Escape from New York (1981)

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John Carpenter Director previously directed The Fog

Badass Snake Plissken has 24 hours to rescue the President in the city of New York, which is a maximum security prison in the year 1997.
Trivia:

Escape from New York was the first movie to shoot on Liberty Island at night.

7 More Trivia
Reference: The Crazies

There is a gang called "The Crazies," also there is a character named Romero.

Quote: Snake Plissken

Call me Snake.

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Writers
Cast
Kurt Russell Snake Plissken
Lee Van Cleef Bob Hauk
Ernest Borgnine Cabbie
Donald Pleasence The President
Isaac Hayes Duke of New York
Harry Dean Stanton Brain
Adrienne Barbeau Maggie
Tom Atkins Rehme
Frank Doubleday Romero
John Strobel Cronenberg
See Full Credits

Plot Summary

 Glider view of New York City
 Glider view of New York City
Escape from New York begins with a couple of convicts trying to cross the river. They are warned by the border police and promptly blown up when they don't comply. Air Force One is captured and flown into a building. The President lands in New York City via an escape pod with a briefcase handcuffed to him. 
 
The border police rush to the pod to find it empty while Romero greets them with an ultimatum. They are to leave in 30 seconds or the President is dead. Romero convinces them to leave by showing them one of the President's fingers with a ring that has a presidential insignia. 
 
 Snake Plissken
 Snake Plissken

Snake Plissken is detained at the facility just outside of the Brooklyn Bridge. Bob Hauk enlists Snake with the promise of being pardoned and by a micro bomb implanted in his neck. He has 22 hours to save the President and retrieve the data for the international summit. The method of infiltration is a glider plane that lands on the World Trade Center. He makes his way down by elevator to the 50th floor and walks the rest by stairs. 
 
The President has a homing beacon on his wrist so Snake follows the signal to a dilapidated theater. Cabbie is inside watching a stage show. He notices Snake then proceeds to offer some advice about not going down stairs. In the basement Snake finds that the beacon is attached to a homeless bum with no idea how he got the beacon. Snake goes to the escape pod and sees a group of people rampaging through the streets. He hides inside of Chuck Full O' Nuts, a restaurant, meeting a girl that wants out of the city. The crazies break through the floor taking the girl. Snake escapes to an alley where he meets up with Cabbie again. Cabbie tells Snake that the President is being held by the Duke and that Brain could help him. He drives Snake to Brain's place.
 
 One of Snake's reunions
 One of Snake's reunions
Inside of Brain's place, Snake first meets Maggie and then recognizes Brain as Harold. They ran a job together but Brain ran away leaving Snake to the consequences. Snake coerces Brain into helping find the President. Outside the three of them hide from the Duke's men as they search for Brain. While they are distracted Snake steals an armored station wagon. He drives with Brain and Maggie. People in the streets throw miscellaneous junk at the car while they drive through. At one point there is a car pile up so Snake drives through in reverse. They make it to a train yard where the President is being held. Brain keeps the guards busy and Snake takes out a couple of guards around the President. Snake receives an arrow to his leg but limps outside with the President. Brain betrays Snake to the Duke so Snake and the President are captured. 
 
Hours later the Duke tortures the President revealing the contents the briefcase.
Romero takes the cassette tape that fell out. Later on Snake is in a different room. He is surrounded by guards then escorted to a gladiatorial ring. Brain and Maggie steal the President after killing the room full of guards and Romero. Romero was wearing Cabbie's hat from a trade. Snake fights a gigantic man while equipped with a nail bat and garbage can lid as a shield. The fight ends with the man having a nail in the back of the head. Duke's gang finds the President missing and rush off to find Brain. 
 
Snake heads to the World Trade Center's roof. He finds Brain, Maggie, and the President hiding from Duke's goons as they knock the glider off the roof. Snake takes the trio back down to the ground floor where the Duke is waiting. Snake shoots some pipes nearby blinding the Duke and his goons with steam. They run off and meet Cabbie. Snake commandeers control and they go to the Brooklyn Bridge. He takes the cassette tape that Cabbie traded for his hat. Brain navigates with a map of all the land mines on the bridge. Eventually they run over a land mine splitting the cab in half and killing Cabbie. Snake hobbles off with Brain, Maggie and the President with the Duke in hot pursuit. Brain directs them with the map thus stepping on a mine. He flies on top of a car and Maggie stands resolute where he lay. Maggie gets run over by the Duke and he runs after Snake on foot. At the end of the bridge the President is hoisted atop the wall. Snake evades the Duke's attack and knocks him down. He grabs the rope and it stops halfway up the wall. The President guns down the Duke and then resumes the winch. 
 
On the other side of the wall, Snake hands a cassette tape to Bob Hauk then he receives the X-Ray treatment disabling the micro bomb in his neck. Afterwords, the President is preparing for his speech to the summit Snake asks him a question about the people that sacrificed their lives for him. The President responds with a insincere answer so Snake walks off. During the speech the President plays the tape and finds it's music. The movie ends with Snake ripping out the tape to the original cassette.  
Escape from New York 17 images
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General Information Edit
Name Escape from New York
US Release July 10, 1981
UK Release
AUS Release Oct. 8, 1981
Runtime 99
Language(s)
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English
Genre(s)
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Sci-Fi
Action
Adventure
Crime
Thriller
Theme(s)
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futuristic
urban
post-apocalyptic
Rating R
Alias(es)
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  • In today's dollars
    Domestic $25,244,626
  • = total worldwide gross $25,244,626
  • - a reported budget of $6,000,000
  • = a 320.7% net profit of $19,244,626
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