This is Kurt Russel at his ass-kicking best, as Snake Plissken: the eye-patch wearing, snarling bad-ass death-row inmate. You can't get a more anti-heroic character than this.
The Skinny: Soon to be executed prison inmate bad-ass Snake Plissken is given a chance at freedom if he can rescue the President of the United States who has crash-landed in New York city, the new prison of the future. Only catch is that the Prez is being held hostage by the Duke, the dude who runs the place, and he must do so within a specific time or else he is going to self-destruct, thanks to a device implanted in his body ...
The Helmer: filmMeister John Carpenter-
- L.A. Gothic (2010) (announced)
- The Ward (2010)
... aka "John Carpenter's the Ward" - USA (complete title)
- "Masters of Horror" (2 episodes, 2005-2006)
- Pro-Life (2006) TV episode
- John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns (2005) TV episode - Ghosts of Mars (2001)
... aka "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars" - USA (complete title)
- Vampire$ (1998)
... aka "Vampires" - USA (original title)
... aka "John Carpenter's Vampires" - USA (complete title) - Escape from L.A. (1996)
... aka "John Carpenter's Escape from L.A." - USA (complete title) - Village of the Damned (1995)
... aka "John Carpenter's Village of the Damned" - USA (complete title) - In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
... aka "John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness" - USA (complete title) - Body Bags (1993) (TV) (segments "Gas Station, The" and "Hair")
... aka "John Carpenter Presents 'Mind Games'" - USA (cable TV title) - Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
- They Live (1988)
... aka "John Carpenter's They Live" - USA (complete title)
... aka "They Live!" - USA (poster title) - Prince of Darkness (1987)
... aka "John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness" - USA (complete title) - Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
... aka "John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China" - USA (complete title)
... aka "Ghost Hunters" - Japan (English title) - Starman (1984)
... aka "John Carpenter's Starman" - USA (complete title) - Christine (1983)
... aka "John Carpenter's Christine" - USA (complete title) - The Thing (1982)
... aka "John Carpenter's The Thing" - USA (complete title) - Escape from New York (1981)
... aka "John Carpenter's Escape from New York" - USA (complete title)
... aka "New York 1997" - Japan (English title) - The Fog (1980)
... aka "John Carpenter's The Fog" - USA (complete title)
- Elvis (1979/I) (TV)
... aka "Elvis the Movie" - USA (informal title) - Someone's Watching Me! (1978) (TV)
- Halloween (1978)
... aka "John Carpenter's Halloween" - USA (complete title) - Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
- Dark Star (1974)
- Gorgon, the Space Monster (1969)
- Gorgo Versus Godzilla (1969)
- Sorceror from Outer Space (1969)
- Warrior and the Demon (1969) (as Johnny Carpenter)
- Terror from Space (1963)
- Revenge of the Colossal Beasts (1962)
The Verdict: Remember those sci-fi images of past years where u have muscular men fighting each other with clubs, in a death-ring of sorts, on some distant planet with one too many moons? This movie is that image. All the things you need to know about what its like to see living images of the damned in post-apocalyptic world is displayed here in all its glory. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, John Carpenter is indeed a master of this, and many other genres. Unfortunately, Escape from LA (1996) happened ... which it shouldnt. But still, even though the look and feel of this movie is kinda dated the character of Snake Plissken still stands the test of time ...
The News: theres been talk over the years of doing a remake of this movie, with my personal favorite Gerad Butler considered to be the one donning the eye-patch. But that was scrapped, and now we have possibly Timothy Olyphant taking over this role. Stranger things have happened I suppose, but I just don't see him playing the part that well, because he ain't no bad-ass ... Gerry Butler would have been the bad-asser of the two if you asked me. Now with Mad Max: Fury Road coming up fast, there may be a line of post-apocalyptic kick-assory films coming up ... which should re-ignite interest in Snake's reapparence on the big screen ... we can only hope.
