@@windsorkid7069 A girl does not wear a dress that hot for you not to look. She's either hoping you're distracted enough by them to let her get away with whatever she's trying to pull or that you'll just give her whatever asks you for.
Metal Gear Solid is indeed a massive homage to this film and Snake/Big Boss in particular so you are bang in the money there. Hideo Kojima loved this film.
Adrienne Barbeau (Maggie) was married to John Carpenter during this movie. She has also been in his film The Fog. Us old timers remember her from the 70's TV show "Maude".
A fun watch that still stands up after all these years. The Duke was played by musician/actor Isaac Hayes who won an Oscar in 1972 for the theme song to the movie “Shaft” and he also voiced Chef on “South Park” for several years.
Isaac Hayes is a terrible actor hah. Honestly, he was always the weakest part of this movie to me. The Duke as a character felt like he might have been more intimidating had it not been played by someone who mumbled through their lines so much and actually had some emotion on his face.
WOOOT I was looking for who might comment this! Cant believe it took that long to find. I for one can't see Mister Hayes, without thinking of the "Shaft" theme song-- You DAAAAM right!
Kurt Russell is on record as saying many times that of all the characters he’s portrayed Snake Plissken is his favourite of all. Also the Narrator at the beginning was an uncredited Jamie Lee Curtis. The girl that got dragged underground by the crazies (Season Hubley) was Kurt Russell’s partner and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeux) was John Carpenters partner.
@@taoist32 lol. I don’t if they were actually married. But who knows what the hell to say these days, some idiot snowflake somewhere will always get offended for someone else.
"Soldier" starring Kurt Russell is perhaps one of the best under-rated movies. There are a bunch of Kurt Russell characters easter eggs and takes place in the same universe as Blade Runner.
When this movie came out, Kurt Russell was still thought of as a goody-two-shoes Disney star. So it was quite a leap for him to suddenly come out as this Clint Eastwood-type action character, which made us want to see this movie even more despite our skepticism. Needless to say, he aced it and it paid off handsomely for him, giving him a whole new career and image. This movie was a blast to see in the theater when it was new, especially since it featured some of John Carpenter's coolest music yet. 12:00 -- The girl in "Chock Full O' Nuts" is Season Hubley, Kurt's wife at the time. The "I heard you were dead" running gag is from the John Wayne western "Big Jake." Harry Dean Stanton, who played Brain, was also Brett in "Alien." The Duke is played by soul superstar Isaac Hayes, who composed and performed the classic score for "Shaft." Cabbie is played by classic Hollywood star Ernest Borgnine.
In his review of the movie, Roger Ebert noted that Russell was apparently "so eager to shed his Disney image that he goes whole hog, with a three-day beard, an eye patch, and a growl so hoarse he seems to be moaning half the time." 🤭 🙂
Also of course Isaac Hayes voiced Chef all those years on Southpark and Earnest Borgnine I was watching The Dirty Dozen again yesterday and he can literally play any role and emotion he was a real Hollywood gem , thanks
I remember when it came out and I was thinking "that's Kurt Russell? Dexter Reilly? As a tough guy?" I didn't think it'd work, but glad I was proved wrong!😁
Don’t forget Lee Van Cleef as Hauk, the actor from many Westerns including playing Angel Eyes “The Bad” in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Also Donald Pleasance as the Presdient, from the Halloween Series and SEN in George Lucas’ first film, THX-1138.
Prince of Darkness is a cult John Carpenter movie...some very memorable scenes. Also Snake Plissken was/is my idol, genuinely surprised to see you reacting to this movie!
To answer the Kojima question. Yes Snake Plisken WAS the inspiration for Solid Snake. In MGS 2 when Ryden finds him he uses the cover name "Iroquis Plisken".
and John Carpenter said that he actually met Kojima once and years later when john was asked, did you sue kojima, carpenter's response was "no, he seemed like a nice guy"
@@SnappingTurtle801 remake is okay, just rewatched it the other day. Came out in 2005 and surprisingly how much our cellphones have been engrained in our culture.
I highly recommend Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13"(1976), "The Fog" (1980) "Christine"(1983) "Starman"(1984), "Big Trouble in Little China"(1986), "Prince of Darkness"(1987) and "In the Mouth of Madness"(1994). You can't go wrong with any of them along with the ones you've already reacted to and it just shows how great of a director he really is.
John Carpenter from 1976 to 1988 had one of the best runs of any director in movie history. 10 movies in 13 years and literally not a single weak one among them. And he even did some TV movies in between because who needs sleep?
"The Warriors" (1979) directed by Walter Hill is another great alternative New York movie. It's a classic action/chase movie - also has a superb soundtrack. PS - Really enjoy your reactions (Escape From LA is really campy/cheesy and does not live up to this movie)
I was thinking the Warriors too. Though I think Escape from LA is very fun and the original is more campy than people realize. Snake is an over the top gruff antihero, almost a parody.
@@namelessjedi2242 I've long wanted an origin story to Snake. He always talks about these missions that changed him like in this with Brain in Kansas City or Cleveland. Always though a pre-quel to Escape from New York & LA would be pretty cool. In a sense, what turned Snake into Snake.
The Fog has Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis (and the girl from Halloween who spilled the butter and had to wash her shirt) and Janet Leigh (from Psycho). In this movie, the girl who Snake meets first who gets dragged underground is Season Hubley who is Kurt Russell's first wife.
10:27 The late great Ernest Borgnine. You should check out some of his movies starting with Marty (1955), The Wild Bunch (1968), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and a bunch of others way too many to name.
It was easier to imagine New York as a prison back in 1981. The city had been bankrupt in the '70s and the crime rates for the country as a whole, and NYC in particular, were very high. Muggings were a pretty common occurrence.
I was living in the Bronx in 1981. NYC had the worst year for murders in the city's history. Based proportionally on the population at the time, it is still the most violent year ever. One murder occured EVERY single day, for the entire year.
