Press - Quotes (Special Thanks to Leca Buchan (Pack of Rats) for many of the quotes)

John Carpenter on Escape From New York

"I first wrote the screenplay in the mid-70's, during the time of Watergate, the whole feeling in the country was one of real cynicism about our president... No studio wanted to make it. They all said: We can't have this kind of dark view."
- John Carpenter, "High Adventure in the Future", Starlog Issue 41, 1980

"I had just made Dark Star, but no one wanted to hire me as a director. So I thought: Well, then, I'm going to write screenplays and work my way in. I scripted Escape, only to discover no studio was interested because they felt a: it was to strange b: it was to violent or c: we're not thrilled with the idea of NYC as a prison."
- John Carpenter "On the set for Escape From New York", Starlog, Issue 45, 1981

"Actually, I wrote Escape From New York way back in 1974. I believe I was inspired by the movie Death Wish (about a vigilante killer), that was very popular at the time, I didn't agree with the philosophy of it, taking the law into one's own hands, but the film came across with the sense of New York as a jungle, and I wanted to make a sci-fi film along those lines."
- John Carpenter "On the set for Escape From New York", Starlog, Issue 45, 1981

"I had been in New York, which had a reputation for being a great city, but I saw the other side of it. It was a little dark an grim. I'd heard all the show biz clichés about the place: the white lights of Broadway, the "city of cities." In actuality, parts of the city were pretty bad."
- John Carpenter, John Carpenter and his Escape From New York, Cinema Oddesey, Vol 1, Issue 1, 1981

""When I first wrote the script, I set it in 1982. But I've since realized I was being premature, so I moved it ahead 17 years from today. Go back 17 years to 1963 and think how the world has changed. It's been subtle but significant."
- John Carpenter, "High Adventure in the Future", Starlog Issue 41, 1980

"It's both our fears and what we would like to happen."
- John Carpenter "From the Director's Special Edition VHS & Laserdisc Collector's Edition interview", 1994

"Good science-fiction has to have an element of truth, there's something about it you have to believe..."
- John Carpenter "From the Director's Special Edition VHS & Laserdisc Collector's Edition interview", 1994

Kurt Russell on Escape From New York

"I think people are reacting to the movie differently in different parts of the country. City audiences seem to get the laughs. Midwestern audiences and southern audiences see it more as a science-fiction drama. I think they all get caught up in it, though. It looks Real."
- Kurt Russell, Escape from New York, Future Life, Issue 30, Nov, 1981

Debra Hill on Escape From New York

"I don’t know what specific genre it belongs in. It's a musical. It's a comic book. It has tenderness, adventure, action, suspense. I find myself compelled to watch it. At the end, I just feel good. It's a very special film because it's about something that's in short supply -- loyalty. John pointed that out -- Kurt is loyal to the people he cares about: Season, Adrienne, Harry Dean, Ernest. There's even loyalty to the President; Kurt actually begins to like Donald Pleasence. Even Lee Van Cleef, in his way, is loyal to Kurt."
- Debra Hill, Escape From New York, Prevue 45, Vol 2, Issue 5, May, 1981

"The film is a statement about how I feel that we must protect peoples libertarian rights. People themselves need to find the goodness in them, and I think it makes a political statement."
- Debra Hill, Return to Escape From New York featurette, 2003

John Carpenter on Escape From L.A.

"We thought about what L.A. has been through in the 90S: earthquakes, mud slides, fires, riots, drive-by shootings. Basically, it's pretty fruitful material. A lot of people living here are in denial. It's a beautiful place, but we all live on the edge of this incredible earthquake fault and we never leave. From that premise, we worked our way into the story."
- John Carpenter, Escape Artist, American Cinematographer, Vol 77, Issue 9, Sep, 1996

"The states has become a right wing theocracy and they're deporting all the morally corrupt people - smokers, adulters, meat eaters - to LA island where a huge wall has been built to keep out South America. It's a Fantasy but what's happening now taken to the extreme."
- John Carpenter, Escape Artist, Starburst, Volume 19, Issue 1, September, 1996

"We decided early on that it would be to easy to attack the right. Although, since Reagan, there definitely have been shifts towards fascism in America. There's more racism. Unrestrained capitalism has taken over. Now we're going through an industrial death. A lot of this is reflected in what I do. But there's also the tyranny of the left. Which is absolutely outrageous. It's stupid. There's a lot of censorship from the left. Huge amounts. It's a shock, actually. All this political correctness. Those people are nuts. This whole business about not being able to smoke anywhere. I can't even comment. I can't even begin to tell you what I think about that. And it comes from the dear old left. What is it with these people. Do they think their shit doesn't stink?"
- John Carpenter, The Great Escape, Melody Maker, Sep 28, 1996

Kurt Russell on Escape From L.A.

