Snake, a one-time war hero turned full-time thief, is–in his own words and Russell’s–an “asshole.” He’s deeply cynical, professionally amoral, and above all else looks out for himself.

Snake Plissken is the reason Escape from New York sings. With Escape celebrating its 40 th birthday, now’s a fine opportunity to dig into the ways his character, Russell’s performance, and the film around them work together. And Van Cleef turns his icy gaze into a calculating, ruthless, ever-so-slightly human embodiment of the authoritarian state.Īnd at the center of the ensemble, driving it all? Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken-an all-time great performance of an all-time terrific anti-hero. Indeed, where Maggie is straightforward, Stanton brings fast-talking hucksterism to Brain that remains oddly likable despite his constant hustling.īorgnine’s relentless good cheer and general decency is a welcome counterbalance to a world as ruthless as Escape from New York’s. Barbeau’s Maggie is practical, pragmatic, and deeply in love with someone (Stanton’s Brain) who’s both quite like her and deeply unlike her. Pleasance gradually reveals the abducted President of the United States’ despicable narcissism as he moves from hostage to escapee. Hayes brings a ruthless precision and drive to the Duke of New York. The ensemble is a murderer’s row of great actors with fantastic faces: Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasance, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, and the one-and-only Harry Dean Stanton. The main theme alone is best described as “indelible.” Carpenter and Alan Howarth’s score is cool and moody. Dean Cundey’s widescreen cinematography captures the ruined prison island of New York in deep blacks and dense color and gorgeous widescreen framing. It’s one of the standouts of director/co-writer John Carpenter‘s damn-near-unmatched 1976-1988 run of stupendous filmmaking, a man-on-a-mission film with a driving sense of urgency that still makes time to breathe in its mood and world.

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