ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK review

In the briefest of time I’ve had the joy of seeing a collection of some of my absolute most favorite films in 35mm and even one in 70mm here in Austin. These films were ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, SUPERMAN, GHOSTBUSTERS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND definitive director’s cut.

Wow.

I love living in this town. A town with a strong sense of film history and diversity. The upcoming Peckinpah and Lucio Fulci festivals.... The First Annual Cannibal Film Festival. A Hitchcock Festival. WIZARD OF OZ with real original Munchkins present including one of the original Lollypop Guild guys. John Waters is coming to town, and through it all.... I just feel lucky.

I’ve decided to review these four films, and I’ll start with John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK...

First, I went and saw this one twice. First, last Thursday, then again Saturday night. And man.... This movie just kicks ass.

Now that we are on the otherside of the ‘timeframe’ called for in the film, it seems a bit odd. I remember as a kid being frightened that we would be headed into a semi-fascist state where tough ass-kickers like Snake Plissken walked the Earth flinging cigarettes and throwing out cool utterances like you wouldn’t believe.

But now... Now I see it as merely an alternative timeline. A parallel universe where everything went to shit. Kinda like RED DAWN. A dark period, where I was raped and murdered by Quint and his gang of weirdoes.

They are definitely living with the crazies in the sewers of the Manhattan prison. A scary world for sure.

It’s also a bit odd watching this film on the otherside of ESCAPE FROM L.A. A film that does not succeed nearly as well for me despite the increase in budget and effects.

What makes this film work?

First and foremost it’s that damn cool score with it’s casio coolness and synthesized screams.

Next the understatement of the script. Actions speak louder than words and the few words Snake utters ooze that Parker badass feel from them old dime novels of yesteryear.

Matte Paintings. I love Matte Paintings. You can force perspectives... shrink land mass to fit the shot. Cheat all over the place for the sole sake of making it look cool. You can take out the uninteresting buildings and let the city be the way you want it to look. As a result.... New York looks awesome. Even the miniatures work for me. Sure you can tell a bit here and there, but I don’t care because the story is always moving forward, the clock is always ticking. Each second brings them damn microscopic explosives closer to the ‘BANG’.

Then there is that classic sense of urgency and immediacy. No time to use logic, you simply must go forward. No time for sleep, love or relationships. This is do or die time. Snake doesn’t want to get to know any of these people. He just wants to get the job done and get the hell out of here.

He doesn’t give a shit for anyone, or so he’d like you to think. He’s machismo bravura that he can back up with a spiked baseball bat to the back of your head, or a throwing star to the center of your forehead or a knife across your throat.

His character just screams a history. How’d he lose that eye? Why’d he stop believing in his country? What turned him to a life of crime?

I don’t know and I don’t need to know. We can each make up our own beliefs and backgrounds for Snake. In those 5 hour (Midnight till dawn) conversations we can, if so stimulated, go on about what happened before, after and during this story.

It’s a mythological universe that for me is inexplicably tied to that same world of ROAD WARRIOR. Somewhere.... Halfway round the world, Australia was left in flames. Max came out of that, whilst America went to hell. The hell that Snake lives in.

For me, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK is one of those perfect set films. You can tell they are living in a lived in environment. It’s not all glossy with faerie endings.

When all is said and done, he’s alive to live another day and quite honestly he could just give a fuck about the rest of the world.

This film was shown at The Alamo Drafthouse as one of their Midnight films. Before hand they were showing clips of FIST OF LEGEND and a cool as hell Star Wars/Titanic Parody Short called TIE-TANIC which just kicks ass.

For the second showing ol Robert Rodriguez showed up with various friends of his, and folks... let me tell ya. Robert just LOVES this film. More than any other film I know of, Robert walks around quoting from this one. On his guitar, he plays the theme. He digs ol Snake Plissken.

But ya know, I can hang and talk about Robert later, let’s continue with ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK....

Then we have a great supporting cast that didn’t feel like a bunch of cameos. In ESCAPE FROM L.A., Well... I just felt like everyone was just... Popping in and out as Cameos. But here... Everything makes sense in the construct of the narrative.

Ernest Borgnine is so ALIVE as cabbie. When you see him getting down while watching the musical, his eyes shining sparks of charisma... I just can’t help but smile.

Lee Van Cleef as Hauk just has the right amount of menace and... I won’t take any shit off of you sonny... seriousness that he just makes me understand Plissken more. For me, it was someone like Hauk that made Plissken leave the service. And in ESCAPE FROM L.A., I really wanted to see someone like Clint Eastwood play the prison warden... And have him be Plissken’s direct supervising officer from when he was in the service. His Louis Gosset Jr to his Zack Mayo, ya know what I mean?

Then you have Isaac Hayes, Duke of New York, A-#1, Truck Turner and the singer of the ballad of Shaft. There are few people on this planet that are worthy of the clinging balls of shit on the hairs of Isaac Hayes’ ass, and so it is in this movie. He doesn't do or say much of anything, but what he does say, and what he does do... Well... He rocks so completely that everytime his eye twitches in that nervous tick, I feel like cheering. “What did I teach you?” Aaaaaaah... Perfection.

Donald Pleasence as the President of the United States is perfect. When Snake releases him, and tells him to like stay close (I believe) and Pleasence responds, “Ya goddamn right I will” It kills me. He’s so fucked with. I mean. They don’t cut somebody else’s finger off with the Presidential ring. They really just hack off the President’s finger. These guys are psychos.... And they turn the President of the United States into a psycho. Their madness rubs off on him. It’s great. Perfect. Wonderful. God I miss Donald Pleasence. A favorite of mine.

Harry Dean Stanton as Harold (aka Brain) is another purely classic character. These aren’t actors HAMMING it up. These are merely eccentric characters. Brain is just plain smart. Nothing more complicated than that. Well... Not even very smart, but smart enough to know he’d best play like he’s VERY SMART to stay alive in this hell hole. He is loyal to Snake to a degree.

Adrienne Barbeau is such a babe in this movie as Maggie. She’s more than just eye-candy, she actually cares for and kicks ass for Brain. Not in an exaggerated Mortal Kombat sort of way, but in that... I have no qualms in taking human life to keep what’s mine- sort of way.

Then, lastly there is Tom Atkins, who is simply strange. And that’s enough. He’s that weird cockroach of a human that has somehow survived to become a Pit Bull’s favorite pet. Eccentric and bizarre. Stylized in his movements and vocal delivery. He’s from... a different time and place, and fits so perfectly in this universe.

This film is a great example of a low budget working better than any low budget has the right to. It forced them to do model work and matte paintings. The wire-frame of N.Y. is a low tech masterpiece. What a dirty mean nasty beautiful violent masterpiece of film. A hero to nihilist everywhere.

Snake Plissken huh? I heard he’ll never die.

Lastly, as a John Carpenter film, the movie is just fantastic. This, along with, THE THING, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, HALLOWEEN, DARK STAR, VAMPIRES and THEY LIVE ranks as his best film. Of course, that's just my take on the subject.