Matt Connarton Unleashed: Erich Pilcher reviews Escape from New York.

0:02 New York, nineteen ninety seven. The entire city is a walled maximum security

0:08 prisoner. The bridges are mine and the rivers are patrolled, and the United

0:20 States Police Force has everything under control. Now if I'm going in John Carpenters

0:35 Escape from New York, the high adventure of the future. One man must

0:40 go in where no man has ever gotten out. John Carpenters Escape from New

0:48 York, the greatest escape of them all, is about to blow the future

0:52 apart. For us in twenty twenty three, to view nineteen ninety seven as

1:03 a post apocalyptic wasteland is quite absurd. However, in the seventies and eighties,

1:11 films that took place in the future showed this ruined society where crime and

1:18 scoundrels ruled destitute areas. This week's film does this and brought us one of

1:26 the most underrated action heroes or anti heroes, depending on your view in cinema

1:34 history. Released in nineteen eighty one and directed by horror slash action film maestro

1:42 John Carpenter, Escape from New York introduces us to criminal Snake Pliskin played by

1:49 Kurt Russell, a prisoner that receives an offer to have his record washed away

1:55 by police Commissioner Ouk Western film veteran leaving Cleef. The task is a suicide

2:02 mission to go into the secured state of New York to rescue the kidnapped President

2:08 of the United States from a group a violent anti government insurgents and a tape

2:15 the president has that can bring world peace. The catches Snake only has twenty

2:23 four hours to do it or he dies. Our introduction was the trailer that

2:30 sets the stage for this film. Our next clip is how in Snake meeting

2:36 for the first time, when Howe gives Snake his proposal, even though we

2:43 have no evidence to lead us to this assumption. As viewers, the roles

2:47 are clearly defined in this interaction. Snake is the ultra cool anti hero and

2:57 how is this utolitarian man in a law that just has this sneaky and swarmy

3:04 vibe to him. This is essentially because of the brilliant performance of Van Cleave.

3:16 All Right, he's dangerous, sir, I know I'll be okay,

3:32 I'm not a full Blisken. Go my Snake. S D. Blisken American

3:44 Lieutenant Special Forces Unit black Light two Purple Hearts, Lenning Red and Siberia youngest

3:50 men to be decorated by the President. He robbed the Federal Reserve Depository,

3:55 Life Sentence, New York Maximum Security Penitentiary. Ready to kick your ass out

4:00 of the World War Hero? Who are you? Houk Police Commissioner Bob Hawk,

4:17 Special Forces Unit Texas Thunder We heard of YouTube, Plisken, Why are

4:23 we talking? Have a deal for you? He received full pardon for every

4:29 criminal action you've committed in the United States. There was an accident about an

4:33 hour ago. A small jet went down inside New York City. The president

4:36 was on board, President of one. That's not funny, Plisken. You

4:44 go in, find the president, bring him out in twenty four hours,

4:46 and you're a freeman twenty four hours. I'm making you an offer straight,

4:50 just like I said. I'll think about it no time. Give me an

4:55 answer, get a new president. We're still at war, a Plisken,

5:00 you need him alive. I don't give out your war or your president.

5:05 Is that your answer? I'm thinking about it. Think hard. Why me

5:17 You flew the Gulfire over Lenning Grid. You know how to get in quiet?

5:21 You're olipt gah. I guess they go in one way or the other

5:27 you give me the paper when you come out before I told you it wasn't

5:30 a fool comy Snake. No action film would be complete without sidekicks, and

5:43 this film delivers those in every way. First you have Brain played by the

5:49 late Harry Dean Stanton, a man that betrade Snake in his past. Brain's

5:58 assistant Maggie played by Adrian Barbow, and the lovable Cabby comedy legend Ernest Borgnine.

6:06 Our next two clips are the introduction two Snake sidekicks. First we meet

6:14 Cabby. What is great about him is he is so upbeating, jovial despite

6:19 society crumbled around him in everything being in disarray. And then Cabby takes Snake

6:29 to Brain and Maggie. What is great is how Snake just remains calm and

6:33 cool despite wanting to end Brain's life for his past betrayal. Where are you

7:35 going, buddy, that neighborhood snake. You don't want to be walking from

7:48 the barery at forty second Street at night. I've been driving a cabin for

7:51 thirty years and I'm telling you you don't walk around here at night. Hi,

7:56 yes, kill a kill you, strip you and ten seconds Usually I'm

8:01 not done around him myself. But I wanted to catch that show. This

8:05 stuff is like gold around here. You know, Hey, Snake, when'd

8:16 you get in? I didn't even know they caught you. Oh, Snake,

8:20 let's get in my cab. You way to like tell Annie, Hey,

8:26 hang on, Snake, Hey, what were you doing back there?

