Directed in 1981 by horror master John Carpenter, New York 1997 has acquired over time a true cult status. Thanks to his diabolical and premonitory script, and the charisma of his actor, Kurt Russell.
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Back to the future. For many fans of “genre” films (so horror and fantasy), John Carpenter is a true legend. It must be said that with Halloween (1978), the American director signs a masterpiece, launches a saga that is still alive today with a new trilogy, and a sub-genre that will experience its heyday in the 80s: the slasher. A great master of horror cinema with many great thrilling films to his name, Carpenter has also distinguished himself in science fiction. In particular with a title that has become cult since its release: New York 1997.
New York 1997 : a visionary masterpiece
The story of Escape from New York (title of the film in original version, much clearer on the program) is quite simple: the plane of the President of the United States has crashed over Manhattan, which has become a gigantic open-air prison. To find the latter and prevent him from falling into the clutches of supercharged convicts, the authorities turn to a convict, a certain Snake Plissken. The idea for this futuristic and anti-conformist pamphlet was born in the mind of its author after the Watergate scandal. Deemed too dark, the film’s script was rejected by all the producers and it was only after the immense success ofHalloween that Carpenter will have free rein. Carried by the hypnotic soundtrack signed by the director himself, New York 1997 fascinates by its rejection of all concessions, the American authorities being no better than the men and women locked in Manhattan. Above all, Carpenter signs a work of bluffing anticipation. If the special effects have necessarily aged, the themes and visions of the film have found surprising echoes much more current. New York devastated, American society divided, a wall of separation: Carpenter had already imagined everything!
Snake Plissken, the anti-hero par excellence
And New York 1997 is so popular, it is also, and above all, thanks to its hero, Snake Plissken. The very definition of the anti-hero, the ultimate rebel, embodied to perfection by Kurt Russell, a loyal Carpenter (The Thing, The Adventures of Jack Burton in the Clutches of the Mandarin). In a loud mouthed cast (Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance), Russell, jawbone and hoarse voice, appears more charismatic than ever. It is especially his black gaze behind his eye patch that gives a cachet to his character, to whom hordes of fan worship never denied. It was Kurt Russell himself who suggested this inimitable look, a corsair of the future in the form of an improbable mix between Albator and Clint Eastwood, from which the actor was inspired to play this “bad ass” character par excellence. Definitely cult!
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