Escape from New York | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | John Carpenter |
Produced by |
Larry Franco Debra Hill |
Written by | John Carpenter Nick Castle |
Starring |
Kurt Russell Lee Van Cleef Ernest Borgnine Donald Pleasence Isaac Hayes Harry Dean Stanton Adrienne Barbeau |
Music by | John Carpenter Alan Howarth |
Cinematography |
Dean Cundey Jim Lucas |
Edited by | Todd Ramsay |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | AVCO Embassy Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million |
Box office | $25.2 million (US) |
Escape from New York is a 1981 American dystopian action film co-written, co-scored, and directed by John Carpenter. The film is set in the then near-future 1997 in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison. Ex-soldier Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is given 24 hours to find the President of the United States (Donald Pleasence), who has been captured by prisoners after the crash of Air Force One.
Carpenter wrote the film in the mid-1970s as a reaction to the Watergate scandal. After the success of Halloween, he had enough influence to begin production and filmed it mainly in St. Louis, Missouri on an estimated budget of $6 million.Debra Hill and Larry J. Franco served as the producers. The film was co-written by Nick Castle, who collaborated with Carpenter previously by portraying Michael Myers in Halloween.
Escape from New York was released in the United States on July 10, 1981. The film received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $25,244,700 at the box office. It was nominated for four Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction. The film became a cult classic and was followed by a sequel, Escape from L.A.