"It's a pretty wild story, but it could happen. It's not as if what we portray couldn't exist in the future. It's unlikely, yet it could occur. The fun part of the whole exercise has been to mix the credible realities of the present with the credible realities of a possible future. It's a wide happenstance, but fun to inject Snake into that landscape. Rather than hands-on SF, Escape from LA is gentle SF. A big part of the fun of the original movie was to see recognizable landmarks used in a futuristic context. And it will be the same here too."
- Kurt Russell, Escape Artist, Starburst, Volume 19, Issue 1, September, 1996

"Actually when the studio read the script, they said, 'God, there's not a lot of humanity here. This guy is basically socially unfit.' I said, 'Well, have you seen the first movie?' They said, Yeah, but you're in a different time now.' "So we talked about trying to give Snake a cause. Finally, after many months, John just looked at me and said, 'You know what Snake would say about this?' Finally, that's what inspired us to go with the ending that we went with. I wrote it and and said to John and Debra, 'I think this is true to the character, but I don't know how audience is going to react.' I just feel it was true to what Snake would do in this movie. John said, 'It's exactly what Snake would do.'"
- Kurt Russell, Snake Eye, Starlog, Issue 232, Nov, 1996

"In my mind the president is a left-of-centre Democrat from the south. He's not a right-wing president. He's a left-of-centre president. Witness his convictions. His political correctness. His Christian coalition connections. He has a vision of LA going up in an earthquake. At that point, not only does he believe he's in touch with God, but also so does everyone else. He suggests a change in the constitution that makes him president for life, and he becomes a dictator. And, like all dictator, he begins to think he has a divine right to impose all these laws and regulations, force them through, ram ´em home. It's basically an exaggeration of what's happening in America today. Out of a desire to protect people, all kinds of individual civil liberties are being undermined. Politically correct laws are infringing on all kinds of individual freedoms. My view of it is that if you create enough laws, sooner or later everyone will end up in jail."
- Kurt Russell, The Great Escape, Melody Maker, Sep 28, 1996

"It opened up August 9th after the Olympics. It's gone down interestingly, it's doing ok. It's doing better than the original Escape from New York) did in it's initial release. I think it's going to go down exactly as the original did. It's a picture we made because over 15 years the audience for the other one grew. We meant to make a picture that would feel the same, that is to say that it would not be totally accepted at the time it comes out, because it's not a picture that is made that way, but I do think that the sensibility of the picture and the way the picture's made and the character in the piece are fairly unique and as time goes by I think that once again it will gain an audience. We were talking earlier about political correctness and stuff as in the movie, through the main character does not concern itself with but the background is sort of all about that. So the movie came out at an interesting period of time, it couldn't have picked a more politically incorrect time, it came out like immediately following the Olympics which was nicely enough, you know, in Atlanta in an American city and for all the reasons concerned it became kind of patriotic in a certain way, a good feeling of America winning gold medals and overcoming adversity, whatever, and our picture is I think seen by many as somewhat subversive. You either have a sense of humor or you don't - sometimes you need a little time to sit back and have a laugh."
- Kurt Russell, Seeing With Snake Eyes, Talking Pictures , Issue 18, Spring, 1997

Debra Hill on Escape From L.A.

