Escape From L.A.
Directed by	John Carpenter
Produced by	Debra Hill Kurt Russell
Written by	John Carpenter Debra Hill Kurt Russell
Starring	Kurt Russell Stacy Keach Steve Buscemi Peter Fonda Georges Corraface Cliff Robertson
Music by	John Carpenter Shirley Walker
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	August 9, 1996
Running time	101 min.
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000
Preceded by	Escape from New York
Followed by	Escape from New York (remake)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Escape From L.A. (also known as John Carpenter's Escape From L.A.) is a 1996 film directed by John Carpenter. The sequel to the action film Escape from New York, the film follows war hero Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell. It co-stars Steve Buscemi, Stacy Keach, Bruce Campbell and Pam Grier. Image File history File links Escape_From_LA.jpg impawards. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Debra Hill (November 10, 1950–March 7, 2005) was an American screenwriter and film producer who co-wrote the horror movie Halloween. ... Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. ... Stacy Keach (born Walter Stacy Keach, Jr. ... Steven Vincent Buscemi (born December 13, 1957) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American actor and film director. ... Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... European actor Georges Corraface has an international career in film and television, after many years in French theater - notably as a member of the famed Peter Brook Company. ... Cliff Robertson. ... Shirley Walker (April 10, 1945 - November 30, 2006) is a well-respected and renowned American film composer. ... Information in this article or section has not been verified against sources and may not be reliable. ... is the 221st day of the year (222nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ... Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... “Moving picture” redirects here. ... John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, film score composer and occasional actor. ... Look up Action film in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ... Information Nickname(s) Snake Gender Male Title Lieutenant Portrayed by Kurt Russell Created by John Carpenter S.D. Robert (Bob) Snake Plissken is a fictional character in John Carpenters films Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., played by Kurt Russell. ... Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. ... Steven Vincent Buscemi (born December 13, 1957) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American actor and film director. ... Stacy Keach (born Walter Stacy Keach, Jr. ... For the former baseball player of the same name, see Bruce Campbell (baseball). ... Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an iconic American actress. ...

Plot

In the year 2000, an earthquake reaching 9.6 magnitude hits the city of Los Angeles, causing it to be separated from the continental mainland by flooding the San Fernando Valley (now called the "San Fernando Sea") and turning it into an island from Malibu to Anaheim. Just prior to this, an American presidential candidate (played by Cliff Robertson), who is also an out-spoken Christian militant, had made a doomsday prediction of the disaster during his campaign, saying L.A. was a "city of sin", and that; "Like the mighty hand of God, waters will rise up and separate this sinful, sinful city, from our country." Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of stored energy in the Earths crust that creates seismic waves. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... San Fernando Valley from its southwestern edge. ... Location of Malibu in Los Angeles County, California Coordinates: , Country United States of America State California County Los Angeles Incorporated (city) 1991-03-28 [2] Government  - Mayor Ken Kearsley [1] Area  - City  100. ... Location of Anaheim within Orange County, California Coordinates: , Country United States State California County Orange Government  - Mayor Curt Pringle Area  - City  50. ... Cliff Robertson. ...

In the chaos that followed, the candidate is elected as the new President and a new constitutional amendment appoints him for life in office. This President declares that all people not conforming to the new "Moral America" laws he sets for the country (banning such things as smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages, eating red meat, owning firearms, profanity, and extramarital sex) will lose their citizenship and be deported to Los Angeles Island. Like New York City in Escape from New York, Los Angeles is turned into a penal colony of sorts. A containment wall is built around the shores of the mainland, armed guards and watchtowers are posted everywhere and those sent to the island are abolished indefinitely. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... A penis colony is a colony used to detain prisoners and generally use them for penal labor in an economically underdeveloped part of the states (usually colonial) territories, and on a far larger scale than a prison farm. ...

In 2013, Cuervo Jones (played by Georges Corraface), a Che Guevara-like Shining Path Peruvian terrorist, seduces the President's daughter, Utopia (played by A.J. Langer), via a holographic internet system and brainwashes her into stealing her father's remote control to the "Sword of Damocles" super weapon — a series of high-tech satellites capable of destroying electronics anywhere on the planet using a focused electromagnetic pulse. The President had threatened to use the system to render enemies of America "unable to function", and eventually dominate the world. Utopia gets away in an escape pod from Air Force Three and lands on L.A. Island to be with Cuervo. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... European actor Georges Corraface has an international career in film and television, after many years in French theater - notably as a member of the famed Peter Brook Company. ... Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (June 14,[1] 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che or just Che was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, medical doctor , political figure, and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. ... The Communist Party of Peru (Spanish: El Partido Comunista del Perú), more commonly known as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), is a Maoist guerrilla organization in Peru that launched the internal conflict in Peru in 1980. ... Allison Joy Langer (born 1974 May 22) is an American actress who has starred in various roles in TV and movies. ... Sword of Damocles can refer to: The sword suspended over the head of Damocles in a Greek myth. ... The term electromagnetic pulse (EMP) has the following meanings: electromagnetic radiation from an explosion (especially a nuclear explosion) or an intensely fluctuating magnetic field caused by Compton-recoil electrons and photoelectrons from photons scattered in the materials of the electronic or explosive device or in a surrounding medium. ...

With the satellites under his control, Cuervo promises to take back America with the assistance of an allied invasion force of Latin American nations that are standing by for his signal to attack. Cuervo threatens that if the President tries to stop him, he'll "pull the plug" on the country and demonstrates his power by blacking out the capital (which has been moved to the President's hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia). Cuervo also knows the secret "world code", (which is 666), that can activate all the satellites and knock out power for the entire Earth. Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... Lynchburg is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. ... The Number of the Beast is a concept from the Book of Revelation of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. ...

