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Escape From New York [DVD] [1981]
![Buy Escape From New York [DVD] [1981]: Isaac Hayes,Harry Dean Stanton,Lee Van Cleef,Kurt Russell,Donald Pleasence,](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VcUeTGAeL.jpg "Buy Escape From New York [DVD] [1981]: Isaac Hayes,Harry Dean Stanton,Lee Van Cleef,Kurt Russell,Donald Pleasence,")
Buy Escape From New York [DVD] [1981]: Isaac Hayes,Harry Dean Stanton,Lee Van Cleef,Kurt Russell,Donald Pleasence,
Buy Escape From New York [DVD] [1981] Now
Suitable for 15 years and over
Optimum Home Entertainment
Release date: Monday 4th of August 2008
Starring: Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef, Kurt Russell, Donald Pleasence, £12.99
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
In the future, crime is out of control and New York City is a maximum security prison. Grabbing a bargaining chip right out of the air, convicts bring down the President's plane in bad old Gotham. Gruff Snake Plissken, a one-eyed warrior new to prison life, is coerced into bringing the President, and his cargo, out of this land of undesirables. Kurt Russell puts his Disney days (he played the squeaky clean hero in such films as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, 1970) behind him as the nicest bad guy in the picture. All comic-book sensibilities and macho posturing, this is one of writer/director John Carpenter's better brainless escapades, brimming with snappy one-liners and explosive action scenes. However, the film lacks tension and some believability even within the realm of SF fantasy. Even when it fails to gel, though, it always manages to amuse, thanks in great part to a varied and unusual supporting cast (watch for Ernest Borgnine as a cabdriver and Isaac Hayes, one-time soul singer and now best known as South Park's chef, as The Duke of New York). Followed in 1996 by Carpenter's overdone and campy Escape from L.A. --Rochelle O'Gorman
NEW BLU RAY USA EDITION - THE BUSINESS
Review date: 2010-08-12 Rating: 10 out of 10
This film has a massive cult following world wide and is a forerunner to the super hero rescue films of the 80s/90s/00s such as the Rambos, Die Hards, Bournes and missions impossible.
Having owned the UK blu ray for a few years now, I decided to get the new region A blu ray edition of the film just issued to compare the two.
I must say that there is in fact no comparison as the USA version wins out in almost every department.
First picture wise and the USA edition has much deeper colours, in fact the oranges are almost red in comparison to the garish and shallow uk cut of the film. Everything looks rather pristine in the USA cut and you will surely find the picture much improved and to your liking.
Soundwise - what a difference! USA cut will fill your room. The HD Master is loud, deep and dynamic.
There are no extras and I suppose we will have to wait a couple of years for a deluxe edition of the film.
But get this version now for the picture and sound.
It is region A however and will not play on region 2 uk blu ray players.
So from Pliskin call me snake and from Snake call me Pliskin its bye bye!
Escape From New York [DVD] [1981] Reviews
Escape from New york
Review date: 2010-08-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
Having only recently become an amazon fan,i have found myself coming back time after time because of the quality,and prices of items sold.The service is second to none.thank,thanks,thanks.
A bad movie overhyped by fanboys
Review date: 2010-06-27 Rating: 2 out of 10
I genuinely don't understand why this film has received so many good reviews. Presumably from people that watched the film in their youth and enjoyed it. This is a bad, bad film. A sorry American attempt at Mad Max which comes nowhere near the original. Let's set the scene. The US has inexplicably decided to turn the world's most valuable area of real estate - Manhattan - into a prison colony. Eh? Enter our hero, Snake Plissken, a special forces soldier who is known to everyone in the film for reasons that we are never made party to, played by the reliably wooden Kurt Russell. Snake, now a convicted criminal facing a life sentence is coerced into trying to rescue the president. Snake has none of the skills one would expect from a special forces soldier, his sole hand to hand strategy being punching people in the face while his "keeping a low profile" strategy appears to involve standing silhouetted against a bright light behind him. Nonetheless, Snake is apparently the best hope when the President of the US has his plane hijacked over the prison that New York now is and has to bail out in an egg shaped escape capsule which amazingly falls hundreds of feet onto the street landing upright and leaving the President entirely unhurt. Amazing! The film proceeds in this brainless fashion until it reaches its less than gripping denouement. Before we get there though, there is a scene involving the destruction of a car that actually made me cover my face instinctively in shame. Possibly the most inane and unbelievable special effect I have ever seen (and I've seen Transporter 2). For an action film there is pitifully little action and the synth soundtrack is abysmal, making the Terminator score sound like a symphony. I genuinely can't see any redeeming features for this film. I've watched a lot of crap films that at least entertain you, but this just left me with a feeling of irritation. It reminds me in many ways of Carpenter's later film Ghosts of Mars, but at least that is enjoyable hokum with a sense of humour and doesn't treat you like an idiot. Avoid.
Decent Blu inspite of the badmouthing...
Review date: 2010-05-04 Rating: 6 out of 10
This Optimum HD disc is far superior to the standard def discs currently available, particularly in the color accuracy. Blu-ray mastering does exactly what it's supposed to do in a case like this: give a more accurate presentation of the theatrical prints. Here's a film that's wildly variant in it's quality, especially the miniature shots and the poor focus-pulling in tracking shots. This is budget scope for sure, but that's how it looked when it premiered. The big positive of this blu-ray version is color accuracy in scenes where it wasn't originally greenish in the first place, and clarity over anything else that's out there at this time. I certainly don't blame anyone for not cleaning up a new negative or interpositive of this kind of matinee picture just for a transfer to blu-ray. The price is right, and it's a decent sample of how a neatly, mean-spirited exploitation flick from the seventies would look on the big screen today. The soundtrack is mastered in discete 6-track DTS to sound better than it did in the old Dolby matrixed stereo, but that's always a welcome pump.
As for the movie, it's as flawed-but-fun as the blu-ray.
Simply put...a classic
Review date: 2010-04-22 Rating: 10 out of 10
Nobody did cynical like John Carpenter in his early work which explains Snake Plissken: the coolest anti-hero this side of Dirty Harry.
Escape From New York was made in the early 80s and set in the late nineties. The view of what life would be like almost twenty years after the film was made says a lot about John Carpenter and the pessimism of the time. New York's 1997 is a bleak place full of war, crime and dodgy fashions. But at least they didn't have to deal with Tony Blair becoming PM.
New York is one giant prison with the simple rule of once you go in, you don't come out. When the President's plane is hijacked and crashes in New York, the authorities offer war hero turned criminal Snake Plissken a choice: go in and get the President for a full pardon or go in and stay there. Of course, Snake goes after the President, kills lots of people, meets Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton and Adrienne Barbeau's cleavage and so on. While some of it has understandably dated, its attitude and power are still as strong as ever. The cast (particularly Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef and Issac Hayes) are all superb, and the overall mood hasn't been beaten since. There's some decent bonus stuff on the dvd, but the film itself is the real reason to own this.
If you want to see how the future could have been and meet the man with the eyepatch, Escape From New York is a must.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Isaac Hayes
To find out more about Isaac Hayes click on their nameHarry Dean Stanton
To find out more about Harry Dean Stanton click on their nameLee Van Cleef
To find out more about Lee Van Cleef click on their nameKurt Russell
To find out more about Kurt Russell click on their nameDonald Pleasence
To find out more about Donald Pleasence click on their nameCreators:
Isaac Hayes (Primary Contributor)
Harry Dean Stanton (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Optimum Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Optimum Home Entertainment
EAN: 5055201803818
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2008-08-04
Aspect ratio: 16:9 - 1.78:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 95 minutes