@@athos1974 You're too kind. At its height, we were up to 2500 a year, or about SIX a day, much more than just one a day, which is about where we are now (462 in 2020). And 2020 was a historic low year for crime. I almost miss the shi**y days of the 70s and 80s. 🤘🤘
@@tenchraven Sure, but solving isn't the same as committing. I've been in NYC since 1977, and I was just quoting stats from the City's records. I think it was 2600 reported murders in '77 or '78, but I could be off by a year or two. And man, living in the BRONX in '81, other than the birth of Hip Hop and the amazing grafitti, yeah, there was probably a murder a day just in his neighborhood. I grew up on Roosevelt Island. Other than filming 1990: The Bronx Warriors there (really, the Citicorp building is in the Bronx?!?🤦), it was a far cry from Forte Apache.
I hope that you'll watch Cronenberg's The Fly soon. I remember it getting a lot of votes on a poll recently, it is a criminally underrated film and has Jeff Goldblum giving what is arguably the best performance of his career.
So something that gets missed a lot, the green wireframe outline of the city near the beginning when he glides in? They didn't have the computer power to do that when this movie was made, they took a model of new york city and covered it in glow in the dark tape to get that effect
I love you two. One of the few reaction teams that aren't obnoxious, exaggerated, and obtuse. You guys edit with care to do tribute to the films theme, offer wonderful insight AFTER the film - rather than those who talk over 90% of the dialogue and miss most everything, and you always look for what the film does great - instead of trashing it for everything it isn't. You're the only pair I'll actually contribute patreon dollars to, because it's worth it! Cheers! 🙂
Fun fact: James Cameron served as the visual effects supervisor for this film!! It was one of his early breaks in the industry before he launched his own career a few years later with The Terminator!
Love their reactions, but they really made me feel old when they didn't recognize Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, or Lee Van Cleef. Some of my favorite older Kurt Russell movies: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the Strongest Man in the World, Used Cars, Overboard, and Captain Ron.
My guess is you’re 67 years old… I’m 51. That list of Kurt Russel flicks ages you my friend! Lol Let me know if I’m wrong… In the 1982 movie Swamp Thing there’s a scene when Adrienne Barbeau comes up from under the water and her wet shirt contours her breasts in a way that forever changed me at 11-years old into a man forever looking for those same breasts…
Seeing this thumbnail gave me chills- when I was probably 7 or 8 (1982 or 1983), there was the first video rental store where I lived- no one owned a VHS player, you had to rent it along with the movies. We'd go in every once in a while to rent movies, and I would always see this movie on the shelf- the toppling statue of liberty head- and I would always beg my parents to rent it, even though I had no idea (and still have no idea) what this movie was about. I remember thinking as a kid, when I'm an adult I'm going to rent that movie.... and over the years I have thought about that but never knew what the movie was actually called! and then here it is, you seriously have no idea how crazy it was to see that almost 40 years later. I'll watch the reaction even though i've STILL never seen it haha! sorry for the rambling story, but that made my night :).
"The Fog" of course, guys. Carpenter´s film. He says, himself, it´s not one of his faves, but for us fans it´s a classic. We love it. One of his best soundtracks also.
Yes; this Snake is the inspiration for Solid Snake. You must remember; I grew up watching Russell on a bunch of teen Disney movie, like The Computer Wears Sneakers. So this was the first time seeing him as an adult action star. Best movie ever
YES! After learning that, it occurred to me that the look and feel of the first Terminator seems inspired by Escape from New York. It would make a lot of sense -- Cameron's head was buried in the work he was doing on Escape from New York not long before he developed Terminator as his own original idea.
The moment where the girl in Choc Full O' Nuts gets pulled through the floor is very similar to a moment in Aliens, made by James Cameron five years later.
@@Xoferif Ah yes! I actually thought "Oh no, she's dying a Hudson death!" when I first saw Escape NYC some years back (I had seen Aliens many times prior).
Thank you both so so much for wathing this. This was one of those movies I watched with my friends as teenagers back in the 80's and became an iconic movie for us.
27:36 Mad Max came first, 1979. Escape from New York was 1981. Though Carpenter said he came up with the concept after he made Assault on Precinct 13, 1976.
NEXT MUST BE "Big Trouble in little China" - its STILL the most entertaining asian fantasy action flick out there till today. Perfect Cast - Kurt Russel again - PURE LOVE !!! AND BTW: dont watch the sequel in "L.A." - its so bad!
You want to see a lovable Ernest Borgnine (Cabbie) tug at your heartstrings? Watch him in "Marty" (1955). His performance in that movie won him an Academy Award.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned in the comments so far, I'll point out that Season Hubley (the woman in Chock Full O' Nuts who got dragged off by the sewer people), was married to Kurt Russell at that time. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis did the voice-over narration about Manhattan at the start of the film. Carpenter has a few regulars that show up in many of his films.
Donald Pleasence (the President) was another of his regulars, he was Dr. Loomis in 'Halloween' (the first movie, which he directed, and all the others in the franchise) and the Priest in 'Prince of Darkness'.
3:25, there is an alternate opening scene that's available on the BLU Ray and Collectors Edition DVD that shows Snake and a friend named Tyler robbed the US Federal Reserve. As soon as they make their getaway, Tyler gets shot by the cops. Refusing to give up, Tyler is shot dead, while Snake feels saddened by his friends death.
When I was a kid, I wanted a Snake Plissken action figure for my birthday. My Mom just gave me a He-man with an eye patch painted on. I have to say, it worked!
You may have noticed the guy named brain, is Harry Dean Stanton who played in the first original movie Alien, and was the second one to be killed by the alien. Cabbie was played by Earnest Borgnine who is the voice of Captain Mermaid on Sponge Bob Square Pants,and Adrian Barbeau who played Maggie was a fairly well know actor in the 1970's and 80's. And of course Donald Plesance who played the president and played in the first original Halloween movie too. And lee Van Cleef who played with Clint Eastwood in those early spaghetti westerns, played Bob Halk, who made that deal with Pliskin.
