Escape from New York (1981)
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(Foreign Titles)
John Carpenter's Escape from New York
Nomination Year: 1992
SYNOPSIS: In 1987, crime becomes so rampant that the U.S. government is forced to surround Manhattan with a giant wall and make the entire city a maximum-security prison (everyone remembers that back in '87, right?). Inside is another world, filled with gangs, drugs, and murder. The authorities don't care, as long as nobody gets out. When the President's plane crashes in the heart of town, the government calls in super-gritty super-mercenary Snake "Everyone-Seems-To-Think-I'm-Dead" Plissken to rescue him.
Bryan Cassidy
Smithee Award Nominations
| Most Ludicrous Premise |
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Would Anyone Notice the Difference? Oh, sure. Like the government would wall off NYC and use it as a holding pen for the most violent and despicable dregs of humanity. Why would they spend all that money on a wall? Seems to be working fine as it is.
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Directors
| Director |
Claim to Fame |
 John Carpenter |
Giant in the horror/sci-fi directing biz:
Halloween, The Thing,
Christine, Starman,
to name but a few -- and of course, some
Smithee films. |
Cast
| Actor |
Character |
Claim to Fame |
 Kurt Russell |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Teen actor in numerous Disney films turned hunk |
 Lee Van Cleef |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Perennial badass action star who played
bad
guys, Western hombres, and martial
artists,
even though he's as Western as a Texas
omelette. Was Hauk in Escape
from
New York, Sentenza/Angel Eyes in
The Good, the Bad, and the
Ugly, Col. Douglas Mortimer in
For a Few Dollars More,
and
Reese in The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance. |
| Ernest Borgnine |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Was TV's "McHale," won an Oscar for Marty, then played lots of B-Movie and B-TV bit parts; ubiquitous |
| Donald Pleasence |
<Not Yet in Database> |
His bald pate shows up here and there in both Bad and Legitimate films and made-for-TV movies |
| Isaac Hayes |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Composer/singer of Shaft theme; "Chef" on South Park |
| Harry Dean Stanton |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Bud in Repo Man and Toot-Toot (the crazy coot) in The Green Mile |
| Adrienne Barbeau |
<Not Yet in Database> |
She put the "Thing" in Swamp Thing |
 George Flower |
<Not Yet in Database> |
Nicknamed "Buck." From bums to
bartenders, guards to
background patients, he's a contender
for appearing in
more Smithee films than anyone else,
ever... Also wrote
The Bikini Carwash
Company. |
© 1992-2025 Bryan D. Cassidy and Greg Pearson. All Rights Reserved.