"What's real funny is that the Republican primary we're having is quite similar to the political climate in our movie, so it's a very timely thing."
- Debra Hill, "Escape From L.A.", Fangoria, Issue 15, June, 1996

John Carpenter on Snake Plissken

"He just cares about moving on. He wants people to get out of his way and leave him alone. There's something inside Snake that can't be touched, that can't be compromised or corrupted. He's a cynical survivor who would shoot you or save your life with the same implacable indifference. His character embodies both the darker aspects of man's imperative to survive, as well as the heights to which humanity, at its best, aspires."
- John Carpenter, Unknown Source

"He's Americas perfect antihero. He's only involved in his own survival. He's kind of psychopath, in a way - he's like an old fashioned gunfighter"
- John Carpenter, Unknown Source

"Snake truly cares only about himself. He lives for the next 60 seconds and that's it. But he always comes through. On the surface he looks completely one-dimensional, but he's a complex character. It's impossible to tell what he's thinking or why."
- John Carpenter, For Russell, No Escape from His First Action Role, USA Today, April 6, 1996

"Snake is a cool character, and it's difficult to not really love him no matter what he does," Carpenter says. "His moral code is incorruptible. He only cares about the next 50 seconds. He doesn't care about killing you, he doesn't care about saving you. He just wants to move on. He doesn't care about a cause because it all bores him. He's been there and seen that. The first thing he says when he arrives and is confronted with his mission is, 'What do you want? I know you want something; you wouldn't bring me here if you didn't.' In a way, he's a world-weary character, but he's also extremely funny because he's so irreverent. He doesn't give a shit. That's my own alter ego, to which I will be forever true if I can."
- John Carpenter, To Live and Die in Escape from L.A., Fangoria, Issue 155, Aug 1996

"What makes a hero is a singleness of purpose... It's a very, very firm focus. That's what's always defined a hero in literature and in movies, and Snake has that. He's focusing on one thing: he's going to save his butt. He's a very bad, innocent man. Nothing can change him. He's incorruptible."
- John Carpenter, The Last Bad Boy, Sci-Fi Entertainment, Aug, 1996

"One of the things that women have said to me over the years about the movie, was that what got them really attracted to this character was the fact that he was inaccessible to them and he didn't try to get them" ... "Snake doesn't care about anything but staying alive for another sixty seconds. He doesn't care about hurting you. He doesn't care about helping you. He doesn't care about taking you to bed. All he cares about is moving on. And that kind of character, who is essentially self sufficient, is extremely attractive to females. So, we've never really given him the girl--although in this movie he gets very close. He actually has a pretty hot scene with Valeria Golino. You think that maybe if Snake had more time he might consider it. But things don't work out that way."
- John Carpenter - Escape from L.A: Snake Plissken is Back in John Carpenter's 'Cowboy Noir', Cinefantastique, Aug, 1996

"[Snake] hasn't changed a bit since the first film. He doesn't believe in anything, doesn't care about anything, doesn't want to hurt you or make love to you. All he cares about is the next 60 seconds. If you step on him? Don't do it. But if you leave him alone, you'll be all right. The character is a combination of my hatred of authority and a guy I knew in high school who went to Vietnam and came back completely changed. He became Snake. He had this inner strength, like now he knows what life is about. In a way, Snake is an innocent. He's forced into a mission that doesn't really cause anything bad to happen. Except at the end when he strikes a little blow for his own beliefs."
- John Carpenter, In 'ESCAPE,' Carpenter Sets His Rebellious Nature Free, USA Today, 12 Aug 1996

"Snake is a classic character. He's perfect in many ways. You don't need to mess with him on paper, and you don't mess with him in person! You don't know who he is or where he's come from. But you know he's the baddest guy in the baddest world, and he can take care of himself."
- John Carpenter, Escape Artist, Starburst 217, Vol 19, Issue 1, Sep, 1996

Russell and Carpenter were being photographed and interviewed to promote Paramount's Escape from LA. They were both puffing on big cigars. Someone asked: "You think Snake could get into smoking a big fancy cigar like that?" Carpenter replied: "Snake wouldn't care about how fancy a cigar is. He could get off on smoking a five-cent cigar."
- John Carpenter, Escape with Kurt Russell and John Carpenter, Smoke, Issue 9, Fall, 1996

"He's a guy I knew at high school who went to 'Nam and came back and had changed. He was Snake. He's also and archetypal Western character; he's a bad guy from their Old West, a hired gun. He's also a part of me that's distrustful and dislikes authority. He's also part of Kurt; Kurt's a tough guy. Snake is a sociopath and doesn't give a shit about anyone. All he cares about is living for the next 60 seconds. He doesn't want to hurt you, but don't screw with him. He'll get you back,"
- John Carpenter "Point Blank: The Total Film Interview, 1997"