Snake Plissken was one of the inspirations for Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games, Solid Snake even uses the alias Iroquois Pliskin in reference to the hero of this movie. The sequel Escape from LA takes the crazy up to Bond Super Villain levels featuring directed EMP satellite weaponry and killer plastic surgeons. Have Fun!
Yeah I played Metal Gear first before I had ever seen Escape from New York. When I saw the eye patch and his name being Snake Plissken I instantly knew Kojima was inspired by this.
This movie was filmed in St.Louis, MO and East St. Louis., IL. It really looked like that. The movie theater where he meets Cabbie is the Fox Theatre. It's been renovated since then.
My cousin's and I used to sneak into R-rated movies all the time when I was a kid. And I remember going to see this movie back in 81 when I was 11. Absolutely one of my all time favorites. I love the fact that you guys went in completely blind with no knowledge of what the plot was.
Totally and SAME! I remember when we snuck into Stripes for the second time, and the theater manager literally took us by the collars of our shirts and herded us out of the theater lol
Kurt Russell plays a character named Snake and he only has one eye, so he is literally a "one eyed snake". I wonder if that was intentional on Carpenter's part or just a funny coincidence?
40 years later, I can still recite the opening words to this film. Fyi, this was shot in St. Louis, not NYC. The only real shot of Manhattan was when you saw the Statue of Liberty in the beginning.
@@davestang5454 Agreed, but St. Louis had just had a fire that burned up six square blocks, leaving it looking very war-torn. Toronto, while today there are sections specifically made to look like NYC streets (to attract the film industry), in 1983, that wasn't the case as much as today. 🙂🤘
As a 50 year old who has seen this movie countless times since my youth, and very familiar and enamored with this flick, I found these reactions hilarious, and very interesting from a sociological view. The movie is a masterpiece. Kudos to dude for seeing the influence on Metal Gear’s Snake…
So glad u did this! One of my favorite Carpenter films. If you want to close out the Carpenter/ Russell trilogy, I think you would enjoy "Big Trouble in Little China" for sure.
I wonder if you realize "The Duke" is "Chef" from south park, a 70s soul/R&B singer, he also sang the theme song to Shaft the movie and was also in "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" which is a fun movie you might try.
The scene with the fight in the ring is interesting. Snake's opponent was played by Ox Baker, a big pro wrestler at the time. Baker didn't fully understand the concept of stunt fighting and didn't pull his punches. As a consequence, some of the footage where Snake is knocked to his knees is real. At some point, Kurt Russell got mad. While he was on the mat with Baker standing over him, Russell reached up and punched Baker in the groin. After that, Baker started doing more stunt fighting that didn't hurt Russell.
The great Ernest Borgnine plays the taxi driver. You should check out the Poseidon Adventure, he and Gene Hackman were fantastic. James Cameron worked on some of the effects. Of course before he hit it big.
Snake: "I wanna meet this TBR Schmitt." Cabbie: "You can't meet TBR Schmitt! Are you crazy? Nobody gets to meet TBR. You meet him once and then you're dead!"
I love this flic ! I dressed like Snake for about 6 yrs until I was arrested foe DUI. I was in a couple of metal bands, at the time,,, I cut off the tops of a pair Dingo boots and sewed them on top of another pair.
Awesome video, guys. It was so much fun watching one of my favorite movies with you two. The audio commentary that John Carpenter & Kurt Russell recorded in 1994--not for DVD mind you, but for laserdisc--can be heard on UA-cam and is classic. It's two buddies smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and waiting for their ex-wives who they're quite fond of still to come into the movie. Carpenter was married to Adrienne Barbeau and Russell to Season Hubley. Something I don't think I noticed until watching your video is how in the climax, Snake refuses to follow Brain's map for crossing the minefield. If I was driving and someone named Brain was telling me where mines were hidden I'd probably listen to him. Snake on the other hand has no friends and figures if he's going to die, he's going to die walking his own path, not Brain's, who has already double-crossed him two or three times.
James Cameron worked on this film, he worked on the visual effects team and did some of the matte artwork like the background image of Manhattan island.
The glider scene is awesome. They couldn't afford a computer powerful enough to render the entire city.. so they just painted a "wireframe" on a model of the city and filmed it with a blacklight so it glows.
6:17 He absolutely was. Hideo Kojima was/is a huge fan of American (and really all) cinema. Even the box art for the original Metal Gear has a picture of Kyle Reese from the Terminator purporting to be Snake!
Oh, hell yes. I haven't even watched it yet but the fact that you did this amazing cult film, oh, hell yes. You are my favorite reactors, 4ever. And Adrienne Barbeau is Goddamn everything. Do The Fog sometime 🤘
Just in case no one said this earlier, this was actually filmed in New York and they were able to shut power off to several blocks at a time for filming. Something that is never happened again.
I was 16 when this first came out in theaters & during the ending sequence everybody in the theater went crazy we were all on our feet cheering & screaming "right on dude" 🤟
You are right - Plissken was the main inspiration for Solid Snake from MGS. Also in MGS2 Snake uses a codename "Plisskin". I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. It has such good atmosphere and characters. The sequel - Escape from LA has a veeeery bad reputation, but I like it. It's more about over the top 90's schlock and action than the first one.
Great to see this, I had forgotten what a good cast this had. Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Dean Stanton and not forgetting Donald Pleasance. If you like these kind of directors you should check out Sam Peckinpah. Borgy in The Wild Bunch. One of the craziest endings to a film.
They actually got a few block radius of New York that was condemned and was going to be demolished they shot the majority of this scenes there . Also they wet down the streets for extra effect which has become the standard for action and adventure movies. Got to love John Carpenter.
Your impressions and final thoughts very much echo mine. It's considered a cult classic, but I mostly enjoy it every now and then for the characters and the mood that Carpenter masterfully creates with music, pacing and on a visual level. To me it's a perfect movie to run in the background late at night while you are maybe doing something else (in-between). The overall concept is indeed simple, yet interesting. Speaking of another Carpenter movie with a simple concept, cool music and characters: I highly recommend watching his often overlooked movie Assault on Precinct 13.
The legend Snake Plissken! Another great and atmospheric movie by John Carpenter!
