35 Things You Might Not Know About Escape From New York
After all the great feedback that got sent to me after my 30 Facts For 30 Years of Big Trouble in Little China I thought why not do one to celebrate another of my favorite John Carpenter movies Escape From New York which has just celebrated its 35th anniversary.
So here goes, 35 facts for a 35th anniversary…
1. Escape From New York Was Almost Never Made
Escape From New York was written in 1974. Carpenter was partly inspired by the novel ‘Planet of the Damned’ by Harry Harrison. The plot involved an anti-hero being sent into a very unpleasant place and has no choice but to do the job. Carpenter used this idea to create the New York Penitentiary and establish elements of the Snake Plissken character. The script was deemed too dark and too violent to be made into a movie. Years later John Carpenter was struggling to come up for a third act for a movie called ‘The Philadelphia Experiment’ to present to studio executives so instead he pitched the idea for Escape From New York in its place.
2. Snake Plissken is based on a real person
While John Carpenter was writing the script for the film he wanted a name for the main character that reflected the character. Carpenter had a friend of a friend who knew a guy named Snake Plissken who was described as a “high school tough guy” who had a tattoo of a snake. The name was a perfect fit.
3. The Studio Didn’t Want Kurt Russell
At the time the movie was made Kurt Russell was best known for Disney movies and his portrayal of Elvis in the TV biopic. The studio had Chuck Norris or Tommy Lee Jones in mind for the role. Carpenter eventually got his way and Russell was cast. Other people the studio considered included Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson.
4. Kurt Russell came up with the Eye Patch
The eye patch Snake wore has become as iconic as the movie itself. Kurt Russell went to Carpenter with the idea of the eye patch. Carpenter loved the idea and immediately put it into the movie. Russell had two eye patches which he used for filming. One was opaque which allowed him to see through and make the action scenes a little easier to perform. The other was a regular patch.
5. This Was John Carpenter’s Largest Budget For a Movie At The Time
The film’s budget of $7 million was the largest that John Carpenter had worked with up to that point and was a master of squeezing the most out a budget as he possibly could.
6. The Opening Bank Robbery Scene Was cut
When we first meet Snake Plissken in Escape From New York he is a prisoner being sent to New York. Originally the film would open with the bank robbery scene that leads to Snakes’ incarceration. Along with his accomplice, Snake attempted to pull off the bank robbery and escape on a hot-wired train. During test-screenings the audience found this confusing and it was ultimately cut before release. However the scene can be viewed on the DVD version of the film as an extra. Joe Unger, who played the character of Taylor during the scene was completely removed from the movie when the scene was cut but he still appears on the end credits.
7. Jamie Lee Curtis makes an appearance, Well Her Voice Does!
John Carpenter had worked with Jamie Lee Curtis previously on the film Halloween. The film was not only the break-out movie for Carpenter, but was also the launch pad for Jamie’s career. She is not visible on screen but she is the narrator at the start of the movie. She is also uncredited in the movie.
8. Donald Pleasence Created His Own Backstory
Donald Pleasence, another alumni from Halloween, played the President in Escape From New York. Pleasence is British meaning the President had a British accent. This is never explained in the movie but Pleasence actually wrote his own backstory to explain this. The story involved Margaret Thatcher and the United States reverting to being a British Colony. Pleasence gave the backstory to Carpenter but it is not mentioned in the movie, although it is good to know what was going through the mind of Pleasence as he played the character.
9. The model city used in the film was repainted and used for Blade Runner.
10. The Film Had Full Access To Liberty Island
Although most of the film was not shot in New York, the only sequence that did get the authentic treatment was when the helicopter flies by the Statue of liberty and the film establishes itself in New York, and the island established itself as the headquarters for the prison. The film was the first to be allowed to shoot on the island at night and were given access to the whole island. Three months earlier there had been a bombing, so getting permission to film was a difficult process.
11. Lee Van Cleef Struggled to Film His Scenes
Lee Van Cleef was suffering from a rather painful leg injury during his scenes. In one scene where he was walking down a corridor while talking to Snake he struggled immensely, and stated it was the toughest shot he had done in the movie. His wife was on stand-by and came to all the shoots to make sure he was ok and help him get through the film.
