfectly with the vibe of Escape from New York, which in spite of the weirdo characters is a very grounded film, but matches the 80s. You talk about 80s cinema, this is the kind of music that pops into my head. There’s nothing I would say is as iconic as the Halloween theme, then again getting lightning to strike twice isn’t exactly easy, but the opening track is a bit of a banger and it does the job of pulling you into the right headspace for the story they’re telling.
As a rebuttal to that however, I will say that it felt like I was observing a story rather than engaging with a story. Escape from New York has this great cast and there’s nothing bad about their performances, and yet I found it difficult to feel invested in anything. Certainly not in Hauk’s mission and the search for the President, because anybody who would have okayed building such a place or support it don’t have my sympathy and never will. The Duke is one note as an antagonist, which is a huge missed opportunity for a character that is simultaneously a villain and a victim. Even our protagonist Snake has some problems. He’s certainly likable on an aesthetic level, but there’s never really an arc per se, never that moment where it feels like Snake comes out a different person than he was when he went in. Which might be seen as a non-issue because Snake is such an outwardly cool character, but it messes with the dramatic stakes. Because if I already don’t care about this mission in the first place, then do I really care if Snake fails? I may feel sympathetic towards him because he’s been forced into a suicide mission, but I’m also not squirming in anticipation to see if he succeeds. Especially since the world’s been fucked over by nuclear war at this point, so whether anyone lives or dies or escapes or not really seems like a moot point.
That being said, I’m going to give Escape from New York the recommendation. Compared to the rest of Carpenter’s films I’ve covered I’d say it's about a C-grade, better than Village of the Damned at the very least, but I think if you like the sound of your science fiction movies having a low-budget, grindhouse flair then you’ll have a good time with this one. Maybe pair it up with The Warriors and a nice pizza pie, get that full on dirty ass New York experience. Save me a slice though, watching all these movies makes me hungry.
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