Thank you all for the support!
Next.. Shadow Moses infiltration 6:04
Camp Camp. Dante Basco’s character is based on Snake too
There's an extensive deleted scene that shows the Federal Reserve heist and Snake's capture by the police.
The I heard you were dead thing might be a reference to an old John Wayne movie Big Jake.
@@windsorkid7069 A girl does not wear a dress that hot for you not to look. She's either hoping you're distracted enough by them to let her get away with whatever she's trying to pull or that you'll just give her whatever asks you for.
Big Trouble in Little China is a must watch starring Kurt Russell and made by John Carpenter
Jack Burton is my favorite movie character of all time.
They've watch that already
Hard second on Big Trouble in Little China! It's SO GOOD!
My Bad. I think that might have been another reaction channel that watched that, silly me😬😁
I had to write an essay review on the movie. i have no idea where to start lol
Metal Gear Solid is indeed a massive homage to this film and Snake/Big Boss in particular so you are bang in the money there. Hideo Kojima loved this film.
Don’t sleep on Dante Basco in Camp Camp, playing a character based on snake too!
Hence Iroquois Pliskin, or Snake.
Even the plot was like metal gear where he rescues the president
He even kept foxdie
If you know, you know
Its an out and out copy, the guy who makes metal gear games has no original ideas of his own, think about it
Adrienne Barbeau (Maggie) was married to John Carpenter during this movie. She has also been in his film The Fog. Us old timers remember her from the 70's TV show "Maude".
And Swamp Thing.
More trivia: She was the voice of the computer in "The Thing."
The only other woman in the movie, Season Hubley, the girl who got pulled through the floor, was Kurt Russel's wife at the time.
Jamie Lee Curtis did the opening narration
Adrienne Barbeau was also in the first Cannonball Run movie.
12:05 "Girl in Chock Full O'Nuts" is Season Hubley, she was married to Kurt Russel during this movie.
A fun watch that still stands up after all these years. The Duke was played by musician/actor Isaac Hayes who won an Oscar in 1972 for the theme song to the movie “Shaft” and he also voiced Chef on “South Park” for several years.
Isaac Hayes is a terrible actor hah. Honestly, he was always the weakest part of this movie to me. The Duke as a character felt like he might have been more intimidating had it not been played by someone who mumbled through their lines so much and actually had some emotion on his face.
WOOOT I was looking for who might comment this! Cant believe it took that long to find. I for one can't see Mister Hayes, without thinking of the "Shaft" theme song-- You DAAAAM right!
Kurt Russell is on record as saying many times that of all the characters he’s portrayed Snake Plissken is his favourite of all.
Also the Narrator at the beginning was an uncredited Jamie Lee Curtis. The girl that got dragged underground by the crazies (Season Hubley) was Kurt Russell’s partner and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeux) was John Carpenters partner.
Escape From New York Deleted Original Opening "Remastered" (Plus Alternate Takes)
ua-cam.com/video/BsLT-zRWWdQ/v-deo.html
It’s ok to call them wives.
@@taoist32 lol. I don’t if they were actually married. But who knows what the hell to say these days, some idiot snowflake somewhere will always get offended for someone else.
@@damiangardiner147 They were. And FYI, pulling the snowflake defense for something as trivial as this makes you sound ridiculous.
@@DerMoerpler thanks for that Captain Obvious. Of course it’s ridiculous… so is pretty much everything nowadays
"Soldier" starring Kurt Russell is perhaps one of the best under-rated movies. There are a bunch of Kurt Russell characters easter eggs and takes place in the same universe as Blade Runner.
I saw Soldier with a highschool friend in i think 96 or 97, that movie was badass.Similar to the Mazerunner universe.
When this movie came out, Kurt Russell was still thought of as a goody-two-shoes Disney star. So it was quite a leap for him to suddenly come out as this Clint Eastwood-type action character, which made us want to see this movie even more despite our skepticism. Needless to say, he aced it and it paid off handsomely for him, giving him a whole new career and image. This movie was a blast to see in the theater when it was new, especially since it featured some of John Carpenter's coolest music yet.
12:00 -- The girl in "Chock Full O' Nuts" is Season Hubley, Kurt's wife at the time.
The "I heard you were dead" running gag is from the John Wayne western "Big Jake."
Harry Dean Stanton, who played Brain, was also Brett in "Alien."
The Duke is played by soul superstar Isaac Hayes, who composed and performed the classic score for "Shaft."
Cabbie is played by classic Hollywood star Ernest Borgnine.
In his review of the movie, Roger Ebert noted that Russell was apparently "so eager to shed his Disney image that he goes whole hog, with a three-day beard, an eye patch, and a growl so hoarse he seems to be moaning half the time." 🤭 🙂
Also of course Isaac Hayes voiced Chef all those years on Southpark and Earnest Borgnine I was watching The Dirty Dozen again yesterday and he can literally play any role and emotion he was a real Hollywood gem , thanks
I remember when it came out and I was thinking "that's Kurt Russell? Dexter Reilly? As a tough guy?" I didn't think it'd work, but glad I was proved wrong!😁
There it is!✌🏻👊🏻
Don’t forget Lee Van Cleef as Hauk, the actor from many Westerns including playing Angel Eyes “The Bad” in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Also Donald Pleasance as the Presdient, from the Halloween Series and SEN in George Lucas’ first film, THX-1138.
Everyone who tells Snake, "I thought you were dead," dies.
Important safety tip👍
I'll be right back...
My favorite line is when Snake asks - The president of what?
mine too
classic
"I don't give a fuck about your war or your President."
@@mrtin9128
" the president of what"....
100%
Prince of Darkness is a cult John Carpenter movie...some very memorable scenes. Also Snake Plissken was/is my idol, genuinely surprised to see you reacting to this movie!
I second Prince of Darkness.
Yes, they need to watch Prince of Darkness.
All John Carpenter movies are "cult" movies...