Kurt Russell on Snake Plissken

"Snake Plissken is a survivor. He's not overly intelligent, like James Bond. He's not suave, just very self-assured - single-minded about getting from point A to point B in a straight line, even if he has to kill to do it. I had to adopt an animalistic way of thinking to play Snake. There is a very cynical attitude about him - he's very cold and capable. He's a very one-dimensional person, with faint innuendoes of emotion. The history of Snake Plissken could easily have been a film in itself. He was a WW3 hero who specialized in impossible missions. Decorated for spectacular feats behind enemy lines, he became a legend - a kind of super-soldier with a cobra tattooed on his chest. Seeing the government's hypocrisy and corruption after the war, Snake lost faith in the establishment. His disenchantment turned him to crime and the looting of a Federal Reserve Bank - a shattering failure. Arrested and under guard, Snake discovers the imminent crisis in New York is his only escape."
- Kurt Russell, Escape From New York, Prevue 45, Vol 2, Issue 5, May, 1981

After providing a synopsis of the movie, Naha interviews Kurt Russell, who says:
"... he is a very subtly toned guy. He's not a loud person. As we talked about what made Plissken tick we found ourselves coming up with a characterization that was very similar to what Clint Eastwood was doing. Snake, however, is more enigmatic than Leone's 'man with no name.' In fact, Snake is much more like Van Cleef was in those movies. He's not a very likable guy. He's not the kind of character who wants to be an anti-hero, he's forced into the role. Not only that, but he doesn't even want to be around people. Plissken disproves the adage 'no man is an island.' Snake is an island. He would be perfectly happy if he could live alone without ever having to deal with anybody."
  "Yet, I don't think he's insensitive to the needs of others in certain situations. If he was given a choice about helping somebody stay alive or watching him die, most times, I think, he'd take five minutes out of his life to keep the person alive. After that, however, he'd be gone. He wouldn't want a reward. He wouldn't want to talk to them. He's just an ultra-punk. When it comes to socialization, he just doesn't care."
  "Snake was being sent to New York as a prisoner, you must remember. He feels that he belongs there. He doesn't care about going. One place is as good as the other. Yet, at one point, when something goes wrong on the mission through no fault of his own and he's threatened by Hauk, he replies, 'How about a little human compassion?'"
  "He still holds onto the idea that there's hope for humanity, yet he dismisses the concept as being irrelevant to his lifestyle. He's an honest man, in his own way. He's not a bully. He doesn't want to get in anybody's way any more than he wants someone to get in his. He'd like the whole world to just piss off and leave him alone. . . . And this is the hero of the movie!"
  "Despite the fact that he's really a cold character, I think audiences like him. I think most people would love to be Snake Plissken if only for a day. They'd like to walk down the street and know that just being who they are, people aren't going to hassle them. They wouldn't go out looking for trouble, but they'd be self-assured enough to know that if trouble came their way, they could handle it. People get off on Snake's 'so what' attitude."
  "He isn't a hero but he's not a villain, either. Something happened to Snake when he was fighting World War III in Siberia. Whatever it was must have been ugly, so ugly that it turned him into a near automaton. At the end of the movie, it's very painful for him to crack the tiniest of smiles at a little joke he plays."
  "I think people will pick up on his sense of honor. Sure, he's mean but, getting back to his 'human compassion' line to Hauk, I think that's really the bottom line with Snake. He asks for but realizes that there isn't any human compassion. Ultra-punk."
  "The further adventures of Snake might be pretty tough to pull off. We've just left Snake after having blown up the world. That was his intention, anyway. He's just basically said to the powers-that-be, 'Blow it up. I don't care. It's going to happen anyway.' . . . "
  "I think that what will prove most interesting to future audiences is finding out that Snake is really a psychiatrist's nightmare. He's an island. He's not going to mellow with age. His thought process is simple: survive. Period. Look out for yourself, to hell with the rest of the world. He's the kind of guy who wouldn't give candy to a kid on the street. What makes the kid so special that he deserves the candy, right?"
- Kurt Russell, Escape from New York, Future Life, Issue 30, Nov, 1981

