Directed by John Carpenter • 1981 • United States
Starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes
It’s the year 1997 and the dystopian hellscape of Manhattan has been turned into a maximum security prison. When the U.S. president’s plane is hijacked and crash lands on the island, it’s up to hard-bitten ex-solider Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell sporting an iconic eyepatch) to rescue him . . . or else. Featuring a synth score and a dynamite supporting cast—including Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef, Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes, and Ernest Borgnine—John Carpenter’s apocalyptic sci-fi spectacle crackles with exhilarating action set-pieces and subversive social commentary.
Up Next in New York Stories
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Smithereens
Directed by Susan Seidelman • 1982 • United States
Susan Seidelman established her distinctive vision of New York City with this debut feature, the lo-fi original for her vibrant portraits of women reinventing themselves. After escaping New Jersey, the quintessentially punk Wren (Susan Berman)...
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Los Sures
Directed by Diego Echeverria • 1984 • United States
Diego Echeverria’s vivid portrait of South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the early 1980s captures the challenges the neighborhood faced: poverty, drugs, gang violence, crime, abandoned real estate, racial tension, single-parent homes, and inadequa...
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Stranger Than Paradise
Directed by Jim Jarmusch • 1984 • United States, Germany
Starring John Lurie, Richard Edson, Eszter BalintWith this breakout film, Jim Jarmusch established himself as one of the most exciting voices in the burgeoning independent-film scene, a road-movie poet with an affinity for Americana at it...
