Escape from New York was released in 1981. The movie was directed by John Carpenter who had also wrote the movie screenplay. Carpenter wrote the movie in 1976 but no studio wanted to make it. The movie starred Kurt Russell,Lee Van Cleef and Ernest Borgnine The premise of the movie also spoke of the moral decay of society and the powers that be decidedly throwing away whole segments of the population. In the midst of all of that the movie is a classical action yarn with an "anti-hero" that everyone can root for.
The movie was set in the then "distant future" of 1997 The entire island of Manhattan was converted into a giant prison. The prisoners can do what ever they want as long as the 50 ft wall surronding the prison is not breached. Snake Plisskin played by Kurt Russell is made an offer he wants to refuse. The ex-special forces soldier is needed to retrive the President of the United States who plane is hijacked and crashes onto the the prison island. The prison is controlled by The Duke played by Isaac Hayes in a great cameo. Snake will need to get the President out in 24 hrs or the microscopic explosions injected into his blood stream will rupture. Snake will complete the mission but on his terms and during his odyssey we meet some weird characters such as Cabbie, Brain and Maggie all played by Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton and Andrienne Barbeau This movie did make money and despite that even became a cult classic which is not normally the case for a cult classic. A sequel called Escape from L.A was made in 1996. The sequel was not as good as the first but most sequels aren't. You can catch the original usually on late night TV cable or brodcast.
"Call me Snake" and KEEP IT OLDSKOOL
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