A classic
Prince of Darkness us one of the few atmospheric horror movies that actually scared me
To answer the Kojima question. Yes Snake Plisken WAS the inspiration for Solid Snake. In MGS 2 when Ryden finds him he uses the cover name "Iroquis Plisken".
and John Carpenter said that he actually met Kojima once and years later when john was asked, did you sue kojima, carpenter's response was "no, he seemed like a nice guy"
Assault on Precinct 13 is personally my favorite Carpenter film. The grit and realism and the score and the cinematography
Don't forget that music, Da da da da da dum, da da da da da dum, (lower), da da da da da dum, (higher), da da da da da dum.
Ghosts Mars is the sci-fi version. Not as good, but still a lot of fun for a Sunday afternoon ☺️
Assault on Precinct 13 us essentially a zombie siege movie without zombies. Great film.
@ Adam Freedman, the original. The remake was ok though.
@@SnappingTurtle801 remake is okay, just rewatched it the other day. Came out in 2005 and surprisingly how much our cellphones have been engrained in our culture.
I highly recommend Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13"(1976), "The Fog" (1980) "Christine"(1983) "Starman"(1984), "Big Trouble in Little China"(1986), "Prince of Darkness"(1987) and "In the Mouth of Madness"(1994). You can't go wrong with any of them along with the ones you've already reacted to and it just shows how great of a director he really is.
I second that!
John Carpenter from 1976 to 1988 had one of the best runs of any director in movie history. 10 movies in 13 years and literally not a single weak one among them. And he even did some TV movies in between because who needs sleep?
He needs to direct another movie ASAP
You guys should watch The Poseidon Adventure from 1972 for another stellar performance from Ernest Borgnine who played Cabbie.
Another great Ernest Borgnine performance was in Emperor of the North. Just a side note he was the voice of Mermaid Man in SpongeBob
Or "Marty" in a very different genre.
One of my favorite actors of his era
and Super Fuzz
Don't forget The Wild Bunch.
Yeah we all loved Cabbie! RIP Ernest Borgnine. The narrator in the beginning is Jamie Lee Curtis.
"The Warriors" (1979) directed by Walter Hill is another great alternative New York movie. It's a classic action/chase movie - also has a superb soundtrack.
PS - Really enjoy your reactions (Escape From LA is really campy/cheesy and does not live up to this movie)
I was thinking the Warriors too. Though I think Escape from LA is very fun and the original is more campy than people realize. Snake is an over the top gruff antihero, almost a parody.
@@namelessjedi2242 I've long wanted an origin story to Snake. He always talks about these missions that changed him like in this with Brain in Kansas City or Cleveland. Always though a pre-quel to Escape from New York & LA would be pretty cool. In a sense, what turned Snake into Snake.
"Warriors- come out and play-ay!"
Escape from LA is twice as good as this..totally different vibe.
Love that film.
I would highly recommend Assault on Precinct 13 and The Fog as early John Carpenter classics
assault on precinct 13 is a must! not the remake though.
All before mouth of madness
The Fog is underrated
The Fog has Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis (and the girl from Halloween who spilled the butter and had to wash her shirt) and Janet Leigh (from Psycho). In this movie, the girl who Snake meets first who gets dragged underground is Season Hubley who is Kurt Russell's first wife.
Someday hopefully you’ll get around to “Starman “ one of Carpenters best! Thanks again
That the one with Jeff Bridges?
@@oduinn7948 yes and Karen Allen in her best role I think
Epic. Do it
Yes Starman!
Yes the love that flick... the romance movie of the bunch
4:58, Lee Van Cleef starred in the Man With No Name Trilogy. He passed away in 1989 from Lung Cancer at the age of 64.
He was also in " The good , the bad and the ugly "
Speaking of spaghetti westerns, he was also Sartana
And of course he was the only occidental American ever to earn the title of "ninja"
@@guitarman8462 " The good , the bad and the ugly " WAS PART of the the Man With No Name Trilogy "not also in".
@@walboyfredo6025 he was also in : Escape From New York
6:22, DUDE HE IS THE INSPIRATION FOR SOLID SNAKE!
AHHHHHH YEEEEAAAAH
I just saw the thumbnail and the epic Carpenter soundtrack started playing in my head!
10:27 The late great Ernest Borgnine. You should check out some of his movies starting with Marty (1955), The Wild Bunch (1968), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), and a bunch of others way too many to name.
Don't forget The Dirty Dozen
McHale’s Navy 😉
Ice Station Zebra
It was easier to imagine New York as a prison back in 1981. The city had been bankrupt in the '70s and the crime rates for the country as a whole, and NYC in particular, were very high. Muggings were a pretty common occurrence.
I was living in the Bronx in 1981.
NYC had the worst year for murders in the city's history. Based proportionally on the population at the time, it is still the most violent year ever.
One murder occured EVERY single day, for the entire year.
@@athos1974 You're too kind. At its height, we were up to 2500 a year, or about SIX a day, much more than just one a day, which is about where we are now (462 in 2020).
And 2020 was a historic low year for crime.
I almost miss the shi**y days of the 70s and 80s.
🤘🤘
@@tenchraven Sure, but solving isn't the same as committing. I've been in NYC since 1977, and I was just quoting stats from the City's records.
I think it was 2600 reported murders in '77 or '78, but I could be off by a year or two.
And man, living in the BRONX in '81, other than the birth of Hip Hop and the amazing grafitti, yeah, there was probably a murder a day just in his neighborhood.
I grew up on Roosevelt Island. Other than filming 1990: The Bronx Warriors there (really, the Citicorp building is in the Bronx?!?🤦), it was a far cry from Forte Apache.
@@MrRezRising Were most of those mob related?
@@LA_HA Nope.
I hope that you'll watch Cronenberg's The Fly soon. I remember it getting a lot of votes on a poll recently, it is a criminally underrated film and has Jeff Goldblum giving what is arguably the best performance of his career.
Hell yes, The Fly, The Thing and The Blob are the best horror remakes ever made. The first two also probably have the best practical effects
So something that gets missed a lot, the green wireframe outline of the city near the beginning when he glides in? They didn't have the computer power to do that when this movie was made, they took a model of new york city and covered it in glow in the dark tape to get that effect
Even better: James Cameron was the guy who did it.
