CEscape From New York. (15.)
Directed by John Carpenter. 1980.
Starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau and Isaac Hayes. 95 mins. New 4K restoration. Back in Cinemas for one day November 22nd. Out on Blu-ray and Dvd October 26th.
Optimism is in short supply these days so let's draw comfort from John Carpenter's 1980 sci-fi action romp Escape From New York. Just imagine, less than four decades ago the island of Manhattan, that 23 square miles of prime real estate, was such a lawless, crime-ridden hellhole that the idea of just throwing up some walls around it and turning it into one great big prison could be put forward as a premise for a vaguely satirical entertainment. That such an idea wouldn't play these days is a sign that however bad things seem, things do sometimes get better.
The film begins with a suicide terrorist, hijacking a plane and crashing it into some building in Downtown Manhattan very close to the World Trade Centre. The plane though is Air Force One and the only survivor is President Donald UnPleasance, who is on his way to a vital peace conference. Convict Snake Plissken (Russell) is given 24 hours to go in and find him with the promise of a full pardon.
Carpenter is arguably as celebrated now for his music as his movies and in the last few years has devoted himself to performing and recording. Escape has another classic Carpenter score (though a classic Carpenter score co-written with Alan Howarth.) I've been trying to work out why his music is quite so compelling. To my tone-deaf ears, his scores seem quite rudimentary but they rank up there with the very best film music. I think this is partly because they are very honest representations of the film they are connected to. Often film music is trying to sell you something way beyond what it on screen. The music here is lean and sparse, without flourish but very effective at creating tension and that's exactly what the movie is.
The film is a brash romp, ugly on occasion, but with a keen sense of fun, that is over far too quickly. Movie critics are always apt to praise a movie for having a short running time. This is because brevity is always a virtue, but mostly because they want to get home. Carpenter rarely takes more time than is strictly necessary to tell his story, but here he probably short changes it. It takes the best part of a half hour setting up the premise and getting Russell inside New York and once inside the clock seems to tick down mighty fast. We're whipped through events, with Borgnine's taxi driving Cabby proving to be a very convenient Dewy Machina figure. He's like a narrative uber, popping up whenever he's needed to swish us on to where we have to get to next without giving us a time to have a think or a look around. Just as the film is really building up a head of steam the climax abruptly arrives and you think that was a bit quick.
Extras.
A choice of three different commentaries
Directed by John Carpenter. 1980.
Starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau and Isaac Hayes. 95 mins. New 4K restoration. Back in Cinemas for one day November 22nd. Out on Blu-ray and Dvd October 26th.
Optimism is in short supply these days so let's draw comfort from John Carpenter's 1980 sci-fi action romp Escape From New York. Just imagine, less than four decades ago the island of Manhattan, that 23 square miles of prime real estate, was such a lawless, crime-ridden hellhole that the idea of just throwing up some walls around it and turning it into one great big prison could be put forward as a premise for a vaguely satirical entertainment. That such an idea wouldn't play these days is a sign that however bad things seem, things do sometimes get better.
The film begins with a suicide terrorist, hijacking a plane and crashing it into some building in Downtown Manhattan very close to the World Trade Centre. The plane though is Air Force One and the only survivor is President Donald UnPleasance, who is on his way to a vital peace conference. Convict Snake Plissken (Russell) is given 24 hours to go in and find him with the promise of a full pardon.
Carpenter is arguably as celebrated now for his music as his movies and in the last few years has devoted himself to performing and recording. Escape has another classic Carpenter score (though a classic Carpenter score co-written with Alan Howarth.) I've been trying to work out why his music is quite so compelling. To my tone-deaf ears, his scores seem quite rudimentary but they rank up there with the very best film music. I think this is partly because they are very honest representations of the film they are connected to. Often film music is trying to sell you something way beyond what it on screen. The music here is lean and sparse, without flourish but very effective at creating tension and that's exactly what the movie is.
The film is a brash romp, ugly on occasion, but with a keen sense of fun, that is over far too quickly. Movie critics are always apt to praise a movie for having a short running time. This is because brevity is always a virtue, but mostly because they want to get home. Carpenter rarely takes more time than is strictly necessary to tell his story, but here he probably short changes it. It takes the best part of a half hour setting up the premise and getting Russell inside New York and once inside the clock seems to tick down mighty fast. We're whipped through events, with Borgnine's taxi driving Cabby proving to be a very convenient Dewy Machina figure. He's like a narrative uber, popping up whenever he's needed to swish us on to where we have to get to next without giving us a time to have a think or a look around. Just as the film is really building up a head of steam the climax abruptly arrives and you think that was a bit quick.
Extras.
A choice of three different commentaries
