'Escape' trashy fun without real meaning
By Richard Dodds
It probably wont make Mayor Koch's 10 Best list, but ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (now at area theaters) is trashy fun for those who don't take John Carpenter's blithely nihilistic view of the future of New York City too seriously.
What Carpenter has done in his new movie (set in 1997) that might make the mayor unhappy is to turn the island of Manhattan into a maximum-security prison where the inmates, allowed to roam wild, have developed their own barbaric society amidst the relics of the former metropolis. Is this a commentary on Crime in the Big Apple? Is Carpenter pandering to a Middle American distaste for the troubled city?
Carpenter hasn't displayed much interest in making statements in his previous films, including HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, wanting simply to entertain, and that's what ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK seems to be about as well. But the director (who co-authored the screenplay with Nick Castle) does show a sardonic side in his treatment of American life 16 years in the future.
If he's pandering to anyone, it's the young moviegoers who will identify with his anti-establishment hero who disdains all authority, from the whimpering president of the United States who's being held hostage in New York to the black leader of the prison society pack. But with his eye patch and a name like Snake Plissken, this is an anti-hero out of an adult comic book, a kind of surly right-wing hippie with a screw-you attitude.
Snake Plissken is a war hero (World War III) who's gone bad. Sentenced to spend the rest of his life imprisoned on Manhattan, he's offered a deal: a full pardon if he can rescue the president within 24 hours. The president's hijacked jet has crashed onto the island, and the chief executive is a hostage. He must reach a crucial summit meeting within 24 hours or the world-wide hostilities may resume. Snake enters this alien world, making allies and enemies as he searches for his ticket out.
Carpenter manages to maintain a high level of suspense as the situations seesaw in and out of Snakes favor. There's also a surprising degree of character shading for what's basically a chase flick, and a grim sense of humor further enhances the action.
Kurt Russell, once a child actor in Disney films, growls his way through the movie as Snake. It's not a complex performance, but its intensity does have an effect.
Offbeat casting has Lee Van Cleef, seen to surprisingly good advantage, as the almost decent prison warden and Isaac Hayes as the ominous self-appointed dictator who rules Manhattan. Harry Dean Stanton credibly handles the role of a brainy but weaselly prisoner, and even Ernest Borgnine holds his own as a kindly but anachronistic cab driver. Adrienne Barbeau isn't so good as Stanton's moll though, and Donald Pleasence doen't quite cut it as the milquetoast president. Times may be tough, but this guy couldn't beat Harold Stassen.
The look and feel of the film are sharp and dark. Its hip cynicism may rub some the wrong way, but the bleak future Carpenter paints does have its roots in rising crime rates and world tensions. ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK is a cartoon with a sneaky bite.