I’ve seen this about 40 times. Never gets old
Glad I’m not the only one!
It says a lot about Carpenters directing talent that this is only my like 5th favorite movie of his and it's still awesome.
I love you two. One of the few reaction teams that aren't obnoxious, exaggerated, and obtuse. You guys edit with care to do tribute to the films theme, offer wonderful insight AFTER the film - rather than those who talk over 90% of the dialogue and miss most everything, and you always look for what the film does great - instead of trashing it for everything it isn't.
You're the only pair I'll actually contribute patreon dollars to, because it's worth it! Cheers! 🙂
Harry Dean Stanton (RIP) as Brain, loved that guy, I think my favorite role of his was in Repo Man.
You may also recognize him from his brief scene as the janitor with Mark Ruffalo in the first Avengers movie. "Well son, you've got a condition."
He also appears in the movie Alien as Brett.
"The life of a repo man is always intense."
And in "Christine" also by John Carpenter...
And Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders
Hell yes! Ya'll should really watch Big Touble in Little China.
Absolutely. Classic action comedy romp.
Love that film
Read my mind
Damn it, i thought this reaction was about that movie, that being said, this movie is a classic too
John Carpenter wrote and preformed the theme song to most of his movies
You may or may not react to them by I highly recommend The Fog and Assault On Precinct 13.
Both are great!
Yeah i'd love to see a reaction to Carpenters Assault On Precinct 13, one of his early works and very gritty, with some great characters and lines.
The main security guy....😂 Lee Van Cleef .. the "Bad" in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"!
Fun fact: James Cameron served as the visual effects supervisor for this film!! It was one of his early breaks in the industry before he launched his own career a few years later with The Terminator!
Tango and Cash shows Kurt Russell at his comedic best, other than Big Trouble in Little China
Love their reactions, but they really made me feel old when they didn't recognize Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Isaac Hayes, Harry Dean Stanton, or Lee Van Cleef.
Some of my favorite older Kurt Russell movies: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, the Strongest Man in the World, Used Cars, Overboard, and Captain Ron.
My guess is you’re 67 years old… I’m 51. That list of Kurt Russel flicks ages you my friend! Lol Let me know if I’m wrong…
In the 1982 movie Swamp Thing there’s a scene when Adrienne Barbeau comes up from under the water and her wet shirt contours her breasts in a way that forever changed me at 11-years old into a man forever looking for those same breasts…
You forgot his great performances in "Big Trouble In Little China", "Miracle on Ice" and "Tombstone" as Wyatt Earp.
Seeing this thumbnail gave me chills- when I was probably 7 or 8 (1982 or 1983), there was the first video rental store where I lived- no one owned a VHS player, you had to rent it along with the movies. We'd go in every once in a while to rent movies, and I would always see this movie on the shelf- the toppling statue of liberty head- and I would always beg my parents to rent it, even though I had no idea (and still have no idea) what this movie was about. I remember thinking as a kid, when I'm an adult I'm going to rent that movie.... and over the years I have thought about that but never knew what the movie was actually called! and then here it is, you seriously have no idea how crazy it was to see that almost 40 years later. I'll watch the reaction even though i've STILL never seen it haha! sorry for the rambling story, but that made my night :).
"The Fog" of course, guys. Carpenter´s film. He says, himself, it´s not one of his faves, but for us fans it´s a classic. We love it. One of his best soundtracks also.
One of my favorites! I actually have the boardgame for this one :) Fun Fact: The opening narration is Jamie Lee Curtis.
I still have my copy of the boardgame as well, made by TSR (the original publishers of Dungeons and Dragons)
Another great Kurt Russell movie IMHO is 'Overboard' (1987) with Goldie Hawn. A really great romcom :)
Yes; this Snake is the inspiration for Solid Snake.
You must remember; I grew up watching Russell on a bunch of teen Disney movie, like The Computer Wears Sneakers. So this was the first time seeing him as an adult action star. Best movie ever
Computer Wears Sneakers! 😂 Completely forgot about that movie. Glad he got out of the Disney type movies.
John Carpenter & Kurt Russell = Big Trouble in Little China. One of my favorites! Thanks for this reaction. Still a great movie.
Yes!
You two are great! You really really really cannot watch so many John Carpenter movies without watching Big Trouble in Little China.
A little trivia: James Cameron was on the special effects crew.
YES! After learning that, it occurred to me that the look and feel of the first Terminator seems inspired by Escape from New York. It would make a lot of sense -- Cameron's head was buried in the work he was doing on Escape from New York not long before he developed Terminator as his own original idea.
The moment where the girl in Choc Full O' Nuts gets pulled through the floor is very similar to a moment in Aliens, made by James Cameron five years later.
@@Xoferif Ah yes! I actually thought "Oh no, she's dying a Hudson death!" when I first saw Escape NYC some years back (I had seen Aliens many times prior).
Thank you both so so much for wathing this. This was one of those movies I watched with my friends as teenagers back in the 80's and became an iconic movie for us.
27:36 Mad Max came first, 1979. Escape from New York was 1981. Though Carpenter said he came up with the concept after he made Assault on Precinct 13, 1976.
I never saw any MAD MAX inspiration to this. They're two very different films, they just use found objects and retask them.
You have no idea how excited I was to see this thumbnail.
NEXT MUST BE "Big Trouble in little China" - its STILL the most entertaining asian fantasy action flick out there till today. Perfect Cast - Kurt Russel again - PURE LOVE !!!
AND BTW: dont watch the sequel in "L.A." - its so bad!
Only good thing in Escape from LA is Kurt Russel himself. The rest of it is like a parody of the first film.
In GTA III, there is a special old school taxi called the Borgnine
It's an homage for Ernest Borgnine's character Cabbie
You want to see a lovable Ernest Borgnine (Cabbie) tug at your heartstrings? Watch him in "Marty" (1955). His performance in that movie won him an Academy Award.