Meanwhile, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), is captured for another series of crimes and forced to go to the island as an exile. Upon his arrival for deportation, however, Snake is sent to meet the President and is offered the mission to retrieve the remote device. The President says he will give him a full pardon for all the crimes he has ever committed if he is successful. The President indicates he doesn't care if Utopia is returned or not, saying she is a traitor and "dead to me". Initially, Snake refuses to get involved, but to ensure his compliance, Snake was secretly infected with the man-made Plutoxin 7 virus which will kill him within hours. If he completes the mission, Snake will be given the antidote. Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. ...

Snake is given a submachine gun, a personal holographic projector, a thermal-camouflage overcoat, and a countdown clock for how long he has to live. The virus works fast, and Snake is given only nine hours to find the device and get out before he dies. Like New York, Los Angeles is now in ruins, and a hot-bed of crime. Snake sneaks into the city with a nuclear-powered mini submarine which he soon loses when an aftershock quake causes the sub to sink into the ocean.

Making his way across the island, Snake meets an array of characters, including those played by Steve Buscemi (as "Map to the Stars" Eddie, a swindler who makes a living selling interactive tours of L.A.), a knife-wielding skinhead played by Robert Carradine, Pam Grier (as Hershe Las Palmas, a.k.a. Carjack Malone - a transsexual and former partner of Snake, who also tells him the Plutoxin virus is a propaganda lie and won't kill him), Peter Fonda (as a hippie surfer), Valeria Golino (a lonely woman who falls in love with Snake, but is soon killed in a gang shooting), and also a cameo by Bruce Campbell (as the insane "Surgeon General of Beverly Hills"). Steven Vincent Buscemi (born December 13, 1957) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated American actor and film director. ... Robert Carradine as Lewis Skolnick Robert Carradine (born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. ... Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an iconic American actress. ... A transsexual (sometimes transexual) person establishes a permanent identity with the opposite gender to their assigned (usually at birth) sex. ... Peter Henry Fonda (born February 23, 1940) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Valeria Golino (October 22, 1966) is an Italian film and television actress. ... For the former baseball player of the same name, see Bruce Campbell (baseball). ...

Snake finally defeats Cuervo at his staging area of The Happy Kingdom By The Sea and gets hold of the remote control. Eventually, Snake escapes the island with Utopia and hands off the wrong remote to the President while Utopia is taken to the electric chair for execution. The Plutoxin 7 virus is revealed to be nothing more than a fast, hard hitting case of the flu, not in the least bit lethal to Snake. Thinking he has control of the satellites, the President tries to use it to stop a Cuban invasion force threatening Florida. Activating the remote, the President hears only Eddie's "Map to the Stars" intro over I Love L.A. instead. For other uses, see Disneyland (disambiguation). ... is a song written and recorded by Randy Newman. ...

In anger, the President orders Snake to be executed, but Snake had activated his hologram projector and the Snake that gets shot is an illusion. Snake activates the device, entering the world code, against pleas to stop. The illusory Snake disappears, and in reality he is a few hundred yards away where he finds a pack of cigarettes on the ground and lights one up. The cigarette box is labeled "American Spirit," he then says to himself; "Welcome to the human race."

Box Office

U.S. Box Office: $25,464,036

DVD

Paramount released two DVD editions of the film in 1998 and 2006. They are "barebones" releases, containing no special features except for the original theatrical trailer. The two major differences in the 2006 edition are altered cover artwork and an anamorphic presentation.

Trivia

• Snake is a legend in the underworld and there is a running gag in this film: whenever a character meets Snake for the first time they say they always imagined him being taller. In the previous Escape from New York, characters keep telling Snake they heard he was dead. In both the original movie and in the sequel, when in the possession of his government captors before being sent on his mission, he is continually addressed as "Plissken," to which he always replies, "Call me Snake." In both films, after accomplishing his mission, when the same individuals call him "Snake", he replies, "The name.. is Plissken."
• John Carpenter stated that the rough idea for the hang glider climax is taken from The Wizard of Oz.^{[citation needed]}
• Kurt Russell actually made the basketball shots depicted in the 'Shot Clock' sequence, including the full-court shot. He went to the trouble of practicing every day between takes up until the scene was shot so that special effects wouldn't be necessary.^{[citation needed]}
• The film mentions Disneyland Resort. Plissken asks "Is that what I think it is?" and points to a castle, to which Eddie replies "Yes. The Paris thing bankrupted them."
• The rock band Tool, whose song 'Sweat' can be heard as Snake wanders through the city near the beginning, also wrote a song calling for the destruction of Los Angeles by an earthquake.

The running gag is a popular hallmark of comic and serious forms of entertainment. ... The Wizard of Oz (film) redirects here. ... The Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California is a major recreational resort (owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company), and is home to two theme parks, three hotels, and a shopping and entertainment area. ... Tool is an American rock band, formed during 1990 in Los Angeles, California, that consists of drummer Danny Carey, bassist Justin Chancellor, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. ...

See also

• Escape from New York

Escape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. ...

External links

• The Escape From New York & L.A. Page - A Tribute to Snake Plissken
• Escape from L.A. at the Internet Movie Database
• Escape from L.A. at theofficialjohncarpenter.com
• DGA magazine interview with Carpenter