Pre-Owned Escape from New York [Special Edition Collector's Set] [2 Discs] (DVD) directed by John Carpenter

Escape From New York is a sci-fi/action film by director John Carpenter. It was the first film by Carpenter that starred Kurt Russell. Russell plays “Snake” Plissken, an ex-special forces operative turned renegade and criminal. Released in 1981, the film is set in a bleak 1997. The US is in the middle of WWIII and crime is rampant throughout the country. With crime at epidemic levels the entire island of Manhattan is converted into a maximum-security prison in 1988. No guards patrol the city so the inmates are free to form their own society within the walls. It's simple – once you go in, you don't come out. In route to a peace summit, Air Force One in hijacked by a revolutionary American group and crashed inside the prison city of Manhattan. The President (Donald Pleasence) survives the crash inside an escape pod and is taken prisoner by the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes). The President has important information in a suitcase attached to his wrist that must make it to the summit within 24 hours before the Soviet Union and China walk away from the peace table. The government turns to the recently apprehended Plissken for help. They offer him a full pardon for all crimes committed within the US if he can rescue the President and retrieve his suitcase with 24 hours. Plissken agrees to the deal and secretly flies a glider into the city and lands atop the World Trade Center. Once inside Manhattan, Plissken is completely on his own. The film also stars Lee Van Cleef as Commissioner Hauk, Adrienne Barbeau as Maggie, Ernest Borgnine as Cabbie, and Harry Dean Stanton as Brain. If you ask me, any movie with Harry Dean Stanton in it gets cool points in my book. John Carpenter also scored the film so if you're familiar with his films; you're probably familiar with his sound. The music fits the film perfectly! In the years since the release of the film Snake Plissken has become a fan favorite and the film has cultivated a huge cult following. Plissken is vintage movie tough guy in the vein of Clint Eastwood's “the man with no name”, Mad Max, and Conan. Not much for talking, but when they do speak, you'd better listen. Escape From New York has always been one of my personal favorites and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I highly recommend this film!