"Snake is an individual who is everyone's fantasy of a figure who no longer exists by that time [1997]--a person who says and does absolutely what he wants. He's an interesting character, and over the course of the film you'll come to find he's more than a one-dimensional, one-man destruction machine. My feeling is that he's just a guy who's getting though each day - he's a survivor. I don't know if there's been a character much like Snake before. I think the audience will pull for him because he's trying to accomplish something. I don't think he'll work his way into anybody's heart, though, as perhaps John Wayne did in The Searchers. He's a fairly cold person, but to me he's very sensitive. He's living in a colder society, and it's an imagined society as well. The fantasy of what the situation could be like in New York City in 1997 changes his whole outlook."
  "Snake is the kind of hero we haven't seen yet - he's an ex-World War III war hero. If you take a guy who's a hero of a war that hasn't been fought yet and put him in a situation we've never seen before, he certainly has to be different... he's basically a loner who doesn’t have a real relationship with any other character in the picture. He uses the other people because they have information he needs in order to find the President. Other than that he's not interested in anybody else."
- Kurt Russell, The Stars of 'Escape from New York,' Kurt Russell & Adrienne Barbeau: Survivors of the Future, Starlog, Issue 49, Aug, 1981

"I knew very early on that Snake was a really unique character. One of the studio people at the time , he said, ´You're talking about a character here who has no socially redeeming values. We don't start off with his wife being raped, his family being killed or his daughter being dragged underneath horses. We've got to explain why he is the way he is.´ "So John put in a scene where I rob a bank with a guy with a limb and the government officers guarding the bank shoot him just as I'm going back to save him. We put it together and said, ´We don't need this scene, we don't need to explain anything about this guy.´ The first time you see the character, I think you get the point. You don't get a guy who was born evil. You get a guy who became disillusioned, angry and disappointed to the point where he is now evil. He's bad news. Snake's a sociopath. He's beyond redemption. He couldn't care less. He'll shoot the president. He'll shoot a skinhead on the street. He'll shoot Che Guevara. He'll shoot Abe Lincoln. Doesn't make a difference to him. He's down the road."
- Kurt Russell, The Great Escape, Melody Maker, Sep 28, 1996

"I've been fortunate to be able to play a gamut of characters in different situations. Snake Plissken is the one who has been my favorite, I find him endlessly fascinating. He is a visceral character, one that you feel, not one you figure out. I feel he got to a point very early on his life where he realizes that it's about just making it another 60 seconds. Nobody has ever been as socially - Unredeemable as Snake Plissken"
- Kurt Russell "EFLA article by Cinema 1"

"I think he's unique. Most of these characters who are 'on the edge' as it were, doing all these disputable things, explain why their character got his wag. In other words they have a socially redeemable manner. What I like about Snake is that he doesn't. He's a sociopath. And it is a challenge to make people understand that, but at the same time to root for the guy to pull through"
- Kurt Russell, Unknown Source

[KR about why he likes the character]
"He was different. He was unique. He broke all the rules. He's just someone who we all share a desire to, somewhat, be like. He's a character that we never explain why he's the way he is and therefore it was up to me to make the audience accept him, and, at the end, appreciate what he had done and therefore pull for him."

So, he's like the mysterious hero who rides out of the west?

"Yes. I began to understand how he was an alter-ego of mine and I now feel very confidently that John and I make him up. We share him. I have fun playing that character because I have somebody to share him with. That's John. It’s like going on vacation with your girlfriend or your wife. It's so much more fun because you have somebody to share it with. When we're on the set, sharing Snake's reaction to things with John is really like being on vacation."

Isn't it also that through Snake, you get to do all kinds of things you really can't do in the real world?