The guy Snake fights in the ring was an actual wrestler named Ox Baker. Master of the Heart Punch.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned in the comments so far, I'll point out that Season Hubley (the woman in Chock Full O' Nuts who got dragged off by the sewer people), was married to Kurt Russell at that time. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis did the voice-over narration about Manhattan at the start of the film. Carpenter has a few regulars that show up in many of his films.
Donald Pleasence (the President) was another of his regulars, he was Dr. Loomis in 'Halloween' (the first movie, which he directed, and all the others in the franchise) and the Priest in 'Prince of Darkness'.
3:25, there is an alternate opening scene that's available on the BLU Ray and Collectors Edition DVD that shows Snake and a friend named Tyler robbed the US Federal Reserve. As soon as they make their getaway, Tyler gets shot by the cops. Refusing to give up, Tyler is shot dead, while Snake feels saddened by his friends death.
I'm glad they left that out. I always imagined that heist as being a much more explosive and shooty affair than it was portrayed in that clip.
That's the Fresno Bob he mentions that brain betrayed along with Snake
Yes, he is the inspiration for Solid snake. Kojimas favourite film. Also in mgs2 undercover snake calls himself Pliskin.
And 17:52, the late great Isaac Hayes. Wrote and sung the Shaft movie theme but is most known for playing the voice of Chef in South Park.
When I was a kid, I wanted a Snake Plissken action figure for my birthday. My Mom just gave me a He-man with an eye patch painted on. I have to say, it worked!
That's cool. Do you still have it?
I love this I love your mom
You : Mom , I want Snake Plisken
Mom : We have Snake Plisken at home
Snake Plisken at home : It's me , He-Man
@@spddracer It might still be at my Mom's house. lol
You may have noticed the guy named brain, is Harry Dean Stanton who played in the first original movie Alien, and was the second one to be killed by the alien. Cabbie was played by Earnest Borgnine who is the voice of Captain Mermaid on Sponge Bob Square Pants,and Adrian Barbeau who played Maggie was a fairly well know actor in the 1970's and 80's. And of course Donald Plesance who played the president and played in the first original Halloween movie too. And lee Van Cleef who played with Clint Eastwood in those early spaghetti westerns, played Bob Halk, who made that deal with Pliskin.
You can see Cabbie in The Black Hole and a great 80's TV show called Airwolf. Would like to see your reaction to Tango and Cash with Kurt Russel.
Ernst Borgnien. My favorite of his is McCale's Navy.
Ahem he also won Best Actor for "Marty." But that was in 1956. Guys been around forever and has done tons of good movies.
Bring on Escape From LA.
Just as good but for.totally different reasons.
@@spddracer if Adrienne Barbeau isn't in it, it can't possibly be as good 😎
In the words of Hershe Las Palmas; “I LOVE LA”
Oh gosh, please don't bring it on.
If there was a cut of that movie that didn't have the surfing scene.
Glad you're enjoying the work of one of my favourite directors. Recommend you check out Assault on Precinct 13 as well.
Snake Plissken was one of the inspirations for Solid Snake from the Metal Gear games, Solid Snake even uses the alias Iroquois Pliskin in reference to the hero of this movie.
The sequel Escape from LA takes the crazy up to Bond Super Villain levels featuring directed EMP satellite weaponry and killer plastic surgeons. Have Fun!
“Snake Plissken, I heard you were dead.”
😂👍🔥
I have loved this since I saw it theatrically as a 14 year old. Kurt Russell rules!!
Yeah I played Metal Gear first before I had ever seen Escape from New York. When I saw the eye patch and his name being Snake Plissken I instantly knew Kojima was inspired by this.
"Elvis"(1979) was the first collaboration between Carpenter and Russell is a pretty good biographical movie about Elvis Presley.
This movie was filmed in St.Louis, MO and East St. Louis., IL. It really looked like that. The movie theater where he meets Cabbie is the Fox Theatre. It's been renovated since then.
My cousin's and I used to sneak into R-rated movies all the time when I was a kid. And I remember going to see this movie back in 81 when I was 11. Absolutely one of my all time favorites. I love the fact that you guys went in completely blind with no knowledge of what the plot was.
Totally and SAME! I remember when we snuck into Stripes for the second time, and the theater manager literally took us by the collars of our shirts and herded us out of the theater lol
Kurt Russell plays a character named Snake and he only has one eye, so he is literally a "one eyed snake".
I wonder if that was intentional on Carpenter's part or just a funny coincidence?
He also wears trousers.
@@georgemorley1029 Good point, although I would assume that most people named Snake are "trouser snakes", unless they wear kilts or something. =)
40 years later, I can still recite the opening words to this film.
Fyi, this was shot in St. Louis, not NYC. The only real shot of Manhattan was when you saw the Statue of Liberty in the beginning.
It's ridiculously expensive to shoot in Manhattan. Toronto is a common stand-in for NYC.
@@davestang5454 Agreed, but St. Louis had just had a fire that burned up six square blocks, leaving it looking very war-torn.
Toronto, while today there are sections specifically made to look like NYC streets (to attract the film industry), in 1983, that wasn't the case as much as today. 🙂🤘
This was a cool movie, thanks for reacting to this one! Another great movie filmed in New York to check out is "The Warriors".
Finally!!!! I've been trying to get reactors to watch this for years.
As a 50 year old who has seen this movie countless times since my youth, and very familiar and enamored with this flick, I found these reactions hilarious, and very interesting from a sociological view. The movie is a masterpiece. Kudos to dude for seeing the influence on Metal Gear’s Snake…
So glad u did this! One of my favorite Carpenter films. If you want to close out the Carpenter/ Russell trilogy, I think you would enjoy "Big Trouble in Little China" for sure.
James Cameron was a map painter for this movie. Which I always thought was really cool trivia.
Now that you've watched Kurt Russel with an eye patch, you've GOT to watch Kurt Russel with an eye patch. "Cap'n Ron" please.
Love that movie! Now, whenever I work with students, I say "Motivation's important. Learned that in rehab."
Came out the same year Stargate did. Hilarious to watch him go from comedy to serious. Great actor.
