1997: Escape from New York (1981), John Carpenter, is the most perfect example of the theme, repeated over and over again in the work of the director. The black monoliths from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, dark and (from afar) apparently lifeless, are like the last refuge of the twentieth century civilization, surrounded by military patrols, radar, minefields and helicopters loaded with more sophisticated weapons and on the move. The urban prison, a jungle full of danger, is crowded by day, continually producing noise and pollution and eerily empty at night (images familiar to millions of people living in modern cities.) For most of them, the urban environment around them contains elements and frightening, Carpenter's allegory follows more closely to reality.
But the film refers not only to real life, but also the film itself. A series of films have prepared the audience for the presentation of the city as an absolute evil, from stories of revenge among gangsters of the 30's, to The Godfather (1972), Taxi Driver (1976) The new version of Invasion of Body Snatchers (1978), The Warriors (1979), etc.
But the siege has 1997: Escape from New York is much more rich and complex. When the President of the United States is kidnapped and disappears into the dark heart of New York, which face pressures are his fellow politicians, who are out of town. They are also in a trap ... time passes relentlessly and, unless they find a solution, will be destroyed along with others. In fact, the film is constructed as a series of dead-end situations, such as Manhattan itself, the a voice says at the beginning of the film: " Once you enter, you'll never leave"; the kidnapping of the President, (enclosed as a kind of prehistoric embryo in its sheath of survival), the commissioner of police torture ( a step, "he tells the kidnapper, waving a finger cut from the President," and kill him), it quickly moves to Snake Plissken, loaded with explosives that will explode if he fails in his mission; Above all, the fatal time limit hanging over them.
As in the old serials, the adventures of Snakie (which has no sympathy of the spectators, like the president) are also a series of dead ends, one after another. Is trapped by a horde of crazy, the car that flies stuck on a street "owned" by a band fond of beheading, is confronted in a boxing ring to a huge enemy (which seems to Flash Gordon, Emperor Ming), and surrounded by a feverish crowd calling for his blood, and finally hangs halfway down a wall, clearly illuminated by a spotlight, at the mercy of the murderer shot him in charge of hunting.
Memorable also fine cast. Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) must watch carefully, sometimes carries the right eye patch, and others, on the left.
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