couple the idea of new york a a maximum security prison with kurt russell hard bitten performance a one eyed outlaw snake plissken and you have get another one of john carpenter contemporary classic . nobody get out of new york alive and it would seem while even the president of the united state . unless plissken can haul his fat out of the fire . en route to the chief executive ( president of what . plissken asks at one point ) and there be down plane and starve crazy who live in the sewer and old acquaintance hide out in library and the duke of new york ( isaac hayes ) and whose army of neer do well must be contend with . all within the allotted time represent plissken be literally a ticking time bomb and thanks to duplicitous lee van cleef a the commander of the united state police force . for all it dark doings and however and escape from new york be also infuse with an often subtle black humor that help keep it from devolve into the kind of lackluster action film that feature star who can not act while russell a plissken be also surprise vulnerable and and thence more real and than most action lead . one can not help but sympathize with his character . ( and one can not help but think back to elvis and the amazing boob tube biography direct by carpenter with russell in the lead represent like elvis and escape from new york delivers on an emotional level . one can not ask for more than that . ) .