A GREAT CULT CLASSIC MOVIE!!!
This movie came before Escape from LA, and it's just great. It's not meant to be taken too seriously. There are subtle jokes throughout the movie. A lot of it is tongue in cheek. So enjoy it for what it is. There will be no Oscars, no awards given out for this movie... it's just mindless entertainment. You can tell Kurt Russell is having fun with the character. The whole movie is "over the top" and that's the point. Loads of fun, provided you don't take the movie, or yourself, too seriously. So lighten up, sit back, and enjoy! Check out Escape from LA too.

Ahead of it's time!
John Carpenter's "Escape From New York" movie was way ahead of it's time and is a much better script and story than "Escape From L.A." In the second movie or it's continuum, there was too much repetitive dialogue copied or borrowed from the 1st movie. Snake is always left behind by one of his fellow thieves in both films and same dialogue of threats are made from United States Police Force commanding officers towards Plissken. They broke the mold with "E.F.N.Y." film after it was released into theaters. Do they have a 'special featurettes' with the new dvd version of "Escape From New York"?

Why didn't Hayes also do the music?
The movie held my interest, despite a crazy premise: the answer to out of control crime in the futuristic USA is to contain it in a big city surrounded by water and mines and whatever other disincentive to split. Why Washington, D.C. would choose the financial capital for the experiment is beyond any second-rate science fiction writer and should have been beyond Mr. Carpenter.
So we have the worm-laden Big Apple denizen Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a War hero, whom the viewer is left to surmise, became a civilian criminal not long after his patriotic exploits. Anyway, the Police Chief enlists Snake to rescue the President, who has crash landed inside the prison-city and has become a prisoner himself. The viewer is never sure how much sympathy to lend to Snake because the details of his lawlessness are not brought out.
Instead of appealing to his good sense and inate Patriotism, they implant him with an explosive to be detonated if he doesn't accomplish his mission in due time. Interesting logic.
Along the way, he encounters the Brain and his girlfriend, none other than Adrienne Barbeau, who doesn't have alot to do, in fact, seems disintetested in the Brain, who doesn't exactly display the machismo of the Snake. She does come through in the end as a cool kitty wielding a weapon which advances the plot; she's every bit as cool as the cool cat Snake (just to mix metaphors for fun).
There's some "New York" left to New York, at least in one shot of what appears to be Central Park, though the production looks very cardboard. Bizarre lighting effects to create a composite of the Roman Colisseum in ruins and Broadway in decay.
Probably the best acting comes from the *musician* Isaac Hayes, who plays the unofficial inmate representative, the Duke; some of the best over-acting comes from the always dependable Ernest Borgnine, who drives a mean taxi-cab. Barbeau under-acts...good choice. I detected no close-ups for her.
Ultimately, the story has no useful symbolism, and is quite suspect in it's cynical view of Government. Snake shows no interest in rescuing the President, says "get another President", then reluctantly agrees to save him. When Donald Pleasence delivers his reassuring speech to the Nation following the rescue, Snake walks away in disgust.
Russell was two years away from a silly bio.-pic. on his childhood idol, Elvis Presley, and even incorporates some of that style here and there. But it's like when Elvis played a prize fighter and looked about 100 bench presses away from believability. Barbeau as the Brain's "Squeeze", didn't even look twice.

Kurt plays the anti-hero role really well
Snake Plissken is one of those iconic characters, who everyone knows about, and who everyone loves. Except for me. Until now. I had no idea who Snake Plissken was until ages ago, when someone bought a soft toy snake, and called it Plissken.

There's something about Kurt Russell, that makes him fit the anti/reluctant hero role so well, he surpasses himself in this movie, as he was a bit cocky in Big Trouble In Little China, but here, he's mean, he's moody, and he's a bad boy. Perfect guy!

In Escape From New York, Plissken has to rescue the president, a guy he really couldn't give a damn about. Air Force One has crashed into Manhattan Island, holding the largest prison, and the President is now trapped, with vital information on his person. Freshly captured, and about to be incarcerated, Plissken is ordered to rescue him, within a time limit of 22-24 hours, and that's that. Lots of fighting, chasing and Kurt looking pretty damn good. It starts off set in the future (but in the past by now!), where in 1997 there were high levels of crime. New York is now a high level prison, where all the toughest criminals are to serve life. It's survival of the fittest inside, with no rules, except what's made by the prisoners, so it's survive or die!

The film's quite brisk, and passes by quite quickly. There's literally no scenes in this that deserved to be on the cutting room floor, and it was to the point. No nonsense from the Plissken. The only quibble is that it's dated now - they actually use cassette tapes (how did we EVER manage?), and apart from Kurt's hair (mullets were never a good idea), it feels like it could have been made recently.

There's something about Escape From New York, in my opinion, it lacked a certain something. It never really punched me right in the gut. But it was a good movie. With a meagre budget, compared to today's standards, it doesn't look that way.

With rumours about this being remade - with Gerard Butler of all actors - I seriously hope it falls through. I wasn't quite sure what all the fuss about Kurt was about until I saw this. This film cannot and should not be remade. Get some original ideas and leave Snake Plissken alone.

Prison As It Ought To Be...
Oh yeah, the entirety of Manhatten island, surrounded by a 50-foot concrete wall! Just drop the convicts in and leave. Oopsy daisy! The president's plane has crashed within said mega-penitentiary! Now, it's up to total bada$$, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell from The Thing) to rescue the prez along with the secret tape he carries. Can Snake slither his way through the roving gangs of nocturnal nutcases? ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK was to me, John Carpenter's last fully satisfying movie. Though I did love THEY LIVE, I've found his other movies after EFNY to be hit and miss. EFNY ended Carpenter's string of perfection that included DARK STAR, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, and THE THING. ESCAPE is also pleasing in that it's a cavalcade of Carpenter regulars like Donald Pleasence (Halloween), Charles Cyphers (Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog), Tom Atkins (The Fog), and the ever-delectible, Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog)! It's always cool to see any of these folks together. Plus, we get Harry Dean Stanton (Alien, Repo Man) as Brain, Ernest Borgnine (from the original Willard, The Devil's Rain) as Cabbie, Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly), and Isaac Hayes himself as the Duke of New York! My favorite scenes include the death-match between Snake and that bearded behemoth, and any scene with Ms. Barbeau running at me! Buy this immediately, it's a bloody masterpiece...