ESCAPE
FROM NEW YORK - 1981
Dreamworks Pictures/Columbia/Tristar Films
Ratings: Argentina: 13 / Australia: PG / UK:12 / USA: PG-13 |
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Context. Historical context. Yes, that's the phrase I want you to keep in mind.
When watching a movie (or living life in general) you can't help but see it through the filter of your experiences. But
when you review a movie - especially an older movie - you have to see
it in the historical context in which it was made, and not freak out when
there's a scene involving a plane hijacked by terrorists heading for the
skyline of New York City.
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK was directed by John Carpenter (HALLOWEEN,
THE FOG, THE THING, BIG
TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, THEY
LIVE, IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, GHOSTS OF MARS) and written
by Mr. Carpenter and Nick Castle. It is, in fact, one of the better known
"John Carpenter" movies.
The story opens with Carpenter's famous 80's electronica music and a narrator (the
voice of Jaime Lee Curtis) that tells us (and reads the text on the screen to us, which is very annoying) that
in 1988 the crime rate in the U.S. rose four hundred percent. One result
was the city of New York (specifically, Manhattan Island) being walled off and used as a prison reservation. The
city is completely isolated and troops from the "United States Police
Force" man the walls. Once you go in you never come out.
The story takes place in 1997, nine years after the prison is established. We see
what we presume is a typical night's activity as an armed helicopter kills
a couple of prisoners attempting escape in a makeshift raft. Prison official
Rehme (Tom Atkins: NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, THE FOG, HALLOWEEN III, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE NINTH CONFIGURATION) logs the kill and fills
out paperwork.
But then a jet is detected on radar, approaching restricted airspace. Prison chief
Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef: IT CONQUERED THE WORLD) is called in just as they realize the plane is Air Force One. The president's
plane has been hijacked by a terrorist.
This terrorist-disguised-as-a-stewardess (Nancy Stephens: HALLOWEEN II, HALLOWEEN
H20) is spouting moronic Marxist rhetoric (redundant, I know) as she steers Air Force One to its doom. The President
(Donald Pleasance: 1984, THX-1138, DRACULA [1979], HALLOWEEN [2, 4, 5, and 6], PRINCE OF DARKNESS) handcuffs a briefcase to
his wrist, says a few quick goodbyes to his staff and hops in a tough
little ball called "The Pod", guaranteeing his survival (Mini-science moment: that would NOT work).
Houk flies into action and leads a two helo squad into the prison to rescue the president.
Too late. A bizarre inmate named Romero (Frank Doubleday: NOMADS, DOLLMAN) greets them with the words, "If you touch
me, he dies. If you're not in the air in 30 seconds, he dies. If you come
back in, he dies." Then he provides gruesome proof that yes, they really do have the president as a hostage.
All this happens fast, like it should in a decent action flick. The situation is
bizarre and intriguing. What will they do?
It just so happens that this particular night a tarnished Special Forces war hero
was about to begin a life sentence in New York. Houk seizes the opportunity
and offers Snake Plisken (Kurt Russell: THE THING, BIG
TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) a full pardon
if he'll rescue the president and the president's briefcase, which turns
out to contain a critically important audio tape, which you would think
someone would have made a copy of if it was so damn important, but they
didn't so here we are.
The information on the tape is crucial to ending an ongoing war between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union (and maybe China, too). Houk mentions that Plisken won purple hearts in Leningrad and Siberia. Have
we invaded the Soviet Union? Or are we helping them fight off a Chinese
invasion? Clearly, this is some alternate universe where history happened very differently.
Snake, who is all gravelly voice and attitude, accepts the mission but Houk wants
to make really sure that Snake is as good as his word. The prison doctor
implants small explosive charges in Snake's neck. They are slowly dissolving
and will explode in 22 hours if Snake doesn't return with the President
and the tape. You can imagine his enthusiasm.
The City at first seems like total chaos. The subway is inhabited by the cannibalistic
"crazies" who come out to feed at night. But gradually we see
that there is a culture here, a sort-of feudalism which is what you'd
expect. Some areas of the city are relatively safe and even have running
cars and electricity. And all parts of the city pay homage to The Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes).
Snake meets a variety of interesting locals including Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine: WILLARD [1971], GATTACA), Maggie (Adrienne
Barbeau: THE FOG) and a former partner
in crime named Harold (Harry Dean Stanton: ALIEN, THE GREEN MILE)
who now calls himself "Brain". But will he rescue the president?
And will there be more electronica music?
I can't tell you that but I can provide a
!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
The science today is economics. Consider that a mega-city like New York
is a sizable fraction of our economy. A mere 400% rise in crime doesn't
even come close as a good reason to abandon trillions of dollars in infrastructure
and real estate represented by that huge city. Something else must have
happened. Maybe a terrorist bio-attack or radioactive dirty bomb made
most of the city uninhabitable. But even then it would still make more
economic sense to clean up and rebuild rather than just walking away.
My guess is some kind of revolution was taking place in their version
of the late 80's (because of leading up to our
involvement in WWIII) and the rebels took control of Manhattan.
What began as a siege of enemy-held territory became a permanent situation.
Go to SCIENCE MOMENT and Arm Yourself With Knowledge!
That's all well and good, you say, but does it suck? John Carpenter movies tend to
either be cool (THE THING, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) or really suck
(IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS, GHOSTS OF MARS).
There's no in between for Mr. Carpenter. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK does not suck. This is a cool sci-fi action flick, as long as you keep the historical context and the fact that it's a B movie in mind. I give
it three shriek girls.
This review
copyright 2004 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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