12. Snake Fought in Siberia
During the film Snake wears black and white camouflage as opposed to the regular green. John Carpenter had a reason for doing this. Snake had been in a war in Siberia which required his to wear this clothing.
13. A Presidents Son Was In The Movie
The Secret Service agent that attempts to break down the door to the cockpit on Air Force One once it has been taken over by the terrorists is in fact Steven Ford, the son of President Gerald Ford.
14. 3D Visual Effects Were Faked During The Movie
The wire-frame computer graphics that are visible on-screen in the glider when Snake flies it over New York are not real 3D computer graphics as this was too expensive to create. This effect was made using a model city painted black and covered with bright green tape, then the camera was panned through the city to give the look and feel of a 3D wire-frame computer simulation.
15. A Special Lens Was Used To Allow To Film At Night
Director of photography Dean Cundey used a special lens – new at the time – to extract the maximum amount of light from night time shoots.
16. New York was filmed in St. Louis, Missouri
John Carpenter wasn’t able to film some of the more ambitious moments of the movie in New York as it would have caused too much disruption. St. Louis, Missouri had suffered a major fires a few years prior leaving a large area of the city derelict with whole blocks of burned out buildings, the perfect setting for Carpenter’s vision of New York. On top of that he was given free rein to shoot in the city and could cover the streets with the necessary debris to create just the right setting.
17. Most Of The Props Came From A Landfill Site
Most of the debris and junk that is scattered throughout the movie and used in various ways were taken from a local garbage landfill site. The production team would take several dump trucks and fill them up with all kinds of junk they could use for props or simply to litter the streets with.
18. John Carpenter and his crew convinced St. Louis authorities to shut off the electricity for ten blocks at night
19. What Were The Words To The Song At Show Where Snake Meets Cabbie?
“Everyone’s Coming To New York” is the song being sung at the stage show where Snake first meets Cabbie. The lyrics are as follows:
Shoot a cop
With a gun
The Big Apple is plenty of fun
Stab a priest
With a fork
And you’ll spend your vacation in New York
Rob a bank
Take a truck
You can get here by stealing a buck
This is bliss
It’s a lark
Honey, everyone’s coming to New York!
No more Yankees
Strike the word from your ears
Play the roulette
There’s no more opera at the Met
This is hell
This is fate
But now this is your home and it’s great
So rejoice
Pop a cork
Honey, everyone’s coming to New York!
20. The Manhole Covers Were Wooden
During the film we see the Crazies who live in the sewers and come out to hunt and raid at night. The manhole covers the needed to lift in order to rise up from the sewers would have been to heavy if they had used real ones so they were all replaced with wooden ones to make it easier for the actors to lift up.
21. The Sexual Tension At Chock Full O’Nuts
A problem they came across on set was the sexual tension between Snake and the girl in the ‘Chock Full O’ Nuts’ store (played by Russell’s wife at the time). It wasn’t in Snake’s character to kiss her but at the same time they did not want him to be asexual. In the end they decided to kill her off! According to Kurt Russell, the only character Snake was supposed to have any feelings for was Maggie, who was also killed off!
22. Why Did Everyone Think Snake Was Dead?
The line “I thought you were dead” which was used throughout the movie is likely taken from Big Jake (1971). Whenever John Wayne tells someone his name the reply is “I thought you were dead”.
23. Snake Was Going To Be More Sympathetic
A scene was filmed intended to make Snake more of a sympathetic character. The scene involved him choosing between saving himself or saving one of his friends. This scene was eventually cut from the movie, a good decision in our opinions.
24. Donald Pleasence Drew Inspiration From His Own Time In Captivity
During World War II Donald Pleasence was a POW and drew from this experience for his performance as the President of the United States once he was captured by the Duke. He came up with the idea of wearing the blond wig while the Duke humiliates him. The emotion is more apparent at the climax of the movie when he escapes from the prison and shoots the Duke.
