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Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He also co-wrote it with Nick Castle . The film was made on a total budget of around $8 million, which is sometimes apparent in the night scenes lit by fires in trash cans. It played upon the recent highly-public fiscal and social eclipse of New York and fearful suburban prejudices concerning failed inner cities in general. The film stars Kurt Russell as the anti-hero 'Snake' Plissken. Set in a dystopian future of 1997, the island of Manhattan is serving as a maximum security prison. When the aircraft carrying the US president crashes on the island, convicted criminal and one-eyed one-time hero Plissken is charged with rescuing the president (played by Donald Pleasence) and a vital tape he carries from the hands of the leader of the inmates, the "Duke of New York" ( Isaac Hayes). Plissken has only 24 hours in which to accomplish his task and is encouraged by the insertion of explosive charges into arteries in his neck.
Also in the film are Lee van Cleef as the prison chief, Ernest BorgnineErnest Borgnine (born January 24, 1917) is a United States actor. Born Ermes Effron Borgnino in Hamden, Connecticut, he joined the United States Navy after high school and stayed in for ten years. After a few years of drifting, he attended the Randall Sch and Harry Dean StantonHarry Dean Stanton is an American actor. Although he has not achieved star status through lead roles, he is one of the most reliable, consistent and sought-after character actors in Hollywood. Filmography The Proud Rebel ( 1958) Ride in the Whirlwind ( 19 as erratically helpful inhabitants of Manhattan and also Adrienne BarbeauAdrienne Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American film actress. She was born in Sacramento, California. Barbeau made her Broadway debut in Fiddler on the Roof but is perhaps best known for her role as Carol Trainor on the CBS television sitcom Maude (1, at that time wife of the director.
Carpenter and Russell teamed up again for the belated sequel, Escape from L.A.Escape from L. is a 1996 film directed by John Carpenter. It is the sequel to the action film Escape from New York''. The film's plot concerns ex-war hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, on a similar mission to that seen in the original. It co-sta ( 19961996 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty''. Events January January 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone Jan) set in 20132013 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). Events May 10 Annular solar eclipse November 3 Hybrid solar eclipse The Kyushu Shinkansen high speed rail line in Japan is scheduled to be completed, linking Kagoshima, Nagasaki, and Fukuo. Another sequel has also been proposed, but will not likely materialize due to the poor box office performance of ...L.A.
1 Trivia
- Certain matte painting s were rendered by James CameronAlternate meaning: James Cameron (journalist James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian-born American film director noted for his action/ science fiction films, which are often completed behind schedule and over budget but compensate by be, who was at that time a special effects artist with Roger Corman's New World Pictures .
- Most of the movie was filmed in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Avco-Embassy Pictures, the studio behind the film, preferred either Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones to play the role of "Snake" Plissken to director/co-writer John Carpenter's choice of Kurt Russell.
- While many sources write that the film's production budget was $7 million, John Carpenter himself says the budget was more around $5.5 million.
- The film grossed $25.2 million in American theaters in the summer of 1981, with same amount grossed in foreign markets, making an over $50 million mega box-office hit in ratio to John Carpenter's production budget of $5.5-7 million.
- After the smash success of Halloween, the small studio of Avco-Embassy signed filmmaker John Carpenter and producer Debra Hill to a two-picture deal. The first film from this contract was 1980's The Fog and this film finished out the contract.
- Initially, the second film that Carpenter was going to make to finish the contract out was The Philadelphia Experiment but because of script-writing problems, Carpenter junked it for this project, which its initial script-draft he had penned back in the 1970s, and the studio greenlighted it.
