Escape from New York: They Call Him Mr. Plissken
The gaps in my pop-culture knowledge are well documented. I never saw all three Godfather movies until 2013 and didn’t see Tron until 2008. There’s too much media, and it’s difficult to source quality material from the piles of dreck released every year. It should come as no surprise, then, that until last month I hadn’t seen John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic Escape from New York. Funny enough, I’d seen the sequel: 1996’s Escape from L.A. some time ago. But never the original. Thankfully, the first movie is now on Netflix, giving everyone the chance to see it before the inevitable reboot comes along.
It’s easy to see how Escape from New York eluded my attention. While brilliant, the movie is overshadowed by its contemporaries. Its dystopia isn’t as flashy as the world of Tron. The one-liners aren’t as prevalent as those of The Running Man. While he’s an iconic character now, Snake Plissken wasn’t a known name like He-Man from Masters of the Universe. Yet make no mistake: Escape from New York is just as good as those other movies, and in many cases better. famed horror director John Carpenter worked with Nick Castle to produce a tight script devoid of the bloat, cheese, and oversold backstory of those other movies.
The plot is simple. In the distant future of 1997, New York is now a maximum security prison, a super Alcatraz from which no one ever leaves. While the President of the United States is on his way to a peace summit, his plane goes down inside New York. Unable to get him out with regular police forces, the head of New York security enlists Snake Plissken to go inside and retrieve the President.
That one-paragraph plot description is about as much backstory as we’re given in the movie itself. Carpenter’s script doesn’t give up many details. We know Plissken was a former soldier, and that he has friends and ex-coworkers inside New York. What happened before he was called on to save the President? Why does everyone he talks to say “I thought you were dead”? We don’t know and Carpenter doesn’t tell us. But it doesn’t matter. The story works without needing too much detail or exposition. The audience can readily accept the film’s premise and enjoy the action without needing to know every last detail.
Reboot rumors have swirled around Escape from New York for years, which has me slightly worried. The last Carpenter movie to be rebooted, Halloween, bombed partly because of its over-exposition. The original movie didn’t dwell on Michael Meyers’s origins, and audiences were fine with that. Rob Zombie spent too much of the film trying to humanize the monster. Such is my fear for any attempt to reboot Escape from New York. If Snake Plissken is going to get a lengthy, tragic backstory, then count me out.
Escape from New York tl;drs
Quick summary: When the President’s plane goes down in New York, now a prison island, Snake Plissken is sent in to retrieve him.
Too many writers? Just two: writer Nick Castle and writer-director John Carpenter.
Recommended if you like: One-eyed heroes, Kurt Russell being a badass
Better than I expected? The script is tight and doesn’t waste time answering a whole lot of questions.
Worse than I hoped? The female characters are barely developed. I know the movie came out in 1981, but come on.
Should it be rebooted? On the one hand, I’d love to see another Snake Plissken story that isn’t Escape from L.A. On the other hand, I’ve seen what people have done with rebooting John Carpenter properties. (Looking at you Halloween.)
Verdict: Strap in for 99 minutes of pure ’80s action-y goodness.
Related Reading: Wiki article
