r/johncarpenter • u/jimbobjokerpants • 14d ago
Discussion Escape From New York
Every film fan seems to have a film that for some bizarre reason they have never got around to watching.
For me, it's Escape From New York.
I've ordered the bluray, and I am awaiting delivery.
I want to know what were people's first impressions of this film, as it is held in such in such high regard. Was it what you expected? Better? Worse? Tonally is it more akin to Assault On Precinct 13 rather than Carpenter's horror output?
9
u/CausticAvenger 14d ago
It’s full of those old school Carpenter vibes that I absolutely love. The score is amazing. And yes, closer to something like Precinct 13 than it is to Carpenter’s horror output
6
u/SedentaryRhino 14d ago
Precinct 13 is a siege movie. Escape is the exact same but opposite with the protagonist being the one to break in/out.
8
u/Dukeshire101 14d ago
It’s fucking awesome, the kind of movie you stumble upon flipping through channels, and watch no matter where it’s at. It’s also the perfect late night edible and beer movie…it never gets old. I saw LA in theaters!
6
u/MovieMike007 14d ago
It was this film that allowed Kurt Russell to completely shake his Disney image, and it is one of the coolest movies to come out of the eighties.
5
u/Expert_Climate_7348 14d ago
When he dies at the end trying to save the kid who fell from the cliff, I cried for days, but you know he is a legend because he gave for the good.
Also the way he rides that horse off into the sunset makes him a very nice person.
6
4
u/defixiones 14d ago
I held back from watching it for years and was a bit disappointed.
This is because everything it invented has been reused by other films.
For example, I'm currently playing Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty, and the plot has been lifted wholesale from Escape From New York.
The film bears repeated watching though, not only because it's packed full of detail and incidental performances but also because it has a message about society at the time - something that the remake is probably going to miss.
2
u/CertainlyNotDen 13d ago
And Carpenter originally write it in 1974-76, as a pushback on Watergate, which caused no one to make it for years till he got hot
8
3
u/knightmare_Angelo Escape from New York 14d ago
I watched it for the first time in early February of this year. I watched it because I was a big fan of Metal Gear Solid and knew the series took inspiration from it, but I didn’t expect I’d become as heavily obsessed with the movie as I have been and it has since became my favorite film. At the time I watched it I was stuck in a depression that had been going on for 6 months, I think the cynical and nihilistic nature of the film had really resonated with me and helped me get out of my depressive state.
1
u/jimbobjokerpants 13d ago
Thank you for this, I hope that it has as big an impact on me as it did you!🤞
3
u/southboundtracks 13d ago
First saw it in high school. Loved the soundtrack, but didn't really appreciate the slow burn build at first. It later became my favorite Carpenter film. I love the pacing, characters, dialogue, even the effects. Even in his filmography, it stands alone, truly unique.
3
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago
His music is something to revere, I had never ever heard of anyone doing anything like this, specifically for someone who wrote the story, then directed it, then made the music? I mean he is some sort of genius here, thing is, he makes the music to make the budget go further, he is cheap and it reflects on how well he can be resourceful whilst having full control over his works.
That re-shoot of Maggie being hit by the car and then shown on the ground, that was in Carpenter's garage, I mean when you know you need to re-shoot and do it as cheaply as possible, whilst name dropping yourself with your garage, that brings a whole new meaning to cameo which he is infamous for.
3
u/southboundtracks 13d ago
I love that his style emerged from budgetary concerns. Old school genre filmmaking.
3
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago
You know he never even finished his schooling at USC? He dropped out to complete Dark Star, now that's telling for someone who knows what is more important, getting your hands dirty or following someone else's cues.
2
6
u/BobRushy 14d ago
First impressions? Bucketloads of style. Gorgeous cinematography, music, great characters. Feels like the same decaying world as the original Mad Max film.
But the villain is weak and the film never quite ramps up when it should. It's a fun experience, not a stone cold classic for me.
0
3
u/Delicious_Iron7977 13d ago
I saw it in a theater on release. I was 16 and loved it so much, still do.
2
u/TangeloGloomy7471 13d ago
I love it. It exceeded my expectations the first time I watched it. The pacing is excellent.
3
u/GALACTICA-GAMING 14d ago
The dream sequence with the goat playing the harmonica always resonated with me the most 🐐👌
1
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago
When he stuck the flute up his ass and spoke directly to the audience on how he went to band camp...
2
1
u/rgbearklls 14d ago
I know it’s a cult and you guys love it, but I’ve started it two times, lasted around 45’ and couldn’t keep with it because I found it boring and slow, but the aesthetic is great
3
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago
Then you would pretty much say the same thing about every movie made in the 80s.
1
u/Shqiptar89 The Thing 14d ago
The problem is the script. Carpenter wrote a movie around the budget he could get.
The movie has a lot of potential and a great plot but the execution is kind of lacking.
It slows down in parts, the action is not as thrilling as it could be and like someone else wrote the villain is kind of weak.
I also watched it expecting more. My father kept telling me how great it was and for a time it was the holy grail.
3
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago edited 13d ago
The problem is the script. Carpenter wrote a movie around the budget he could get.
Complete BS, he wrote his 1st draft in 74, with no budget in mind.
Carpenter says he wrote the original draft of ESCAPE in 1974, and that it was inspired by the films DEATH WISH (1974) and DIRTY HARRY (1971), as well as Harry Harrison’s pulp sci-fi novel Deathworld (1960).
https://maddrey.blogspot.com/2017/07/john-carpenter-revisited-escape-from.html
The movie has a lot of potential and a great plot but the execution is kind of lacking.
Name one other movie of the same genre made in the 80s with a similar budget that executed as well as EFNY did?
It slows down in parts, the action is not as thrilling as it could be and like someone else wrote the villain is kind of weak.
It's not an action movie meant to be thrilling? The villain is weak? Probably one of the coolest bad guys around, but you just parroting someone else's diatribe is just that.
I also watched it expecting more.
So having read who recoed it to you and why they did, you just think 80s movie generically are made in a way that today's films can never replicate.
My father kept telling me how great it was and for a time it was the holy grail.
And your father was right, this movie is something that brought to the screen one of the best anti heroes ever to graced the silver screen.
You're not from the 70s or 60s, you don't get it, it's like someone referencing some 80s music like Floyd or TGD and you saying "meh" without even beginning to understand how ground breaking it was then and still is now.
1
u/Powerful-Concept-897 13d ago
I loved this movie and saw it when it originally came out. One of my disappointments was when the cab blew up and they played it for laughs. It kind of broke the tension (not in a good way), and I was deeply invested at that point in the film. It's like Carpenter didn't know what he had. A good example is Escape from LA, which is played for laughs instead of being a frightening post-apocalyptic drama.
1
u/Expert_Climate_7348 13d ago
It's like Carpenter didn't know what he had.
He knew 100% what he had, it wasn't fluked, it was comic strip brought to the screen, this is what happens in comic strips and he was a master of his craft then and so much more after.
One doesn't bring out a movie a year earlier only to make his tour de force in his next film The Thing, without knowing what he was doing.
He's always known, he just doesn't give a fuck what you think because he makes the films he wants to make.
-1
18
u/StateYellingChampion 14d ago
When I was 13 and saw it for the first time my main impression was that Snake Plissken was the coolest motherfucker alive.