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  • To the people arguing whether or not the narrator is Jamie Lee Curtis or Debra Hill ... you're both wrong. The narrator is Kathleen Blanchard. She was credited for Escape From LA, but was uncredited for New York for whatever reason, but it was her in it.

  • nbcnewyork.c o m/news/local/Prove-Homeless-Po­licy-Bloomberg-Lawsuit-City-Co­uncil-135329903.html

  • I first saw this film in 1997!

  • this was done with a Commodore 64

  • @caviper1

    Extremely unlikely.

    It's hand-animation so far as I can tell.

  • Love it, love it, love it.

  • new york niggas stay rapping about 1988.

  • I really love how Arkham City took inspiration from this movie!

  • 1997 - NOW!

    Love it!

  • why would they give up Manhatten so it can become a jail??

  • @TURBODORK2

    It's the financial capital of the country, so naturally it already has the highest concentration of sociopathic, ruthless criminals on the planet.

  • The voice over is actually Jamie Lee Curtis.

  • @spectreagent the voice over is done both times by debra hill ...you stupid fuck....love how misinformed assholes type anything they want to in here.....fukin sad, the computer voice over and the non computer voice over both by debra hill....jamie lee curtis has as much to do with escape from new york as your dumbass has to do with the movie halloween, sorry so nasty but i read posts all over youtube all the time that are false and you hit a cord with me and i felt the need to respond

  • @cholulasaucehot1 Not sorry to prove you wrong, but... From IMDB. rest of cast listed alphabetically: Debra Hill Computer (voice) Carla Barnett Gypsy (uncredited) Kathleen Blanchard Narrator - Opening scenes (uncredited) (unconfirmed) John Carpenter.. Secret Service #2 / Helicopter Pilot / Violin Player (voice) uncredited) Nick Castle Pianist (uncredited) John Contini Eye-Patch Prisoner (uncredited) Jamie Lee Curtis Narrator / Computer (uncredited) (voice) Curtis confirmed it! Win 4 me!
  • I was around in '88.. I remember all this happening like it was yesterday!

    

  • I love that this and the grid in Snake's glider were all made by filming reflective tape on all-black miniatures. Nowadays they would waste a small fortune on fancy CGI graphics, and it probably wouldn't even look as good.

  • Wow i love this score it is a classic from the 80's This movie is another great result of Carpenter and Russell collaboration and even twenty five years after it's release many people including me consider this movie as a milestone both in action and science fiction genres and it definitely deserves it's reputation as a cult classic The movie has a dynamic direction,a unique atmosphere,a very well written screenplay with great dialogues and characters and a Brilliant Score

  • Too bad the "Halloween" town of Haddonfield wasn't the Super-prison. The prisoners would've loved to escaped from there because no one would want Michael Myers as a cellmate.

  • epic epic epic.

  • the rules are simple: "once you go in you don't come out!" This MOVIE was truly an epic

  • you snake pliskin aint cha?

  • The most badass intro to a film ever.

  • ....this what they will do with JAPAN.

  • It's my dream to live in a retro future where Atari graphics tell the tale of asylum-cities, and lone wolves who don't care about Your War or Your President going in to prove there are still noble souls. In both the movie world and this one we're headed towards that asylum future, the only difference is THAT world has the Wolf and his spiked bat - perfect for arena-fighting a goateed Yeti - plus hand built models. THIS world has CGI cartoons and Remake Wolves who have drawn on stubble.

  • @chainbluelightning1 "President of what?"

  • Comment removed

  • Thank God the city was still standing in 1988 and 1997 and still is today, despite 9/11.

  • You know your a fan when you request this track at the clubs . .

  • It's implied in Pliskaan's conversation with Hauk at the beginning that the U.S. invaded the Soviet Union. The President was on the way to a peace conf. w/ China & the S.U. The reason the crimerate rose 400% in '88 and why they needed to make it a prison was probably a result of massive anti-war protests. Essentially in the future the Cold War continued.

  • @rainer1980 of course, it was said that Plisken flew over Leningrad in such a craft like he landed in New York

  • For those that don't know - This narrator is Jamie Lee Curtis.

  • @PandoraKyss The computer voice in the opening narration and in the first prison scene was provided by producer Debra Hill.

  • @polycera No Jamie lee curtis, her voice was also the recorded wrong number operator in Halloween 3 season of the witch

  • One of the coolest storys ever.. NewYork is a giant *prison* and Snake is one of the coolest Anti-Heroes ever.

    Snake Plissken, Mad Max and Punisher.

  • Big Question: Did Woody Allen stay there when they turned this into a prison?

    Cause I could see him coming up from the manholes.

