Escape From L.A.

Adventure, Science Fiction, Thriller, Action

Kurt Russell	Snake Plissken
A.J. Langer	Utopia
Steve Buscemi	Eddie
Georges Corraface	Cuervo Jones
Stacy Keach	Malloy
Michelle Forbes	Brazen
Cliff Robertson	President
Valeria Golino	Taslima
Pam Grier	Hershe Las Palmas
Jeff Imada	Saigon Shadow
Peter Fonda	Pipeline
Ina Romeo	Hooker
Peter Jason	Duty Sergeant
Jordan Baker	Police Anchor
Caroleen Feeney	Woman on Freeway
Paul Bartel	Congressman
Tom McNulty	Officer
Bruce Campbell	Surgeon General of Beverly Hills
Breckin Meyer	Surfer
Robert Carradine	Skinhead

Director	John Carpenter
Producer	Debra Hill; Kurt Russell
Writer	John Carpenter; Nick Castle; Debra Hill; Kurt Russell; David Hill
Cinematography	Gary B. Kibbe
Musician	Shirley Walker

Kurt Russell reprises his role as Snake Plissken, of the near-future thriller Escape from New York, in this reworking of that film's basic premise. Instead of New York being a maximum-security prison, this time it's L.A., which through the agency of earthquakes has become an island of the damned. This penal colony is where the film's future rulers, something very like the Moral Majority, send those deemed guilty of "moral crimes." But something has gone wrong in this new moral order, because the President's daughter has absconded to L.A. with a detonation device, and Snake is commandeered to retrieve it. The film's dark dystopia, with its satrical elements taking aim at our dwindling freedoms, and the eclipsing of democracy by narrow interests, are more the subject this time. As a result the action suffers, and the plot devices are sometimes weak and predictable. But just below the surface there is a coiled Snake ready to strike. Steve Buscemi's performance as a weasely hawker of L.A. tour maps is a standout, and the presence of Peter Fonda and Pam Grier adds to the fun. In fact, just the sight of Fonda surfing down the flooded corridor of Sunset Boulevard is reason enough to check this movie out. --Jim Gay