"That's exactly it. I think his behavior represents a lot of the things a lot of us would like to be able to comfortably do. But in order to be like that, you have to be someone who's like him. In order to be that politically incorrect, that incorruptible, and that true to yourself, that fair, you have to have zero agenda and you have to not care about anybody or anything. That's what we lack. We care about each other. We care about things. God, I make movies because I care about trying to make a piece of entertainment. Snake could give a rat's ass about any of that. But that's admirable. Because of that, there's no way to corrupt him. I think that comes through. Also, I think that you sense there's a pathos there. He doesn't entirely like the way he is. He wishes that life didn't present itself to him the way it does. It's almost like opening a box and discovering something nobody else sees. He wishes he'd never opened the box, but it's been opened and he can never change that."

A lot has been made of how seamlessly you fit into the character again after sixteen years, including your original costume. But sixteen years have gone by since you last played Snake and that has to have some affect. What do you think are the subtle differences between the Snake Plissken then and the Snake Plissken today?

"I think he's a little more world weary. He hasn't changed his [behavior or] any of his views. If anything, he's gotten worse. But, I do think in this movie, instead of playing a joke on people, he actually takes fate into his own hands for purely mundane and selfish reasons because somebody calls him by a name he doesn't want to be called. He's basically a punk, but he's pure punk. I think when you meet people on the opposite scale philosophically, if they're true to themselves, we still like that person. That's how opposites attract. Plissken appeals to me because I think he really is the person that we see."

There was also a running gag in the movie referring to your height. "I though you’d be taller." Is that something you run into a lot?

"In Escape from New York Snake was a very famous criminal. In the ensuing sixteen years he's broken 27 moral codes and he's the most wanted man on the planet. He's the most popular figure on "the Police Channel." Everybody knows what he looks like, but they've been looking at him like people look at actors, on a twenty foot screen or a fifty foot screen. Through my life when people meet me, inevitably, after talking to me for a few minutes they can't help saying, "Gee, I though you'd be taller." So I thought, I've heard, "I thought you were dead . . . ," from Escape from New York. Why don't we put something in this movie that I'm going to hear anyway. I'm sure I'm going to be hearing, "I thought you'd be taller," but that way I won't know if they're talking about the movie or me."
- Kurt Russell, The Escape Artist: Kurt Russell Walks Tall in Hollywood, Venice, Aug, 1996

"In Snake Plissken's case, he's so true to himself that he's incorruptible. And in our movies, he's the only incorruptible human being that exists. The others are corruptible because of their idealism, because of their agenda, because of what they want. And they are extensions of our society. Snake doesn't care enough about you or me or anybody else to be corruptible. He can't offer anything, he doesn’t want anything."... [Later K.R.'s talking about Snake being patterned more after the type of character played by Lee Van Cleef than Clint Eastwood in Leone's spaghetti westerns] ... "Snake was a different character, because he was not a socially redeeming character," Russell remembers. "The trick was if we could infuse him with some moments of personal humanity. That was the important part, if you could find places where you say 'I know how that guy feels right now.' He really is supposed to be, as an individual, the baddest guy on the planet. If you would walk into a room, you wouldn't necessarily notice him, but you'd feel his presence there. Then, if you turned and saw him, you'd definitely know you were looking at someone who was cold, cold, cold. Dead soul.
   "Then when I talked with Lee Van Cleef, I couldn't help thinking of some of the great things he did in spaghetti westerns with Eastwood. To me, the voice is (his) sound. So I told John that. So the first scene (we shot) I'm running onto this train and I turn to this character and toss him these credit cards I've stolen, and I say to him, 'Congratulations, you're a millionaire.' And nobody could hear a sound. And John came over and said, 'Perfect. That’s the guy.'
   "The poor sound guy had to deal with the fact I was barely audible. But everything this guy says is an aside. Writing scenes for him is really fun; he's almost a character you could play silently. I think if you do things without words, it's more fun to watch. And Snake is a guy that the less he says, the better off he is. He has such a crude philosophy of life that whenever he speaks, it's generally with some sort of sardonic, acerbic sense of the ridiculous. But he's not a comedian--he puts nothing into it."
- Kurt Russell, Once a Snake... Kurt Russell Is Back in Snake's Clothes, Video Eyeball, Vol 2, Issue 6, 1996

