#126 - "Escape From New York" (1981) with Nicholas Pepin

80s Flick Flashback

In the early ’70s, films like The Omega Man, Soylent Green, and THX-1138 painted a bleak future of chaos and government control. By 1981, the tone had shifted, with films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Clash of the Titans offering escapism and classic good vs. evil battles. But then came this 80s flick, set in a dystopian 1997 where Manhattan is a prison island. The hero, a morally gray anti-hero on a mission to rescue the President, must navigate a world full of shady characters and alliances.

Join Tim Williams and guest co-host, Nicholas Pepin from the "Pop Culture Roulette" Podcast, to dive into Escape from New York on this episode of the 80s Flick Flashback Podcast.

Here are some additional behind-the-scenes trivia we were unable to cover in this episode:

  • The idea of putting a wig on at one point in the film was improvised by Donald Pleasance.
  • The shot of Maggie's corpse under the Duke's car was added after principal photography was done as  John Carpenter felt the audience wouldn't get that the impact had killed her. Carpenter and Adrienne Barbeau filmed the shot in their garage with her under their own car.

Sources:

Wikipedia, IMDB

https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-chart/weekend/1981/07/10

https://www.gq.com/story/escape-from-new-york-40-kurt-russell-john-carpenter-grim-future

Some sections were composed by ChatGPT

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