Escape from New York (1981)
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A prisoner must navigate a high-security island prison to rescue the President of the United States.
The story
In a dystopian future, Manhattan Island has been converted into the United States' sole maximum security prison. When Air Force One is hijacked by anti-government insurgents and crashes into the walled-off borough, the President is captured. Snake Plissken, a special forces operative turned federal prisoner, is offered a deal: he will be pardoned if he can navigate the dangerous, crime-ridden island and rescue the President within 24 hours. To ensure his cooperation, he is fitted with micro-explosives that will detonate if he fails his mission or takes too long.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1997, while flying the President to a peace summit, Air Force One is hijacked and crashes into Manhattan, which has been turned into a maximum security prison. Snake Plissken, a soldier facing imprisonment, is offered a pardon to rescue the President. He is fitted with a ticking explosive device in his neck. Snake navigates the wasteland of the island, eventually finding the President and a group of allies, including a man named Brain and a woman named Maggie. He faces off against the Duke of New York, a local criminal leader. During a tense escape across the 69th Street Bridge, several characters are killed by mines. Snake successfully reaches the containment wall and rescues the President. In the final scene, the President thanks Snake but shows no remorse for the lives lost. Snake walks away, and when the President plays a cassette intended for the summit, it only plays a song, while Snake keeps the real tape and destroys it.
- First release year
- 1981
- Runtime (minutes)
- 99
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Carpenter
- Writers
- John Carpenter · writer; Nick Castle · writer
- Cast and characters
- Kurt Russell · S.D. "Snake" Plissken; Lee Van Cleef · Bob Hauk; Ernest Borgnine · Cabbie; Donald Pleasence · The President; Isaac Hayes · The Duke; Harry Dean Stanton · Harold "Brain" Hellman; Adrienne Barbeau · Maggie
- Genres
- science fiction; action
- Themes
- dystopia; survival
- Tone and mood
- action; dark humor
- Premise and plot tags
- prison escape; time limit; post-apocalyptic
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews and was a commercial success.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 71% · scale: percentage · review count: 163
- Awards and nominations
- Saturn Awards · Best Science Fiction Film · Nomination; Saturn Awards · Best Direction · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was inspired by the movie Death Wish.; The film's script was written in the mid-1970s in response to the Watergate scandal.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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