8:37 Snake looking for somebody? Well, we didn't ask me. Hell I know

8:43 everybody in this town. Yes, sir, I've been driving his cap for

8:46 thirty years, this very same cab. I'm gonna ask you, now,

8:52 where's the president? The Duke got him? Everybody knows that Duke's got him?

8:56 Or you don't have to put a gun to my head. I'll tell

8:58 you who's the Duke? The Duke, the Duke of New York, A

9:03 number one, the big man. That's who I want to meet, this

9:09 duke. You can't meet the Duke, are you crazy? Nobody gets to

9:13 meet the Duke. You meet him much and then you're dead. And now

9:22 Snake meets Brain and Maggie. I brought somebody to see it. Harold Hellman,

9:37 Snake, Harold, how you've been Harold? It's been a long time.

9:43 You never told me you knew Snake flisk and brain is nuds. Great,

9:48 Hey, Brad, I can do some guess we can express him.

9:54 Glad. You remember me? Yeah, man should remember past Kansas City four

10:01 years ago. You ran out on me. You left me sitting there.

10:07 You were late. We were buddies there, Ald You, me and Fresno

10:13 Bob. You know what they did to Bob. You want to see him

10:20 sprayed all over that map? Baby, where's the President? I swear to

10:22 God, snake, I don't know. Why do you want to know?

10:26 I want him working for the man now, and I'll just beat it out

10:30 of your squeeze. He doesn't know exactly where he is, and unless you

10:33 know exactly precisely where he is, you'll never find him. Listen, I'll

10:46 take you out of here, Yeah, Jed Glidder, just a couple of

10:52 blocks down the street, and all you gotta do is get me to him,

10:58 No kidding on the Hey, will you take me too? We gotta

11:03 deal somewhere else, No, Glider, We've got the president and the Duke's

11:09 taken everybody out of here. Never happened, baby, You see I know

11:15 something you and the Duke don't know. Only God. So long before mister

11:20 President, doesn't mean a whole lot. You're lying. Maybe he's not.

11:28 I know him looking at his base. He's lying, right, Harold,

11:31 I'm lying, so I might as well have some fun and keep looking by

11:35 myself. Brain. Talk to him, baby, Brain, you'll kill us

11:39 both. You always were smart, Harold. Just one thing right now,

11:52 don't call me Harold. So far in this review, we have introduced the

12:01 hero Orienti hero his sidekicks, and although we have heard him referenced previously,

12:09 we haven't talked about him. The villain, The Duke, played by music

12:16 legend Isaac Hayes, is a man that oversees New York and has masterminded the

12:22 kidnapping of the President. He also wants to get a diagram that Brain has

12:28 drawn up that will secure the escape from this city, with the President being

12:35 used as a bartering chip. Our final clip for this week's episode shows what

12:39 makes him a villain. Here, he calmly and coldly shoots an assault weapon

12:46 at and around the President while the President is chained to the wall. All

12:52 they hear him recite that the Duke is a one and runs New York.

13:00 Mm hmm, don't move, snake, M I want that DIAGRAMD brain.

13:45 Um, it's at my place, Duke, Duke that Pliskin said something about

13:50 a time limit or time limit on him. That's a lot of crap.

13:58 What did I teach you? You are do New New York. You're hey

14:05 number one. I can't hear you. You the Duke of New York.

14:15 You're a number one. Give me the diagram, Duke, don't kill Pliskin.

14:22 We need him. Get moving brain. Our previous John Carpenter film,

14:54 We Looked At Big Trouble in Little China, became a cult cli classic.

15:00 It wasn't successful upon release, but garnered love and appreciation as the years went

15:07 on, and much like many of his films, John Carpenter is the quintessential

15:13 independent filmmaker. He makes films that he wants to make without constraints of a

15:20 major studio. For the most part. Because of this, this film was

15:26 made on only a budget of six million dollars and was mainly financed off the

15:33 success of Carpenter's horror classic Halloween. It ended up raking in twenty five million

15:41 and spawned a sequel in nineteen ninety six, Escape from La It is very

15:48 hard to put this film into one specific genre. Is it noir, Is

15:54 it sci fi? Is it action? Is it adventure? Is it drama?

16:00 My answer is simple, who cares? It is a film that meets

16:07 aspects of so many genres that it's unfair to pigeonhole it into just one.

16:14 With great performances, stellar action scenes in a vibrant electronic based soundtrack composed by

16:22 Carpenter himself, this film is a great way for anyone to spend one hundred

16:27 minutes with a bowl of popcorn, or to just escape from our world in

16:33 view Carpenter's world and his post apocalyptic vision. I hope you join me next

16:41 week when we will dive into one of my favorite genres of film, film

16:47 noir, with the nineteen forty four noir crime thriller Double Indemnity for WMNH in

16:59 Matt Connort Unleashed. This has been a classic film review with Eric Culture the