Escape From New York (1981)

Escape From New York (1981)

On Demand, Seattle, WA

July 15, 2008

*** / ****

by Scott Muoio

It’s fun to appreciate a film like John Carpenter’s Escape From New York. There’s just something about watching a bad, good guy (or is it good, bad guy?) in an eye patch named Snake Plisskin hiss his way into hostile territory in a post-apocalyptic America, kick ass, take names, and piss off anyone and everyone as he attempts to save the world from certain doom. I can’t precisely describe why but it gives me a rise to witness all of the above plus dated technology re-imagined as future possibilities, a silly premise (all of Manhattan is a high security prison) degenerate into a typical stand-off between the anti-hero and the villain (a goofy yet menacing Isaac Hayes), and odd special effects coupled with an even odder soundtrack tying the whole thing together. I suppose it’s the notion of high concepts severely limited by time, money, and technology that I love, famous faces (Hayes, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, Harry Dean Stanton, etc.) unleashed to chew scenery as they please that tickles my fancy, and the obvious care and effort to make something different that most earns my respect. Whatever the case, Escape from New York is an entertaining B-Movie whose heart is bigger than its muscle, its aspirations grander than its abilities, and its ego a fragile shell feigning confidence despite everything life’s cinematic lessons have advised. And that’s OK with me.