  • So wait Snooki and Pauly D can't get into Manhattan.... thank god i think i can sleep easier tonight

  • A sick part of me wants this to happen.

  • Does anyone know the name of the typeface used in the intro? The one that reads:"NOW"?

  • @AdobeGillis

    Albertus MT.

  • I was hoping for the full movie... Oh The Voice is Jamie Lee Curtis I think. Sounds like her.

  • That must be done with Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

  • "1997- NOW"

    Oh dear.

    First Rule of making Post-Apocyalyptic movies- never give it a specific date. Be ambiguous, like for example Mad Max which is set "A few years from Now...", otherwise when your given specific date comes and goes without incident, people will be laughing right from the start.

  • @HowlinMadRobWolf Just like all the bible nuts who set specific dates & times. For xample: Pat Robertson & Falwell.  ;)

  • @davemelnick lol ironic how in the sequel to this movie a bible nut becomes president.

  • @Joker3797 Yea...it will certainly save millions upons of $s. Given, common sense is light years ahead of politicians.

  • @Joker3797 & it definitely wasn't nearly as good as the 1st.

  • @HowlinMadRobWolf Haha....I have to say that I agree on that one!

  • @HowlinMadRobWolf EFNY is not a post-apocalyptic movie. the world outside the New York prison is not destroyed. the film represents a dystopian future not a post-apocalyptic one.

  • @coolrog0705 Oh you know what I meant though :p

  • @coolrog0705 exactly true, the two things are completly different.

  • Narrator is Kathleen Blanchard, although it does sound like either Jamie lee curtis or michelle forbes (ensign ro on Star Trek).

  • Michelle Forbes was in the dire sequel though.

  • @bayernfan1960 Also sounds like Debra Hill, the producer of both movies

  • Little inside info. they wanted tommy lee jones to play snake orginally they thought kurt russell was to much of a pretty boy the image he had back then they chose him anyway it worked out kurt says today people see or meet him they say they love escape from new york and escape from L.A.

  • This movie and The Thing are my favorite Carpenter movies. But wait, there's Big Trouble in Little China too...damn.

  • @peaceandmetal88 EFN & TT are (IMHO) Kurt's best movies (hands down).

  • The best movie John Carpenter ever made.

  • thats mis printed info the buildings they used in the movie were in downtown st louis off of washington street over by union station by interstate hwy 44.

  • no cmh it was st.louis believe me i know i live here!

  • @blkron3

    Maybe so, but then this quote from Wikipedia's page on East St. Louis is wrong, "In the 1981 science fiction/action film Escape from New York, director John Carpenter used East St. Louis to represent a decaying, semi-destroyed future version of New York City. At that time, East St. Louis had entire neighborhoods burned out in 1976 during a massive urban fire, which suited the director's vision of a Manhattan Island that has been turned into a maximum security prison."

  • @cmhcow The USA woill be much better off IF it made some of those "maximum security prisons" eh. IMHO, it sure needs 'em.

  • @davemelnick

    Congraulations, you've just endorsed a practices of a satire of proto-fascism appearing in a dystopian science-fiction film.

    While we're at it, let's legalize the Spice Melange.

  • @davemelnick put all the piece of shit gang members, pimps, druggies, rapists, and murderers all in one "maximum security" prison and let them kill each other, that or simply exterminating gangbangers.

  • 1997 - NOW!

  • sounds like a good idea to me.

  • Snake easily fucks up everybody. Even Chuck Norris!

  • Really spooky for entirely different reasons - or exactly the reasons Carpenter intended - speculated about things the notion of terrorists fly airplanes into the skyline and the fairly fascist attitude of the state - the parallels are alot creepier 30 years on.

  • The president is dead.

    Somebody`s had him for dinner.

  • Recently saw the movie for the first time in 20+ years. Phenomenal. Have to admit seeing the dark skyline of a dead New York City with a still standing World Trade Center makes for a chilling and atmospheric visual and setting.

  • Narration by Jaime Lee Curtis.

  • @orly1971

    nope. she did the voice over in LA. I beleive it was one of the women from Assault On Precinct 13.

  • @codename617

    really? i thought Jamie Lee did the narration for both movies

  • @orly1971 It's actually The film's producer Debra Hill. It does sound like Jamie, but it's not. Jamie did the voice-over for Escape from L.A.

  • @THEBLACKBELT that is incorrect Jamie did do the voice over part for N.Y.

  • @hubabubamax566 yeah. since I posted that. I found it to be inaccurate.

  • A L E X J O N E S Adam Curtis  Slave!
  • Sir, do you also watch videos here on youtube by G. Edward Griffin? Peace!

