CinemaDome: Escape from New York vs Mad Max

Initial shock has me feeling down this morning, but let's hope for the best.

In the meantime, here's a pair of dystopian flicks that launched the action careers of Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson.



vs

When I last watched Escape From New York I felt somewhat cheated by nostalgia. It's mostly just a series of set-pieces with little to connect them narratively. The 80's Tough Guy With Guns standard looks super cheesy to my modern eyes and that was something hard to get past.

Mad Max is a seminal film. No, it's not as direct as Mad Max 2 in terms of setting or pace, but when I watched it last year, revisiting all of the series after seeing Fury Road, I was still delighted by it, and spent even more time digging into related media around the cinematography etc. Also, Ford Falcons.

You'll find me with the motorbikes and leather men, sticking like a tyre to the licorice road.

Mad Max

This one is pure torture so thanks for that Mr. White...both of these are some of my favorite flicks.

My vote is for Escape for New York because 'MERICA AND THE BIG APPLE.

President: [fires machine gun at the Duke] Ayy! Number Onnee! You're the Duke! You're the Duke!

[stops firing]

President: You're the... Duke.

[quietly]

President: You're... A-number one.

Hmm. I have seen both of these movies twice. Once back in the early '80s and once in 2013. My response now is the opposite of what it would have been back then.

Escape from New York: Although I am not a complete Carpenter fanboy, I am fond of several of his movies, including this one. The first time I saw it, I was impressed by the utter ruination on screen, as well as the decisive competence of Snake Plissken. However, I did recognize that it was a ripoff of Roger Zelazny's Damnation Alley. Upon more recent viewing, I was annoyed Ernest Borgnine's cheesy grin and corny dialogue. Snake was too competent, to the point where his every victory seemed predestined instead of suspenseful, just like Maximus in Gladiator. The final chase across the bridge was okay, and the last twist with the American president with the British accent was okay. I enjoyed Escape back in the day, but now I find it just an okay movie.

Mad Max: I didn't enjoy Mad Max the first time I saw it, specifically because I saw it two years after I saw The Road Warrior. I was crushed by disappointment. Where was the post-apocalyptic future? Where were the medieval weapons? What's this rubbish about a wife and kid? Is that a fucking ice cream cone? Many, many years later, I watched Mad Max again, with fresh eyes. It's a different genre from The Road Warrior altogether, and should be judged for what it is and not in comparison to a sequel. Mad Max is a horror story, in fact a slasher movie where the slasher has been replaced with a biker gang. The pacing is slow, but the menace is palpable, and leads to a searing, unforgettable conclusion. There are some good chase scenes, some fantastic stunt work, and a very creepy villain.

And if we want to talk sequels, Escape had one crappy sequel, while Mad Max had two amazing sequels plus one okay one.

I choose Mad Max.

Wow, tough one.

I just watched Escape from New York this past weekend. Call it recency bias, but I am gonna give Snake the nod. The music score and set design still give me chills. And the Romero character still creeps me out.

Mad Max might have kick started a franchise and has way better sequels than the craptacular Escape from LA, but it has long dull stretches in it that put me to sleep.

Call me Snake.

I haven't seen either of these in a VERY long time. Both are fine, but I think I have to give the nod to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell.

Escape from New York

Mad max is a true snoozefest. Roadwarrior, however, is brilliant.

Escape from new york is campy as hell, but just as fun.

Vote: escape from new york.

Yay, a vote in the last 24 hours that I felt mattered. Democracy is alive in some places at least.

Escape from New York is probably going to win this dome because suddenly everybody can visualize it happening to America.

Kurt Russell > Mel Gibson

Vote: Escape from New York because its A-number-1.

EfNY is pretty much my favorite action genre film of all time.

I recognize it's campy and maybe a bit weak overall compared to real cinematic greats, but to me it's about perfect. There's not a thing I can think to change.

The minimalist John Carpenter score is up there with Conan for me. I dig Russell's Clint Eastwood opposite Lee Van Cleef. The wire frame green vector graphics. Hardcore wrestling match. Jamie Lee Curtis as the computer. "Everyone's Coming to New York!". Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Issace Hayes, and Donald Pleasence as the British US president. Flying the gulf fire over Leningrad. Adrienne Barbeau...and friends. About 100 quotable lines. Car with chandeliers. That eye patch.

Guilty. Cinema. Perfection.

Everything Mr. White said.

Escape from New York

Shellhead wrote: Escape from New York is probably going to win this dome because suddenly everybody can visualize it happening to America.

Except for anyone going to rescue the president.

This is a weird one...both are obviously great genre films, and Mad Max is probably the more significant and influential picture by far. But I would almost choose EFNY because it's simply more entertaining. For the most part.

But then I think about Mad Max..."I am the Night Rider!", that RV spinning around, the almost subliminal cuts to the eyes, Toecutter...

But on the other side you have the John Carpenter score, Kurt Russell/Issac Hayes/ Lee Van Cleef/Donald Pleasance, the Snake Plissken costume...

It's Mad Max in the end...I guess.

I am going to go against my general principles and vote for a more entertaining movie as opposed to a better one.

Mad Max has some scenes that are just stuck in my brain, despite the fact that I haven't watched it in like 20 years. And Watchmen, the most original and bestest graphic novel ever, basically ripped-off Mad Max's ending for Rorschach origins. And, more than a post-apcalyptic romp, it's powerful piece about a personal PTSD experience. And if not for it, we wouldn't have Road Warrior and Fury Road.
But it's also an uncomfortable movie, and kind of boring for most part. I don't feel inclined to watch it again, ever.

Escape from New York, although not as technically proficient, or insightful (sorry, but not even after the trumpocalipse), is similar in its cultural relevance to Mad Max. It gave us Snake Plissken and served as direct inspiration to Metal Gear and Neuromancer. And, I'll watch Kurt Russel do anything, the stoic stuff he does in Escape - again and again. So, yeah, one for Escape.

I didn't know that about neuromancer.

I'd bet a lot of early MTV videos as well. You can't tell me videos like Billy Idol's - Dancing with Myself or Scandals - The Warrior weren't inspired by this version of New York or the scene with the Crazies.

Mr. White wrote: I didn't know that about neuromancer.

I'd bet a lot of early MTV videos as well. You can't tell me videos like Billy Idol's - Dancing with Myself or Scandals - The Warrior weren't inspired by this version of New York or the scene with the Crazies.

Actually, New York in real life was kind of a hellish in the late '70s, years before Escape From New York. Times Square was an open market for drugs and porn, and Central Park after dark was a great place to get mugged. Gangs, racial tension, pollution, and terrible traffic jams. And the whole decade was bracketed by a pair of strikes by garbage workers, leaving New Yorkers knee deep in rubbish. And I can tell you that The Warriors movie wasn't inspired by Escape because it came out two years earlier.