 "…My character in Escape from New York ... somehow hit a nerve with audiences," Russell says. "I think people identify with his attitude, and his need for total freedom." Russell is the first to admit that some things haven't changed in 15 years, particularly the character of Snake Plissken. "That's the key to the movie. The rest of the world has changed, but Snake has not. His agenda is not going to change. He's incorruptible. He has no agenda. He doesn't want anything from anybody." That even explains why Snake seldom speaks -- and when he does, it's in a hoarse whisper. "Snake doesn't talk to people," Russell says. "Snake speaks to hear himself."
- Kurt Russell, Russell Doesn't Mind Your Delayed Reaction, Detroit News, 9 Aug 1996

"I don't think that Snake views himself as cool. He doesn't care what other people think of him," Kurt says. "I think he's world-weary. I think he's soulless. I think he's got a terrific sense of humor, but he's not a comedian. He just finds life to be such a joke, that other people are so myopic about their lives, they're devastated at moments because they all have an agenda except for him. Snake doesn't have an agenda. Ever. He'd just like to go through life, do what he wants, see what's next; but everyone has something they want and therefore they're all corruptible. He is incorruptible because he doesn't have that agenda. He doesn't care - about you, about me." Kurt's philosophy is simple. "I find that families naturally stay together if you're having a good time."
- Kurt Russell, Unknown Source

"On the surface, [Snake] looks completely one-dimensional, but I felt he was the most complex character I've ever played... It's impossible to tell what he's thinking or why. In the dark recesses of my mind, there's a part of me that would like to be like him, with no responsibility, no ties to anyone or anything - a dark, angry SOB."
- Kurt Russell, Urban Renewal, Cinescape, Aug 1996

Debra Hill on Snake Plissken

"I think Snake Plissken represents the other side of America. The unpatriotic patriotic side of America, The kind of character that we all wanna be, but are afraid to be. He's a guy who doesn't want to be told what to do. He's a guy who doesn't want us to legacy laws that take away personal freedoms. And that's why I think he's so cool. He's an anti-hero and I think that what makes America love him so much."
- Debra Hill, Return to Escape From New York featurette, 2003

Others on Snake Plissken

After interviewing Carpenter, Rahner reports:
"He made Snake his alter ego and based him on a guy he knew in high school, someone who "had absolute freedom and lived by a very strong code, but not God or country or family or anything. 'I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to help you. I just want to move on.' "Did he ever tell the guy from school? Yeah. His response: "Who, me? Are you kidding?"
- Mark Rahner, Snake attack: 'Escape from New York' hero back with a vengeance, Seattle Times, Tuesday, December 16, 2003

"When I was sending him to Atlantic City I had the idea that Snake might want to gamble, and Debra stopped me and said, 'Snake never has fun.' While there isn't exactly a "bible" to the character, as many TV shows have, O'Neill says there's still a key: "Life is just a cruel joke, and Snake is the punch line. But what makes him different from everyone else is that he knows."
- William O'Neill, Snake attack: 'Escape from New York' hero back with a vengeance, Seattle Times, Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Isaac Hayes on The Duke

"I know I had to be cool; still, I wanted audience empathy for the convicts., who were thrown  into  barbaric situation - we wanted our freedom! We wanted OUT!
-  Isaac Hayes, Escape From New York, Prevue 45, Vol 2, Issue 5, May, 1981

Adrienne Barbeau on Maggie

"I don't think my character is nasty, she is just keeps blowing people away! I guess you can say I'm sort of a 1997 gun-moll"
- Adrienne Barbeau, On the set for Escape From New York, Starlog, Issue 45, 1981

Escape From New York Quotes

Plissken: I don't give a fuck about your war... or your president.

President: God save me, and watch over you all.

Bob Hauk: I'm not a fool, Plissken!

S.D. "Snake" Plissken: Call me Snake.

Bob Hauk: Remember, once you're inside you're on your own.
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: Oh, you mean I can't count on you?
Bob Hauk: No.
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: Good!

Bob Hauk: It's the survival of the human race, Plissken. Something you don't give a shit about.

Girl in "Chock Full O'Nuts": You're a cop!
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: I'm an asshole...

The Duke: They sent in their best man, and when we roam out the 69th street bridge tomorrow, on our way to freedom, we're going to have their best man leading the way from the neck up!

Brain: They're savages, Mr. President.

Hauk: You going to kill me, Snake?
Plissken: Not now, I'm too tired.
[pause]
Plissken: Maybe later.

