ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

(1981 Action/Science Fiction)





John Carpenter is the best [film] director I've ever worked with. One of the main
reasons is his bravery in the way he's cast me in his films. By casting me as the
president in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and as the essentially good Dr. Loomis
in the original HALLOWEEN, he gave me the opportunities that might have been
missed had I stayed a stereotypical madman.

---Donald Pleasence




ALTERNATE TITLES:

1997: FUGA DA NEW YORK (Italian title)



CAST AND CREW:

KURT RUSSELL (Snake Plissken)
LEE VAN CLEEF (Commissioner Bob Hauk)
ERNEST BORGNINE (Cabbie)
DONALD PLEASENCE (The President of the United States)
ISAAC HAYES (The Duke of New York)
SEASON HUBLEY (Girl in Chock Full O'Nuts)
HARRY DEAN STANTON (Brain/Harold Hellman)
ADRIENNE BARBEAU (Maggie)
TOM ATKINS (Rehme)
CHARLES CYPHERS (Secretary of State)

Directed by JOHN CARPENTER
Written by JOHN CARPENTER and NICK CASTLE
Produced by DEBRA HILL and LARRY J. FRANCO



SYNOPSIS:

In the future, the city of New York has become a walled maximum security prison for the nation's worst criminals. When Air Force One crashes into the prison, a master outlaw must go in and risk his life to save the President of the United States.



PLEASENCE'S CHARACTER:

Pleasence plays the President of the United States, who is kidnapped and tortured by the prison citizens of New York.



PORTRAITS AND STILLS:

  • HARRY DEAN STANTON AND DONALD PLEASENCE
    Photo courtesy of Tom Ericksen

  • STANTON, ADRIENNE BARBEAU, KURT RUSSELL, AND PLEASENCE
  • RUSSELL AND PLEASENCE ATTEMPT TO GO OVER THE PRISON WALL
    Photos courtesy of RJ



    SCREEN CAPTURES:

  • DONALD PLEASENCE AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
  • PLEASENCE FINDS HIMSELF TORTURED BY THE DUKE
  • STANTON, FRANK DOUBLEDAY, AND PLEASENCE
  • PLEASENCE TELLS RUSSELL THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE THE TAPE
    Images captured by Christopher Weedman



    REVIEWS:

  • ROGER EBERT (The Chicago Sun Times)
  • GENE SISKEL (The Chicago Tribune)
  • CHRISTOPHER WEEDMAN (THE MAN WITH THE HYPNOTIC EYE webmaster)



    ESSAYS:

  • PAT H. BROESKE



    PLEASENCE MEMORIES:

  • ADRIENNE BARBEAU
  • DICK WARLOCK



    STAR LINKS:

  • THE OFFICIAL ADRIENNE BARBEAU WEB SITE
  • LEE VAN CLEEF FOREVER
  • LEE VAN CLEEF: THE HOMEPAGE
  • ISAAC HAYES: THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE
  • THE KURT RUSSELL PAGE
  • I KNOW I'M HUMAN (Kurt Russell and John Carpenter's THE THING)



    DIRECTOR LINKS:

  • ASSAULT ON WEBPAGE 13
  • THE CARPENTICIZED SIDE OF THE WEB
  • THE JOHN CARPENTER WEB PAGE
  • THE OFFICIAL JOHN CARPENTER WEB SITE



    FILM LINKS:

  • INTERNET MOVIE DATABASE



    SERIES LINKS:

  • FROM 1997 TO 2013: Snake Plissken Unofficial Site



    Photos © 1981 AVCO EMBASSY PICTURES. All Rights Reserved.

    Logo designed by Karen Rappaport





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