Escape from New York
1981
***½
Director: John Carpenter
Cast: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Harry Dean Stanton, Ernest Borgnine
Manhattan is a big walled prison and one man, Snake Plissken, has to go inside for a rescue mission in this wonderfully cynical and original look at the future (the past actually, as it's 1997). The pessimistic ending is the icing on the cake. A bit outdated but still fun.
