Escape From New York (1981) episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 28, 2026 · 17 MIN

Escape From New York (1981)

from Living for the Cinema · host Geoff Gershon

In a dystopian 1997, a soldier-turned-bankrobber is taked rescuing the US President after he crashes into Manhattan, which has been turned into a giant maximum security prison. That's the official description for this gritty, sci-fi action thriller but a couple of key players involved made it more special than that.  The solider is Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell (The Thing, Tombstone, The Hateful Eight) in one of his more iconic performances.  The director is genre master John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, They Live) who inadverdently created a sub-genre with the success of this film forty-five years ago.  And the rest of this film's stellar supporting cast includes Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, and Adrienne Barbeau. See below for a link featuring a key deleted scene of this film which is highlighted within this review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riSBMj1oLGc&t=20sHost & Editor: Geoff GershonProducer: Marlene Gershon  Send us Fan MailSupport the showhttps://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/Letterboxd:https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/ 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 28, 2026

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In a dystopian 1997, a soldier-turned-bankrobber is taked rescuing the US President after he crashes into Manhattan, which has been turned into a giant maximum security prison. That's the official description for this gritty, sci-fi action thriller but a couple of key players involved made it more special than that. The solider is Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell (The Thing, Tombstone, The Hateful Eight) in one of his more iconic performances. The director is genre mast...

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Escape From New York (1981)

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