ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK COLLECTOR’S EDITION: I HEARD YOU WERE DEAD

I’ve long been a huge fan of John Carpenter, so much that when asked what my top 5 movies are I always include HALLOWEEN. But that wasn’t the only great movie that can be attributed to the director. You’d also have to include THE FOG, THE THING, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, VAMPIRES and of course ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. To this day each of these films holds up to the test of time. While great on their own, when a special edition comes out its time to celebrate. Such is the case with NEW YORK.

If you’ve never seen the movie (can it really be 34 years old?!?) it features Kurt Russell in what was a career changing performance. For the most part up until that time Russell was known for his child and teen performances in television and Disney movies. Having worked with Carpenter in the starring role of ELVIS, the two would partner up for this film and suddenly Russell became a leading man.

In the film Russell plays “Snake” Plissken, an ex-special forces operative who went rogue and became a criminal. But seeing as how this takes place in the future, criminals aren’t treated the same way they are now. In that distant future (whose date in actuality has since come and gone) Manhattan has been walled over and is not a maximum security prison where the inmates run the asylum. With no police force in effect with the exception of watching the walls, inmates rule themselves. This is Snake’s destiny.

Except that circumstances have placed him in the right place at the right time. Terrorists have taken over Air Force One on its way to a peace summit with the President (Donald Pleasance) on board. A rescue team sent in to save him once his escape pod lands finds he’s been captured by the criminals on the island who have yet to make demands with the exception of no police on the island. Head of security Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) seeing the chance to use Snake to infiltrate the island recruits him with the promise of freedom. To insure Snake doesn’t run, he implants two micro bombs in his neck timed to go off in 24 hours, after which time the President will no longer be of use.

Landing atop one of the World Trade Center buildings in a glider, Snake sets out to locate the President via a tracking bracelet he’s wearing. When he finds it on a bum, Hauk insists he carry on. With the aid of a happy go lucky cabbie (Ernest Borgnine), an old “friend” named Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) and Brain’s girlfriend (Adrienne Barbeau), Snake sets out to find the President, now a prisoner of the leader on the island, The Duke (Isaac Hayes). Can he rescue him in time? It’s a non-stop action fueled film that runs out the clock before it ends.

The movie does a great job of creating a world unto itself, a Manhattan that is desolate, destroyed and picked over. It does so good a job most will never realize those set pieces were shot in St. Louis. Working with minimal budgets, Carpenter has always chosen the right people to make his visions come to life. That happens here in everything from the location shots to the island center sets to the decaying interiors of buildings in Manhattan. Even now, long after the “future” the movie takes place in the special effects seem great, even if dated. In a world of streaming movies it seems quaint to see green lines on a black screen as top of the line digital views.

Giving a major assist to Carpenter is long time cinematographer Dean Cundey who shot many of Carpenter’s greatest films. Here he makes for some fantastic night shots that keep things in the dark but not so much that you can’t tell what you’re looking at. His use of smoke and shadow help to create the world that we see as much if not more than the locations used. It’s easy to see why Cundey has become one of the best cinematographers in the business.

So what does this collector’s edition offer? First off a 2k high definition transfer as well as two commentary tracks on the first disc. The second disc is filled with extras including specials on the visual effects of the film, scoring the film, images on the set from photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker, an interview with actor Joe Unger, an interview with film maker David DeCoteau, a return to the escape from New York featurette, theatrical trailers and photo galleries, and the long thought lost opening sequence of the robbery that landed Snake in trouble to begin with. Some of these items were on previous offerings of the film but some are new as well.

I have several copies of this film in my collection starting with the first DVD release. I later added the updated extras copy. Now I’ve added this one and I’m glad I did. It’s as complete a version as we’re going to get at present. On top of that, Shout/Scream Factory has once more outdone themselves by creating a reversible jacket sleeve that offers original artwork or specially made collector’s edition art. As is always the case, they’ve outdone themselves. If you’re a fan of the film you’ll want to add this one to your collection. If not or if you’ve never seen the movie, it needs to become a part of your collection. It’s just that good. A movie that I have no problem pulling out once a year and enjoying it with every viewing.

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