John Carpenter directed the 1981 science fiction film Escape from New York. Carpenter, along with Alan Howarth, also provided the music. Carpenter also shared screenplay credits with Nick Castle. The film stars Kurt Russell as
Snake Plissken. The film takes place in the year 1997 at a time when New York’s Manhattan Island has been converted into a maximum security prison.
Carpenter wrote the screenplay in the mid-1970s in response to the Watergate scandal. The film’s budget was $7 million; it went on to earn $50 million worldwide. Some of the other actors in the movie include, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes,
Harry Dean Stanton, and Adrienne Barbeau. Carpenter followed-up Escape from New York with a sequel in 1996. The sequel was named Escape from L. A. and saw the return of Kurt Russell as
Snake Plissken.