@@taoist32 I always remember Stan from "American Dad" saying the Kurt Russell "has worked steadily for over four decades! No lulls. NO LULLS!!"
@@waterbeauty85 haha. That’s the truth!
I wonder if you realize "The Duke" is "Chef" from south park, a 70s soul/R&B singer, he also sang the theme song to Shaft the movie and was also in "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" which is a fun movie you might try.
If you liked this; watch “The Warriors”, John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China”, and “Dredd”. 🤘
The look your wife gave you when you mentioned mgs was priceless!!!
There’s an old John Wayne movie “Big Jake “ where throughout the movie different people especially bad guys tell him “I heard you were dead “
"The next person who says that I'm gonna shoot, so help me." Good movie!
Towards the end John Wayne says "not hardly" then shoots Richard Boone
@@r.g.o3879 classic line! And Richard Boone what a great bad guy
@@r.g.o3879 He had already been shot at that point.. and burnt.
The scene with the fight in the ring is interesting. Snake's opponent was played by Ox Baker, a big pro wrestler at the time. Baker didn't fully understand the concept of stunt fighting and didn't pull his punches. As a consequence, some of the footage where Snake is knocked to his knees is real.
At some point, Kurt Russell got mad. While he was on the mat with Baker standing over him, Russell reached up and punched Baker in the groin. After that, Baker started doing more stunt fighting that didn't hurt Russell.
Snake Plissken rules ! such a cool character and an inspiration for Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid
Hes basically a ripoff.
The great Ernest Borgnine plays the taxi driver. You should check out the Poseidon Adventure, he and Gene Hackman were fantastic. James Cameron worked on some of the effects. Of course before he hit it big.
Snake: "I wanna meet this TBR Schmitt."
Cabbie: "You can't meet TBR Schmitt! Are you crazy? Nobody gets to meet TBR. You meet him once and then you're dead!"
lol
I love this flic ! I dressed like Snake for about 6 yrs until I was arrested foe DUI. I was in a couple of metal bands, at the time,,, I cut off the tops of a pair Dingo boots and sewed them on top of another pair.
You should definitely do Big Trouble in Little China. Keep up the good work.
Awesome video, guys. It was so much fun watching one of my favorite movies with you two. The audio commentary that John Carpenter & Kurt Russell recorded in 1994--not for DVD mind you, but for laserdisc--can be heard on UA-cam and is classic. It's two buddies smoking cigarettes, drinking beer and waiting for their ex-wives who they're quite fond of still to come into the movie. Carpenter was married to Adrienne Barbeau and Russell to Season Hubley.
Something I don't think I noticed until watching your video is how in the climax, Snake refuses to follow Brain's map for crossing the minefield. If I was driving and someone named Brain was telling me where mines were hidden I'd probably listen to him. Snake on the other hand has no friends and figures if he's going to die, he's going to die walking his own path, not Brain's, who has already double-crossed him two or three times.
James Cameron worked on this film, he worked on the visual effects team and did some of the matte artwork like the background image of Manhattan island.
And as far as traditional matte work goes, it's incredible work that I believe he applied directly to the look and feel of the first Terminator!
Another John Carpenter film is Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
The glider scene is awesome. They couldn't afford a computer powerful enough to render the entire city.. so they just painted a "wireframe" on a model of the city and filmed it with a blacklight so it glows.
Kurt Russell also wears an eye patch in the movie"Captain Ron". They should make a movie called"Captain Ron escapes from New York".
Fun fact: Jamie lee Curtis was the narrator in the beginning.
Didn't know that, and I've been watching this film for ages. Thanks!
I never knew that! rad
6:17 He absolutely was. Hideo Kojima was/is a huge fan of American (and really all) cinema. Even the box art for the original Metal Gear has a picture of Kyle Reese from the Terminator purporting to be Snake!
Oh, hell yes. I haven't even watched it yet but the fact that you did this amazing cult film, oh, hell yes. You are my favorite reactors, 4ever. And Adrienne Barbeau is Goddamn everything. Do The Fog sometime 🤘
Just in case no one said this earlier, this was actually filmed in New York and they were able to shut power off to several blocks at a time for filming. Something that is never happened again.
"This is Snake. Colonel, I'm at the disposal facility."
"Good work, Snake. Old age hasn't slowed you down one bit."
I was 16 when this first came out in theaters & during the ending sequence everybody in the theater went crazy we were all on our feet cheering & screaming "right on dude" 🤟
Such a FUN film! Kurt Russell awesome.
You are right - Plissken was the main inspiration for Solid Snake from MGS. Also in MGS2 Snake uses a codename "Plisskin". I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. It has such good atmosphere and characters. The sequel - Escape from LA has a veeeery bad reputation, but I like it. It's more about over the top 90's schlock and action than the first one.
Great to see this, I had forgotten what a good cast this had. Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Dean Stanton and not forgetting Donald Pleasance. If you like these kind of directors you should check out Sam Peckinpah. Borgy in The Wild Bunch. One of the craziest endings to a film.
A bit of noteworthy trivia: John Carpenter originally wanted Warren Oates to play Brain, but Oates health was deteriorating and he died that year.
@@tchoupitoulos Oates died in 1982 around the time he was working on "Blue Thunder".
They actually got a few block radius of New York that was condemned and was going to be demolished they shot the majority of this scenes there . Also they wet down the streets for extra effect which has become the standard for action and adventure movies. Got to love John Carpenter.
Great review on this classic John Carpenter film. You both should do a reaction on one of Carpenter's earlier films, "Assault on Precinct 13." (1976).
Your impressions and final thoughts very much echo mine. It's considered a cult classic, but I mostly enjoy it every now and then for the characters and the mood that Carpenter masterfully creates with music, pacing and on a visual level. To me it's a perfect movie to run in the background late at night while you are maybe doing something else (in-between). The overall concept is indeed simple, yet interesting. Speaking of another Carpenter movie with a simple concept, cool music and characters: I highly recommend watching his often overlooked movie Assault on Precinct 13.