Escape from L.A. (1996)

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers (WGA):

John Carpenter (characters) and
Nick Castle (characters) ...

Release Date:

9 August 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Plan your escape this Summer

Plot:

Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.

Plot Keywords:

Earthquake | Prison | 2000s | EMP | Sequel

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Kurt Russell	...	Snake Plissken
A.J. Langer	...	Utopia
Steve Buscemi	...	Map to the Stars Eddie
Georges Corraface	...	Cuervo Jones (as George Corraface)
Stacy Keach	...	Cmdr. Malloy
Michelle Forbes	...	Brazen
Pam Grier	...	Hershe Las Palmas
Jeff Imada	...	Saigon Shadow
Cliff Robertson	...	President
Valeria Golino	...	Taslima
Peter Fonda	...	Pipeline
Ina Romeo	...	Hooker
Peter Jason	...	Duty Sergeant
Jordan Baker	...	Police Anchor
Caroleen Feeney	...	Woman on Freeway

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. (USA) (complete title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some language.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #34442) | Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | France:-12 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Denmark:15 | Brazil:14 | New Zealand:M | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:16 (w) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The movie was a notorious failure on release, making around $25 million (just half its budget) at the US box office. Many reviews criticized the film for being too violent or for being too similar to the original film.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the end of the movie when he is escaping in the helicopter the bazooka is empty. You can see through barrel. Then four seconds later the bazooka fires.

Quotes:

[Snake is racing in a submarine]
Malloy: Slow down, Snake!
Snake Plissken: You slow down, dickhead! I'm the one dying!

Movie Connections:

References Jaws (1975)

Soundtrack:

Pottery

Snake is Back, baby

This movie is very unfairly under-rated. Just because when it came out America was in a feel good phase with the 1996 Olympics and the release of Independence Day. A lot of people have criticized the visual effects but the surfing scene ain't that bad and are far superior to that of the flames in the tunnel in ID4.

Kurt Russell is brilliant as Snake, his most iconic character and the whole movie is kind of lighthearted. The music especially. I have also never seen a film with an ending quite like this. Now for the announced Escape from Earth, it may not happen due to the dark nature of the series and studio reluctance to not do anything but kiddie crap, but it would be a wonderful finale.