‹ All movies
Escape From New York poster

Escape From New York

year 1981decade 80sdirector John Carpentergenre Science fiction action

99 minutes

IMDb
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Escape From New York | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Shea Serranohost Chris Ryanproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Roger Ebert's review

Roger Ebert’s stated score is two and a half stars, which the panel considers too lukewarm.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:50Read transcript
  • The stated score is two and a half stars.
  • The quoted review calls it a merely good thriller that rehashes familiar science-fiction ingredients for cynical times.
  • The panel gives the review an L and questions comparing the movie to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The gladiator match wins one ballot and the opening setup wins another, amid a broad set of action and world-building alternatives.

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:48Read transcript
  • The Hawk briefing is praised for revealing Snake’s decorated military past and criminal sentence through an absurd rescue proposition and clipped sarcasm.
  • Lee Van Cleef’s earring and severe presentation deepen Hawk’s villainous authority.
  • Snake landing a one-seat glider on the World Trade Center is praised despite questions about how the president would have escaped with him.
  • The first Duke sighting, chandelier Cadillac, stolen car, and run down Broadway form another favored action passage.
  • The Duke firing repeatedly around the president while forcing his slogan is singled out as an absurd high point.
  • Romero’s finger-delivery countdown establishes how strange prison society has become.
  • The gladiator match is selected for its unexplained entrance, Ox Baker reveal, nail-studded bats, live music, and cross-cut rescue attempt.
  • The bridge escape and president killing the Duke complete a favored finale sequence.
  • The map-like opening that raises the prison walls wins another ballot for producing immediate physical excitement.
  • The sewer attack and Chock Full o’ Nuts abduction are praised for making every surface in Manhattan feel dangerous.

What’s Aged the Best?

Frank Doubleday’s Romero, the score, deleted material, fatal catchphrase, military base, Kurt Russell, and soundtrack lead the praise.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:18Read transcript
  • Romero is praised as perfectly balanced between an extreme look and an ordinary accountant-like voice.
  • His first-line physical flourish and the finger exchange remain memorable.
  • The deleted bank-robbery opening is valued as an extra seven minutes for fans.
  • Every character who tells Snake they heard he was dead eventually dies, creating a recurring kiss-of-death phrase.
  • The Gulf Fire plane and the Duke’s car are added to the list of designs that still hold up.
  • Hawk’s military installation and its sweeping helicopter-preparation shots remain an unimproved dystopian base design.
  • Kurt Russell’s Snake performance is judged capable of making him a star even if released today.
  • The synth score remains futuristic, frightening, and musically influential.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Post-2001 imagery, the president, romance beat, tattoo, huge phone, fight sounds, and inert radar display are criticized.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:16Read transcript
  • A presidential aircraft flying toward a New York skyscraper plays differently after 2001.
  • Donald Pleasence is judged an implausible American president because of his accent and shifty Nixon-like manner.
  • A possible sexual pause with the Chock Full o’ Nuts woman is debated as either unappealing or understandable given Snake’s isolation and limited time.
  • Snake’s tattoo is criticized as hastily designed, though its roughness is defended as period-appropriate.
  • Hawk’s future cell phone is comically enormous.
  • The exaggerated fist-fight sound effects have dated.
  • The radar operator claims Snake entered a building even though the screen’s blinking light does not move.
  • The appended interview says the president’s foreign accent was intentional because the story is set in the future, directly qualifying the panel’s accent criticism.

Casting What-Ifs

The studio preferred Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones, then approached Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges; Warren Oates was first set for Brain.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:25Read transcript
  • The financing studio preferred Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones for Snake.
  • Carpenter rejected Bronson as too old and feared losing control to a more experienced star.
  • Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges were approached but were not interested.
  • Nolte is considered insufficiently funny, while Tommy Lee Jones is the only proposed alternative with partial plausibility.
  • Warren Oates was originally set to play Brain, withdrew while unwell, and recommended Harry Dean Stanton.
  • The performer whose name is transcribed as Season Hubbly was married to Kurt Russell, which is offered as the reason she joined the cast.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Frank Doubleday completes the triple crown over Adrian Barbeau, Isaac Hayes, and Ernest Borgnine.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:58Read transcript
  • Adrian Barbeau and Isaac Hayes are strong short-performance alternatives.
  • Ernest Borgnine is praised as a famous older actor enjoying the role.
  • Doubleday wins for moving from terror to insecurity, dying with strange physical precision, and adding expressive gestures throughout.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Research covers narration, location work, the eye patch, Maggie’s death insert, James Cameron, Nick Castle, and Stephen Ford.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:13Read transcript
  • Jamie Lee Curtis is identified as the narrator.
  • Russell reportedly stayed in character but removed the eye patch between takes because it damaged his depth perception.
  • East St. Louis was selected for its old buildings, river, bridge, and blocks of fire-damaged rubble.
  • The Chain of Rocks Bridge was reportedly purchased for one dollar, and the city darkened ten blocks nightly for filming.
  • An eleven-year-old J. J. Abrams reportedly prompted the insert proving Maggie died, which Carpenter shot with Adrian Barbeau in their garage.
  • James Cameron worked on visual effects and cinematography before The Terminator and was considered the set genius.
  • Co-writer Nick Castle also played Michael Myers in Halloween.
  • Gerald Ford’s son Stephen Ford plays the Secret Service agent at the cockpit.
  • The appended interview says Snake’s eye patch was proposed as a visible, painful war injury and might also have a hidden futuristic function.

