John Carpenter’s 1981 classic sci-fi thriller film Escape from New York is a dystopian extravaganza starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, and Ernest Borgnine. After a botched hijacking, Air Force One crashes in Manhattan. The president survives, but, owing to the fact that the island has been converted into a maximum-security prison, finds himself among teeming hordes of violent criminals. A special operative named Snake is sent in to save him. Snake has a checkered past. The year is 1997.