© 1981 STUDIOCANAL SAS - All Rights Reserved.
“Escape from New York” The blandness of John Carpenter, who created the science fiction action masterpiece
2022.01.15
Influence from Macaroni Western
To highlight the young Kurt Russell, the supporting cast was full of great actors, including Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, Harry Dean Stanton, and Donald Pleasence. In particular, Lee Van Cleef, who played Hawk, who pressures Snake to complete the mission, was excellent, and the tense exchange with Snake at the beginning was an outstanding scene.
And as can be seen from the casting of Cliff and the character of Snake, this film is conscious of the Spaghetti Western. As proof of this, the character design of Snake traces the characters that Eastwood has played in Spaghetti Westerns.
"Escape from New York" © 1981 STUDIOCANAL SAS - All Rights Reserved.
In the heyday of John Wayne and other stars, American western heroes were rugged but compassionate, righteous beings who saved women and children. However, in the Spaghetti Western, Eastwood played a cynical man who refused to bow to authority and acted only according to his own values. Carpenter, who was originally a big fan of westerns such as those by Howard Hawks, incorporated the image of a western hero, which had been updated in Italy, into "Escape from Escape from New York" in a sort of reverse import manner.
Snake, this new hero, is somewhat unusual in his actions for an action movie.
Plain protagonist and plain action