From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Box Office 4 DVD 5 Trivia 6 Soundtrack 7 See also 8 Notes 9 External links

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 the unsturdy platform it landed on crumbles, causing 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 accomplice 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").

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.

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."

The film was in development for over ten years with a script commissioned in 1985, written by screenwriter Coleman Luck. Carpenter would later describe the script as "too light, too campy". ^[1] The project remained dormant following that time until Carpenter and Kurt Russell got together to write with their long-time collaborator Debra Hill. Carpenter insists that it was Russell's persistence that allowed the film to be made since "Snake Plissken was a character he loved and wanted to play again". ^[2]

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

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 2006 edition features different cover art.

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• 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."

1. "Dawn!" – Stabbing Westward
2. "Sweat" – Tool
3. "The One" – White Zombie
4. "Cut Me Out" – Toadies
5. "Take Another" – Filter
6. "Get Up Again" – Flaw
7. "Pottery" – Butthole Surfers
8. "10 Seconds Down" – Sugar Ray
9. "Blame (L.A) Remix" - Gravity Kills
10. "Wind of Change" – Scorpions
11. "Professional Widow" – Tori Amos
12. "Paisley" – Ministry
13. "Fire In The Hole" – Orange 9mm
14. "Escape From The Prison Planet" – Clutch
15. "Et Tu Brute?" – CIV
16. "Riding Shotgun" - Anthrax
17. "Can't Even Breathe" - Deftones

• Escape from New York

• 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

v • d • e Films directed by John Carpenter
Feature films	Dark Star • Assault on Precinct 13 • Halloween • The Fog • Escape from New York • The Thing • Christine • Starman • Big Trouble in Little China • Prince of Darkness • They Live • Memoirs of an Invisible Man • In the Mouth of Madness • Village of the Damned • Escape from L.A. • Vampires • Ghosts of Mars • Psychopath
Made for television	Someone's Watching Me • Elvis • Body Bags • John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns • John Carpenter's Pro-Life