  • You are correct,I recently bought the novel and what you have said is right .Russia attacks US with gas and it sends people crazy,then the crime rate goes up.New York was hit hardest by the gas and the city was declared unhinhabitable,then it was decided that it was to be made into the prison that we see in the movie.The novel is a good read.

  • To "kevingratke:" "What happened to the people who lived in New York before it was a prison?"

    I don't know anyone living in New York right now who isn't already a prisoner to begin with.

  • Comment removed

  • Cabbie killed them all. He's a bone collector.

  • They were executed or moved on different location.

    USA in escape movies is very different from real USA.

    I think that there is a constant Marshall Law.

    World is in chaos and Cold war is racing between USA and USSR and is warming up to become hot war.

  • Actually in the world of Escape from New York there has already been a war between the USA and the USSR for many years, and now they are planning a summit for peace, which the president was on his way to.

    Snake Plissken got two purple hearts for his missions in Leningrad and Siberia, but later got disillusioned with the jerk of president who probably started the whole damn war in the first place and sacrficied people like Snake for nothing. Therefore he became an outlaw.

  • Apparently the long war has been extremely costly for both the USA and USSR and almost all fossil fuels have been used. Therefore the new invention of fusion energy is the sollution for world peace, since the american president wants to share it with the USSR and China to signal the end of hostilites.

    The president is carrying the tape with the info about this new energy, but crashed in New York.

    Snake gets a full pardon for his crimes if he rescues the president(who he dislikes very much)

  • according to the book, WW3 breaks out in 1987. the Soviets launch a massive chemical attack on New York City. "Gas Craziness" breaks out among the survivors. crime quadruples. by 1988 NYC is uninhabitable and the city is quarantined. it is converted to the massive maximum security prison. so to answer your question, most if not all of the population of NYC died from the attack, and the aftermath of it.

  • What is it going to be in the remake since the Soviet Union collapsed? Do they have the book on audio cd?

  • i heard the book gives more information on the crazies?

    What does it say? Im dying to hear more on that awesome gang :)

  • The year is not "1988", it's "2012", following the re-election of Barack Obama.

  • Turning Manhattan Island into a giant prison...sounds like something Rudy Giuliani would do.

  • for those who didn't know,the story of the film takes place in new york but was mostly filmed in st.louis.

  • @blkron3

    sort of. it was east st. louis, illinois

  • @blkron3 I wonder why they didn't just film in New York, considering there were many decrepit parts of the city ideal for filming. South Bronx comes to mind.

  • If anyone was wondering, Jamie Lee Curtis was the voice for the intro

  • Are you sure? If so, they really modified the voice during editing.

  • IMDB says it was her

  • Good enough!

  • She used to be so hot...

  • I was blown away since the day i came across this movie but alas haven't seen it yet

  • Hard to believe 1997 was 12 years ago... As opposed to 16 years in the future when this movie was made.

  • The city is still a target though...The United Nations Building 77 U.N. Plaza. If there is any nation that disagrees with that body..i.e., N. Korea, Iran- They will take a unilateral action and scare the living crap out of New Yorkers again.

    Forget about housing American prisoners in New York like in the movie-worry about N. Korea and Iran. I do.

  • hey, theres world trade center...man thats sad its gone..memoriam and honor to people who died in WTC 9/11

  • We can still rebuild them.

    wtc2011 . com

    twintowersalliance . com

  • oh really? I thought they stopped building for awhile bec of economy problem, but its good that they'll rebuild it.

  • my dad called in sick that day and he worked on the top floor of the trade center.

  • oh my, that was close. lucky he's alive.

  • wow! really??

  • @warman1994 Is he still alive? If so then he's super lucky :O

  • lol imagine, if john and kurt did another movie called "Escape From Miami"

  • They escape from Martin Lawerence's bad acting

  • the rules are simple once you go in you don't come out

  • something I've wondered since there are also women on the prison island....what if there's a pregnancy? I'm sure like the animal world when there's a shortage of food they eat their young.

  • My guess is that the female prisoners were sterilised prior to being sent to the prison,so that no children would be born there.

  • it would probably be easier to do the guys?

  • wouldn't the people inside starve to death

  • Not if they planted crops in Central Park.

  • Or ate each other.

  • Or paid off guards to smuggle in food (like they pay prison guards today to smuggle contraband into the jails).

  • or they just air drop food supplies in

  • from john carpenters site

    monthly food drops made by air into Central Park

  • it,s jamie lee curtis

  • "There are no guards inside the prison.Only prisoners and the world they have made".

  • Great line! Well great sequence, but those two lines really make it for me.

