Cheap Escape from New York (Special Edition) (DVD) (Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef) (John Carpenter) Price

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Customer Reviews of Escape from New York (Special Edition)

THE BEST JOHN CARPENTER FILM EVER!
Escape From New York is by far Carpenter's best film. It's uniquely original plot involves a convicted felon, Kurt Russell, who sent into New York City, the nation's maximum security prison, to rescue the president. Of course the film has it's flaws (although minor), but it is a very fun, and action packed movie. Any fan of action films should make it a priority to see this film. The film did spawn a poor sequel, but true fans should stick to the original. Overall a dark, gritty, action packed glimpse into the future of mankind, with a fantastic ending that is the trademark of all Carpenter films. It also features a wonderful soundtrack, probably his best since Halloween. Do yourself a favor, and be sure to see this movie! Truly a one of a kind film that should not be missed by anyone!

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Great Movie, but a really disappointing DVD
This is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I was terribly disappointed with the DVD. There are simply NO extra features (the trailer doesn't count, guys). The DVD was billed as having a commentary with Russell and Carpenter when I ordered it (although I can't recall whether it was Amazon or another movie site which made that misrepresentation). I understand that even the laserdisc version had a commentary! Come on, can't you just TRANSFER the old commentary to the DVD?!!? The commentary with Russell and Carpenter on THE THING is great, so I'm sure I'm really missing a treat by not hearing their commentary on this film. Also, I understand from an interview I saw with Carpenter (on the VHS version of ESCAPE) that there's a whole opening scene which was cut from the final release, which shows Snake robbing the Federal Reserve Depository and escaping on a bullet train. Now wouldn't that footage make a nice extra feature?

Frankly, in retrospect, we should probably all just boycott this movie. Think about it... first, the original ESCAPE comes out, and it's AWESOME. Then, twenty years later, I buy a VHS "Special Edition" which claims to have "unseen footage." That footage turns out to be about 5 seconds of Snake in the deleted opening scene, inserted as part of a long, fairly boring interview with Carpenter plugging "IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS." Next, ESCAPE FROM LA comes out, which film I won't even dignify by trashing. Then finally, we get a DVD with NO features, not even a remastered soundtrack! The more I write the madder I get!

I realize I'm reiterating a lot of what the previous reviewer said, but I waited a LONG time for this to come out on DVD (some of you may remember that it was to be issued almost a year and half ago... I pre-ordered it then only to have the release delayed). Maybe the plan is to issue a "special edition" with the extra features, and I'd probably buy it, but I'd sure feel like I'd been shafted!

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"You mean I can't count on you?...Good!"
What can I say.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that I am a child of the 80s (I was 12 when this movie first came out), I never saw Escape from New York until 6 weeks ago.

Then I was hooked.

Most people know the story. In the "future," (1988, haha) the US crime rate rises 400%. To combat this crime wave, drastic measures are taken. The United States becomes a fascist-like police state, and in 1992 New York City becomes the country's one maximum-security prison to house the worst society has to offer. Sealed off from the outside world by a 50-foot containment wall on all sides, Manhattan Island becomes a modern (or postmodern) Botany Bay. All bridges, tunnels and waterways surrounding the island are mined, and the US Police Force constantly patrols by helicopter, to ensure that no prisoners escape. Criminals unlucky enough to receive a maximum-security sentence are given a choice: be executed or be airdropped into the New York for life to fend for themselves. As the chilling opening narration observes, "There are no guards, only prisoners and the worlds they have made. The rules are simple. Once you go in, you don't come out."

Into this black pit of despair comes one S.V. "Snake" Plissken, played by Kurt Russell. A war hero (he won 2 purple hearts, one in Leningrad and one in Siberia - remember, the Soviet Union still existed when this film was made), Snake for unspecified reasons has turned to a life of crime. And at the film's beginning, the Law has finally caught up with Snake, and he is being transported to New York to serve a life sentence for bank robbery when Fate steps in.

On the same evening that Snake is brought to Manhattan Island to begin serving his sentence, the President of the United States (played by Donald Pleasance) is on his way to a peace summit when his plane (Airforce One) is hijacked by a terrorist posing as a pilot, and is crashed into the prison. (In today's post-9/11 environment, the hijacking scene, at least to me, is particularly chilling and I have a hard time watching it).

Miraculously, the President exits the plane via his special "escape pod" and he survives the plane crash...only to be taken captive by the "Duke of New York," played with beautiful understated menace by Isaac Hayes.

Police Commissioner Bob Hauk (played by Lee Van Cleef), has an idea: send Snake Plissken, trained combat veteran and specialist at "getting in quiet," into the prison to find the President and rescue him. If he succeeds, Snake will be pardoned for every crime he's ever committed in the United States. And just to make sure that Snake fulfills his end of the bargain, Hauk has the prison's chief doctor implant 2 explosives in Snake's neck. If Snake does not return with the President in 22 hours, the explosives will go off, and, as Hauk wryly notes, "No more Snake Plissken."

So the die is cast. Snake goes in...but will he find the President alive? Even if he finds the President alive, will he get out in time to have the charges in his neck neutralized? Watch it and see.

This film is entertaining on many levels. It's an excellently crafted story, complete with social commentary and irony. It's a dystopic vision of what can happen when we trade too much of our liberty in exchange for what we think is security - definitely another resonant theme in our post-9/11 reality. We clamp down on individual rights/freedoms, supposedly in the name of protecting the collective - and leave society's undesirables to prey on each other in an asphalt jungle hell. But then what are we? According to this film, we're only slightly less inhuman than the criminals.

And the DVD contains various extras and bonuses which are sure to round out one's Escape from New York knowledge. This includes the documentary film "Return to Escape from New York," which details the making of the film. There are also commentary tracks by John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, as well as by producer Debra Hill.

Another real treat is the deleted bank robbery scene (the original first 10 minutes of the movie). This scene was cut from the final film because, in Carpenter's words on the commentary track, premiere audiences thought it diminished Snake's character by "humanizing" him too much. I actually found that humanization to be a good thing, and thought that the Bank Robbery sequence helped to set context for the story.

Along the lines of the deleted bank robbery sequence, another potential flaw of this movie, at least in my opinion, is that we never really know much about the characters or why they are the way they are. In other words, there's not much in the way of character development or backstory. For example, we know that Snake is sullen, embittered and in general concerned for nothing but his own self-preservation (though occasionally flashes of humanity do show and when it comes down to it, he does the right thing). But why?

I've read that Mike McQuay's novelization of the movie sketches out some history for Snake's character (and for the characters of Hauk, Brain, Maggie, Cabbie and the President as well). It would have been nice to see some of that in the film, with subplots, flashbacks, etc. It would've made the story richer.

But, regardless, what is there is great stuff. The cynicism and one-liners will bring a wry smile to your face, especially when they come from good old snarling Snake. Check it out.