Escape from New York (1981)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
S.D. "Snake" Plissken	Kurt Russell	½
Bob Hauk	Lee Van Cleef	½
Cabbie	Ernest Borgnine	½
The President of the United States	Donald Pleasence	½
Duke	Isaac Hayes	½
Brain	Harry Dean Stanton	½
Maggie	Adrienne Barbeau	½

Review

The mood is akin to the 1970s paranoia thrillers, the setting is Carpenter's futuristic vision of a desolate, dirty New York in which convicted criminals have been isolated and left to their own devices, like a gargantuan Alcatraz Island. This is where the government send in war veteran Snake Plissken to rescue the president of the United States, who is being held captive after a hijacking of Air Force One. The premise is fun, and any John Carpenter universe should be met with a tingling anticipation, but Escape from New York will probably be a disappointment for both sci-fi aficionados and those who enjoyed Assault on Precint 13, which deals with gangs of criminals in a similar manner; as an impersonal, menacing organism in itself. Unlike Precint 13, this film lacks nerve and tries to replace it with set designs and action sequences which it doesn't really have the budget for or scope to pull off satisfactorily. Also, Kurt Russell's protagonist is a wooden and disappointing anti-hero with no distinguishing characteristics. The script was co-written by Carpenter and Nick Castle, who was the guy behind Michael Myers' mask in Halloween.