  • where can i download this video? please tell me :)

  • just buy it in the shop

    they still sell the movie

  • Why don't you just by the dvd of the movie.

  • this is so 12 year ago :)

  • The voice in this video is Jamie Lee Curtis

  • Sounds Like Michelle Forbes

  • Nostalgia!

  • A security island is a good idea and with todays technology nobody could get out

  • we could call it guantanamo bay! wait what..

  • What could cause the crime rate to go up 400%? I got the impression that it was protest related about the backstory about a U.S. invasion of The Soviet Union and China. Of course, in 1981 the Vietnam War protests and crime associated with it were fresh in many people's memories.

  • or just black people

  • lack of authority

  • NY has been an prison for 12 years now , how

    bizar never noticed that.

  • "once you go in you dont come out" one of my fav films of all time!

  • one of the best movies ever! Carpenter Rules.

  • Great classic movie. Thanks

  • Someone like Rock Star Games needs to make a first-person-shooter based on this movie.

    It would rock, especially if it expands things from the movie in new directions with new enemies or the occasional ally.

  • or bethesta could do one, they've done a supurb job with Fallout 3.

  • THE ONE PLAYS SNAKE DOES HE PLAY ONE OF THE CUT INTRS TO Command & Conquer DOES ANY ONE KNOW

  • Join the Fog!!!!!

  • This is one of the best movies EVER!

  • Guys, does anyone have the backstory clip of Snake's heist that was cut out of the final film? I heard it was on the DVD.

  • It is shown in the "Escape From New York" special edition dvd.

  • Ok, but can anybody upload it here?

  • some things must be paid for to watch

  • hey is this movie sorta like Doomsday

  • Or rather Doomsday is Like this movie

  • Doomsday was an homage to this movie

  • And it sucked like hell!

  • it was a homage to alotta movies and its a little bit of all of them but yes a big portion of it is like a half remake of NY

  • doomsday ripped off this movie

  • What is the movie doomsday?

  • It's an AWFUL rip-off!!

  • *In 1988, the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent*

  • wow giuliani really turned things around

  • The voiceover was Jamie Lee Curtis

  • I had no idea it was Jamie Lee.Nice bit of after dinner trivia!

  • very plausible in 1981 when this flick came out. I lived in New York and it was a crime riddled shit hole back then. When the 90's came around, the city was cleaned up, crime dropped and new business brought alot of money in. Strange how it turned into the safest city for the last 15 years. But watching this movie now is sort of a creepy reminder of what it could have turned into. Sort of an alternate universe.

  • The truth is that cleaning up the city was not cleaning at all -- it was displacement to upstate New York's many, many high security prisons in places like Catskill, Clinton County, etc. This IS what the world turned into.

    (written by disilluisioned NYS correction's officer)

  • you bring up a good point. now that I think about it, those idiot politicians that shut down Pilgrim State and let the kooks loose sprung a nice gift on all of us the last 20 years. You're probably right.

  • Sarah put me here!

  • As screwed up as it sounds, not all of this is impossible. A rise of 400% in the crime rate could be the result of a world conflict or civil war. I've got to admit that turning a major metropolis like Manhattan into a maximum security prison would mean the U.S is in really bad shape across the board.

  • The music would even remind you of a grim future in which the US becomes a neo-conservative or even a internationalist liberal police state.

  • This Theme Rocks

  • Jamie Lee Curtis!

  • I will now have a drink in honor of this, the greatest introduction of and musical accompaniment to a movie that has ever been made. No one will ever touch it.

  • cheers!

  • That's the voice of Jamie Lee Curtis.

  • bullocks m8

  • u r right m8 - soz i cheaked it out

  • 1997 New York looked cleaner and classier than it did in the early 80s. LOL

  • New York City in the 1980's looked better.

  • I agree with bigren2, the 1970's and 1980's in NYC had more flavor then the yup up, starbucks, wall street dickheads that run it today. The real people no longer can afford NYC...real new yorkers not transplants who move to the city and think they are the shit because they make millions....a true shame. I would like to see the citizens of NYC start riots like the one in this movie and take back new york....

  • Why do films have to have a 'back story'? This is due to Hollywood forcing us to watch shit, and people get upset if everything is not explained in some circumstance.

  • Yes, heaven forbid you actually have to think, or use your brain in a creative manner, or have character development or a plot. Just Boobs, Bombs, Explosions, and lost of sex.

    THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

  • It would have been nice if maybe they'd explained some backstory of why the crime rate got so high that they needed to make NYC into a prison? But, there were inferences that maybe some kind of anti-war protests were behind it somehow when they talk about the U.S. having battles over Leningrad et cetera?