Review: Escape From New York

In the ‘future’ of 1988, America is at war with both China and the Soviet Union. New York City has become consumed with crime, and gets walled in. It becomes a gigantic prison, with the inmates prevented from escaping by armed guards, and everyone given life sentences. Those confined within the city create their own form of government, and do their best to survive their hellish existence. In 1997, Terrorists hijack Air Force One and take The President (Donald Pleasence) hostage but crash on Manhattan Island. Police commissioner Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) takes action and brings in former war hero and convicted criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), who is awaiting deportation to Manhattan Island. Plissken is armed and given a hang-glider to fly in and rescue The President who has been captured and being held prisoner by crime boss The Duke (Isaac Hayes). If he succeeds within 24 hours, Plissken gets a presidential pardon. If not, the explosive device implanted in his neck will go off.

 

Popular with many, this 1981 futuristic urban hell movie from director John Carpenter (“Halloween”, “Big Trouble in Little China”, “They Live”) and co-writer Nick Castle (who wore the Shatner mask in “Halloween”) is…just OK with me. I’ve seen it multiple times over the years and whilst I enjoy certain aspects of it quite a bit, I always come away from it slightly disappointed whilst acknowledging its importance in 80s genre cinema. For what it is, it’s far from the worst of its kind, but it’s no “Mad Max” or even “Mad Max II”. Outside of the cinematography by Dean Cundey (“Halloween”, “The Fog”, “Road House”) perhaps being a touch dark, I can’t really complain about the film’s look. Yes it’s pretty clichéd urban hell stuff, but this was one of the originators of that visage and one must admit the production design and so forth is quite impressive for what is fairly large-scale on a not terribly large budget. It also boasts one of cinema’s greatest ever themes from Carpenter and Alan Howarth (who worked on Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness”), it truly kicks arse.

 

For me the problems start with a surprising source: Kurt Russell’s iconic performance as gruff anti-hero Snake Plissken. A favourite performance of many (including Russell himself), I’ve never been enamoured with it. In “Big Trouble in Little China” Russell was brilliant playing an ‘idiot John Wayne’, and Snake Plissken is clearly Carpenter’s idea of a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western anti-hero (we’ve even got spaghetti western veteran Lee Van Cleef in support). The idea and performance are appropriate in theory, but in practice Russell’s performance is heavy-handed and uninteresting. I understand why people love Snake, it’s objectively an undeniably iconic performance and character. It’s just not terribly appealing to me as a character or performance. He’s too one-note and too cold-blooded for me, and I’d much rather watch the real thing with Eastwood, despite being much less of a fan of Eastwood as an actor normally. I also think Donald Pleasence is woefully miscast as the hollow American president. I love Donald Pleasence, but he’s all wrong for this particular role and never fully commits to an American accent, either.

 

Thankfully, the rest of the supporting cast manages to pick up some of the slack. It’s a real shame Lee Van Cleef didn’t make a lot more films outside of the spaghetti western subgenre, because he’s a terrific actor regardless of genre. Here as the gruff Hauk, he’s pitch-perfect. Adrienne Barbeau (the ex-Mrs. Carpenter) has one of her best parts as tough chick Maggie, with Harry Dean Stanton doing Harry Dean Stanton things, which is always awesome. Hollywood veteran Ernest Borgnine is his usual jovial self as ‘Cabbie’, he’s always been one of my all-time favourite actors. Carpenter regular Tom Atkins doesn’t get a great deal to do here but is always good to have around. George ‘Buck’ Flower’s cameo is absolutely hilarious in a tiny role as a bum. Wrestler Ox Baker has a memorable cameo as the hulking Slag. Musician Isaac Hayes has a brilliant entrance as The Duke, who has a disco ball inside his car and chandelier’s on the bonnet. Hayes could normally be counted on for a bit of fun and an imposing physical presence, but after that entrance Carpenter seems to lose interest in what is essentially the film’s chief villain. Hayes is solidly cast, he’s just not in the film enough to really pop, and his exit is completely deflating.

 

So you’ve got three of the film’s main characters being somewhat problematic and underwhelming. Meanwhile, the lesser-known names in the cast are all pretty rough. Also, for what is an action film, the tension and excitement comes in fits and starts. I think the film needed a director who wasn’t afraid to embrace the campy silliness inherent in the situation and characters. Carpenter would end up being that kind of director with the classic “Big Trouble in Little China”, but here his attitude and tone seem to match Russell’s dour performance. I don’t think that’s the right approach at all.

 

A decent urban hell action movie, but only decent. It looks good, sounds great, has a pretty terrific supporting cast. However, the hero isn’t interesting, the villain is underused, and Donald Pleasence is unhelpfully cast as a snivelling U.S. president. It’s never as much fun as you would like, Carpenter doesn’t embrace the pulpy, campy potential of the material. Great main theme, however.

 

Rating: C+