Bob Hauk: We'd make one hell of a team, Snake!
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: The name's Plissken!

[Last line]
The President: Good evening. Although I shall not be present at this historic summit meeting, I present this in the hope that our great nations may learn to live in peace...

Hauk: Plissken? Plissken what are you doing?
Plissken: Playing with myself, I'm going in.

[The offer: Snake gets the president, and he gets his freedom.]
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: Get a new president.
Hauk: That your answer?
S.D. "Snake" Plissken: Thinking about it.

Bob Hauk: I'm ready to kick your ass off of the world, war hero...

Escape From L.A. Quotes

[the Surgeon General gropes Taslima's breasts]
Surgeon General of Beverly Hills: My God, they're real!

Snake Plissken: I got just one question. Which one of you assholes gets to die trying to stick me?

President: What's it going to be, Plissken? Them or us?
Snake Plissken: I shut down the third world, you win they lose. I shut down America, they win you lose. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Snake Plissken: Sad story. You got a smoke?

[to the crowd]
Cuervo Jones: I give you the death of SNAKE PLISSKEN!

Snake Plissken: Let's say I come back and I have your black box. Who'll give me the antiode to the virus?
Malloy: A medical team will be standing by.
Snake Plissken: Neither one of you will be there?
Malloy: No.
Snake Plissken: Good!
[Snake opens fire on them with his machine gun, but to no effect]
Malloy: Ha! Figured you might try that, hotshot. That's why the first clip is loaded with blanks. Bye bye, Snake. Good luck!

Snake Plissken: Who are you?
President: I'm your President.

President: Man is too dumb to survive L.A.
Malloy: We're holograms, Plissken.

Malloy: For God sakes, don't do it Snake!
Snake Plissken: My name's Plissken.
[Pushes the button]

Hershe Las Palmas: What's in it for me?
Snake Plissken: I know that voice. You're Carjack Malone.

Snake Plissken: Got a smoke?
Malloy: The United States is a non-smoking nation! No smoking, no drugs, no alcohol, no women - unless you're married - no foul language, no red meat!
Snake Plissken: Land of the free.

Cuervo Jones: You might have survived Cleveland. You might have escaped from New York. But this is L.A., vato. And you're about to find out that this fucking city can kill anybody!

[From the trailer]
Snake Plissken: Your rules are really beginning to annoy me.

[last lines]
[after having shut down all machinery in the world]
Snake Plissken: Welcome to the human race.

Taslima: What are you doing here in LA?
Snake Plissken: Dying.

President: You'll be given a full pardon for every moral crime you've committed in the United States.
Snake Plissken: Sounds familiar.

Snake Plissken: You'd better hope I don't make it back!

Snake Plissken: [to the President] I can see you're real concerned about your daughter.

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

Duty Sergeant: What would you say to all of us who believed in you, who looked up to you, who thought you stood for right over wrong, good over evil? Be my guest. What do you have to say, Plissken?
Snake Plissken: Call me Snake.

[explaining the basketball rules to Snake]
Cuervo Jones: Two hoops, full court. Ten-second shot clock. Miss a shot, you get shot. Shot clock buzzer goes off before you shoot, you get shot. Two points for a basket, no three-point bullshit. All you gotta do is get ten points. That's it.
[pause]
Cuervo Jones: By the way, nobody's ever walked off that court alive. Nobody.

[facing four gunmen at once]
Snake Plissken: I'm gonna give you assholes a chance. What do you say we play a little Bangkok Rules?
[picks up a tin can. The four gunmen back up and get ready]
Snake Plissken: Nobody draws until this hits the ground.
[throws the can high into the air, then pulls his revolvers and kills all four gunmen before the can lands. Can hits the ground]
Snake Plissken: Draw.

Malloy: This is your last chance, hotshot.
Snake Plissken: For what?
Malloy: Freedom.
Snake Plissken: In America? That died a long time ago.

[seeing the crowd chanting Snake's name after he's beaten the basketball shots]
Map to the Stars Eddie: Gee, L.A. just loves a hero.

Snake Plissken: You know where I can find Cuervo Jones?
Skinhead: What do I look like a fuckin' tourist guide?