1981 Classic 'Escape from New York', Inspired by a Political Scandal, Ranked Among 'Best Action Movies of All Time'
Action movies sometimes get a bad reputation for being mindless entertainment, but if there's one director who proved that wasn't the case, it's John Carpenter.
Throughout the 1980s, Carpenter released several action movies that went far beyond the typical expectations of the genre, blending some real social commentary in with the car chases and shoot-outs.
Escape from New York was a perfect example of this. The film takes place in a dystopian version of the United States where Manhattan has been locked down and is being used as a maximum security prison to control skyrocketing crime rates amid a cold war with Russia and China.
Kurt Russell plays decorated war hero Snake Plissken, who is tasked with recovering the U.S. President after Air Force One crash-landed in Manhattan and he was taken hostage by criminals-turned-terrorists.
Escape from New York was famously inspired by the Watergate scandal in 1972, when U.S. President Richard Nixon was found to have been involved with a plot to plant listening devices in the Democratic National Committee during his re-election campaign. After lying about his involvement in the scandal, Nixon was forced to resign two years later.
Watergate was a huge turning point for American politics; not only did it massively reduce the public's trust in their politicians, but it also increased the divide between "them" and "us". This is the idea that Carpenter is building upon with Escape from New York, painting a bleak picture of what the United States could become.
Carpenter's films typically had some kind of deeper message behind the story, but rarely were they quite so brazen and self-evident as Escape from New York. The film blended flashy '80s action set pieces with a story that never takes itself too seriously but somehow manages to seem relevant and poignant all the same.
In the years since its release, Escape from New York has aged brilliantly. Carpenter's dark vision of the future has proven to be a disappointingly prophetic one, and the film has only benefited from the advantage of hindsight. Rolling Stone included it on their list of the 50Best Action Movies of All Time.
They wrote: "John Carpenter's gritty, dystopian B-movie didn't just give the world a truly unique antihero in Kurt Russell's reluctant savior. (No one has ever rocked an eyepatch onscreen better. No one.) The writer-director also gifted moviegoers with a funhouse version of Horror City as a playground of the damned, perfect for shoot-outs with punk crazies and chase scenes across mine-laden bridges."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 10:28 AM.