Apex Mountain

Ox Baker, John Carpenter for Halloween, dystopian New York movies, and possibly Escape from L.A.’s production receive positive cases; Kurt Russell remains debated.

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:03Read transcript
  • Kurt Russell is debated between this breakout and later peaks around Tango & Cash, Backdraft, Tombstone, and other roles.
  • Escape from New York is treated as the moment Russell became the guy even if it was not his biggest-star phase.
  • Making Escape from L.A. is floated as a possible Russell apex because he had enough power to revive the character.
  • Ox Baker receives a yes.
  • Adrian Barbeau is rejected in favor of her years on Maude.
  • John Carpenter receives Halloween as his apex.
  • The year 1997 is rejected as a cultural apex.
  • Dystopian New York films receive a clear apex verdict here.

Picking Nits

The unique fusion tape, terrorist flight attendants, Brain’s competence, escape pod, arena security, capsules, day–night timing, and Cabby trade are questioned.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:14Read transcript
  • The president carries the only copy of a nuclear-fusion peace tape on a dangerous flight, with no backup.
  • Terrorist flight attendants apparently pass background checks and seize the aircraft.
  • Brain can make gasoline but struggles to locate an obvious tall-building landing point and delivers Snake into immediate capture.
  • The one-person escape pod leaves the president easy to seize and excludes Secret Service protection.
  • After the gladiator fight, guards inexplicably stop treating Snake as dangerous.
  • Romero is unfairly excluded from watching the fight.
  • The implanted charges dissolve and explode with implausible second-by-second precision.
  • The changing daylight seems inconsistent with the stated 24-hour mission.
  • Cabby’s casual hat-for-tape barter with Romero leaves the negotiation unexplained.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Questions cover World War III, the liberation front, survival strategy, prison services, and the displaced people and sports teams of New York.

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:35Read transcript
  • The panel asks what happened in World War III and infers the United States probably lost.
  • The National Liberation Front’s plans after crashing the plane and then losing the president remain unclear.
  • A hypothetical prisoner chooses the sewers or immediate cremation in real life, but imagines overthrowing the Duke in a movie version.
  • Another participant imagines building a pirate radio station funded by Chock Full o’ Nuts.
  • The prison’s electricity, plumbing, food, entertainment, gas, and the Duke’s governing services are questioned.
  • The fate of New York’s teams, residents, homes, and largest arena is explored without a firm answer.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie

Snake’s death-rumor line, Romero’s countdown, Hawk exchange, and the Duke slogan lead the quotes.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:07:28Read transcript
  • The first Hawk–Snake scene is treated as quotable line by line.
  • Snake Plissken, I thought you were dead is a primary takeaway.
  • Romero’s touch-me countdown is another favorite.
  • Snake telling Hawk the president is dead and may have been eaten is singled out.
  • The Duke of New York, A number one is selected as the favorite line and a family affirmation.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A modern series is watchable but risks losing the handmade magic; Catalina and an inverted Escape to New York are proposed.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:34Read transcript
  • A 2020 series offers many advantages, but modern effects may erase the practical magic that distinguishes the original from Escape from L.A.
  • Catalina Island is proposed as a California prison society for a series.
  • Escape to New York would invert the premise by making Manhattan the only safe, supplied area in a ruined country.

Producer review

Producer Craig praises the now-fashionable synth music and Russell, while his viewing partner rates it two out of four.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:19Read transcript
  • The closing reaction says the synth music has become cool again and resembles what current listeners seek from electronic artists.
  • He argues there is no current Kurt Russell equivalent and that Russell still improves any production.
  • His viewing partner gives the movie two out of four and checks her phone, making it a middle-ground shared viewing.

More from the conversation

The film’s premise is praised for placing an entire maximum-security prison inside Manhattan in a future shaped by crime and war.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:18Read transcript
Carpenter’s early run is treated as an unusually strong sequence of low-budget genre films with distinct worlds and minimal exposition.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:52Read transcript
The prison society’s unexplained geography, economy, rulers, entertainment, and folklore are treated as the source of repeat-viewing pleasure.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:58Read transcript
The movie joins a run of 1970s and early-1980s films imagining New York as violent, depraved, and near collapse.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:01Read transcript
Its $6 million budget, $20 million gross, cult home-video life, restored deleted opening, and disappointing sequel establish the reception history.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:39Read transcript
Kurt Russell’s casting against his Disney image is framed as the break that created a new star persona.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:39Read transcript
The appended Kurt Russell interview defines Snake as a non-redemptive American escape artist whose one inescapable prison is himself.
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:06Read transcript
Russell argues remakes work best when the source has fixable flaws and says Carpenter’s work remains hard to reproduce because of his singular worldview.
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:45Read transcript
Russell says Carpenter adapted Who Goes There rather than simply remaking the earlier film, then describes The Thing as a study of paranoia and the decay of identity under isolation.
Approx. transcript time · 01:22:42Read transcript