Please would fans explain why they enjoyed this movie - Escape from New York (1981) Discussion

[–] jinx_malone 13 years ago

No, I can't tell you because this film has no fans and no one likes it. In fact, no one has ever watched it.

Why do people ask such stupid *beep* questions on imdb if not to troll? No, you may not have any feedback. Go away.

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"It's better not to know so much about what things mean." David Lynch

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[–] samuel-84 13 years ago

@jinx_malone

Calm down. I did not knock the movie, was trying to understand the peoples views on the film beyond anything other than generational loyalty.

Cant say you pointless, sarcastic post offers anyone anything other than fuel for a flame.

"This Bellini is starting to look like a real Kapuchnik"

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[–] balthazar_bee 13 years ago

I, for one, understand the frustration of Jinx.

These threads invariably end up reading like some kind of perversely inverted book report, with the teacher screaming at you that your answers are foolish.

This one is a perfect example. A number of fans provide very heartfelt, enthusiastic responses. They, and I, love the movie, and appreciate things about it like, say...pacing, atmosphere, moody score, camera work, the performances, colourful characters, and the level of excitement it continues to generate every time we watch it.

Then we, having answered the call of the OP, find our opinions cut down by upstarts and pseudo-intellects who couldn't light a film school fart on fire with a blowtorch.

Your phrase "generational loyalty" gets to the heart of the problem. I was the ripe old age of 1 when EFNY was released, and the very idea that a movie which is barely 30 years old is somehow so dated that only the wrinkly old arses who were, like, alive back then can appreciate it offends our taste and sense of history, and incidentally makes you sound like a pipsqueak.

Don't mean to be harsh, but these threads are the cheapest possible currency on IMDb.

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[–] SteveH2002 13 years ago

Then we, having answered the call of the OP, find our opinions cut down by upstarts and pseudo-intellects who couldn't light a film school fart on fire with a blowtorch.

Just speaking for myself 'film school' rules have almost nothing to do with my liking or not liking a movie. It'd be different if the OP had asked us to explain why the movie was 'good'.

I tend to like junk. I enjoyed Marmaduke quite a bit, cute movie, and find a classic like Citizen Kane practically unwatchable. Bad wig, cheesey story, flat and boring. I know one's a classic and one is more or less universally reviled.

I could answer the question of why I LIKE the one and not the other, but I wouldn't have much to say if asked to explain why Marmaduke is a good movie.

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[–] SteveH2002 13 years ago

... btw, has anyone mentioned Adrianne Barbeau's cleavage, yet? Gave this one 4/5 stars on NF - 1 star for Barbeau's always impressive decolletage

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[–] gwnightscream 13 years ago

Adrienne and her cleavage are sexy in this, but Kurt Russell
and the rest of the cast are also great, it's a good story and
John Carpenter & Alan Howarth's score is excellent as usual.
It's a great futuristic action flick that's one of Carpenter and
Russell's best.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] shred-com 13 years ago

I was born in 1988 and it was one of my favorite films growing up. I haven't seen it in quite a while. I owned the VHS but never bought the dvd.
I find the film to be exiting. I LOVE the concept and yeah Snake is cool. But really I'd love this even if Snake wasn't in it. The atmosphere kicks ass, the location. Ugh such a good movie.

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[–] wildpeckinpah 12 years ago

@ Steve who wrote, "I wouldn't have much to say if asked to explain why Marmaduke is a good movie."

You wouldn't have much to say because there is nothing to complement. It's a movie made for 5 year olds and I'd wager even they wouldn't prefer it hundreds of other movies.

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[–] Blueghost 12 years ago

Because it was stupid male survivalist machismo, and a lot of people across the nation at the time when the film came out saw New York as a city packed with criminals.

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[–] atari_saturna 12 years ago

I like the film, it is a bit slow paced and the sound effects are quite lacking compared to newer films. The story is pretty stupid but is fitting. The characters are pretty awsome, esp Snake. I for one enjoyed the sequel more, it is essentially the same movie but has better pacing and more action in it and some seriously bad CGI(even by 1994 standards) :D

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[–] bigplatts 12 years ago

Lots of people here are saying its a generational thing and you had to see it when it first came out to enjoy it, but I'm only 16 and I just watched it last night for the first time, and I thought it wa great. Not quite as good as the other two Carpenter-Russell films, but still very enjoyable. I really dug the retro look it was going for, and I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Snake (especially no modern actors) so don't just think its people who were brought up with the film that enjoyed it.

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[–] doctorstrangesf 12 years ago

"Generational thing" seems like nonsense to me. I'm 23 and this is one of my favourite movies. "Why did people enjoy it?" Maybe it's the archetype defining anti-hero? Very dark and depressing tone? Atmospheric soundtrack and cinematography? Awesome grounded action sequences? Extremely charismatic supporting cast? It's a John Carpenter movie?

Movies, wrestling and games reviews: http://doctorstrangesf.wordpress.com/

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Future_Games 12 years ago

Great visuals, cast, acting, soundtrack, interesting storyline, cool characters.

ROCK STARS HAVE KIDNAPPED MY SON

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[–] bioboom_88 12 years ago

I'm about three years late to this discussion, so please forgive me ;)

Kurt Russell is absolutely golden as Snake Plissken. I love him in this role!

Along with Assault On Precinct 13 and the first Halloween, John Carpenter shows how to craft a taut thriller without a huge budget. If I remember correctly, some of Escape's night time NY city shots aren't actually the city itself, but matte paintings.

This film's night time shots are creepy, indeed. Especially when the President's Air Force One crashes into the skyscraper and Snake lands on top of the World Trade Center. Particularly in these two instances, the camera work strikes me as dystopian and bleak, yet very atmospheric.

I've long adored JC's wide camera shots and deliberate pacing. Shades of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns there. Then again, that shouldn't come as a surprise since JC's AOP13 was a self-described "urban western." And he's a Leone fan, if I'm not mistaken.

Carpenter's films (at least the ones I've seen like Assault, Escape From New York, Halloween, The Thing) feature uncompromising, unconventional endings in which things don't always get resolved. Nor does good necessarily triumph in these flicks. I respect that sort of risk taking.

Social commentary seems to be infused into more than one JC flick. In Escape I sense he was commenting on the US' military industrial complex and prison system. On my lunch break today I briefly watched EFNY, and what the female Air Force One hijacker says in the film's first 15 minutes cemented my opinion on the film's social commentary.

In summary, though, I believe JC is an under-appreciated filmmaker. Heck, the guy writes, directs and develops his own musical scores. Yet, some of my peers' responses to his films seems to be fairly polarizing. I'm of the belief that his deliberate pacing, social commentary and unconventional endings may have turned off some critics and movie fans.

But, to each his own. These are just my opinions, amigos.

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