25. Slag, The Gladiator, Didn’t Like To Pull His Punches
During the gladiator style sequence when Snake has to fight a fellow prisoner, Slag, to the death, Carpenter hired professional wrestler Ox Baker. Baker was so rough during rehearsal that the stunt man only had one piece of advice for Russell, “Good luck!”. However, Russell got his own back in the end as he had to strike Ox on the back of the head with the nail covered baseball bat. Baker only a piece of padding for protection and was physically very nervous about the scene.
26. The “Damn Redskins”Line Has an Explanation
A scene cut from the movie had a tribe of Native Americans living in a theater in New York. This is the tribe that cut the glider loose from the top of the Twin Towers and explains the line “Damn Redskins” from Brain, he is referring to the tribe that live in the theater.
27. James Cameron was part of the Film
John Carpenter used Roger Corman’s New World Pictures for some of the special effects. One scene included security forces dropping food for the prisoners via a helicopter. As the film wasn’t shooting in New York he needed matte paintings of the New York skyline, one of the artists was a young James Cameron who worked for New World Pictures at the time.
28. John Carpenter Bought The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge for $1
John Carpenter purchased the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St Louis for $1 from the government. As he was shooting in St Louis he needed a bridge to use as the 69th Street Bridge. Once filming was complete he then returned it to them for the same amount.
29. A scene was filmed in Carpenter’s garage
Maggie, the main-squeeze of Brain was run over during the finale of the movie when they are trying to cross the mined bridge. during filming there is a shot of her getting hit by the Duke’s car, although there was never any clarity to her death in the original filming. To give the character a conclusion and confirm her death Carpenter added a shot of Adrienne Barbeau (his wife at the time) lying on the floor of their garage to confirm her death.
30. A Novel Revealed Lots More Details About The World of Escape From New York
A Novelization of the movie written by Mike McQuay was released in 1981 by Bantam Books. The book includes many scenes that were cut from the film as well as fleshing out a number of characters including Hauk and Snake. These included the ‘Bank Robbery’ scene, how Snake lost his eye and how Hauk is searching for his son who is somewhere in New York.
31. Russell Refused To Flick His Cigarette At The President
Being extremely patriotic Kurt Russell refused to flick his cigarette at the President as requested by Carpenter. Instead the pair came to a compromise that had Snake throw it in the general direction of the President.
32. A Third Movie Was In The Works
Fifteen years after the release of Escape From New York came the sequel Escape From L.A. that had Kurt Russell return as the star and Carpenter return to the director’s chair. Although the film was not as successful as the original Carpenter had already had an idea for a third movie Escape From Earth. Although this was never filmed it would have been great to have seen a third movie made and give a conclusion to the character.
33. Hideo Kojima Was Influenced By Escape From New York For The Metal Gear Solid Series
Director of video games Hideo Kojima has regularly stated that the movie has ha a major influence on his work, most notably the Metal Gear Solid series. Solid Snake is heavily influenced by Snake Plissken, including his name and eye patch. In the sequel Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, released in 2001, Snake uses the alias ‘Plisken’ to hide his true identity during most of the game.
34. In 2003 We Almost Got An Anime Movie
In June 2003 Production I.G. started pre-production on an anime feature based off the movie. Mitsuru Hongo was on board to direct and John Carpenter, Kurt Russell and Debra Hill had been supervising a script written by Corey Mitchell and William Wilson. Russell would also provide the voice of Plissken while Carpenter would be providing music for the film. The anime was set for a 2005 release but the project was eventually shelved. All that remains of the project is a 30 second teaser and a collection of storyboards and character designs.
35. This Is Kurt Russell’s Favorite Movie
Kurt Russell has stated on numerous occasions that Escape From New York is his favorite movie he has made and Snake Plissken is also his favorite character.
This movie came out when I was 12 and I was so happy that Kurt Russell was in this. From the Disney kid to a tough criminal, be had my heart. And his acting is so versatile you believe he is that character. One of my favorite lines is “I thought you were dead!” each time it is said or referenced. Awesome to know it was taken from one of the great movies Big Jake. Thank you John Carpenter and Kurt Russell and all the cast, crew for this movie. Even at 53 I still love it cause I watched it again today!