Escape From New York (1981)
John Carpenter’s 1981 cult classic Escape From New York predicted that by the year 1997, America would be in big trouble. In the movie, a nationwide crime surge compels the federal government to convert the entire island of Manhattan into a maximum security prison. When the U.S. President’s plane crashes on the island, Snake Plissken, a convict and former Special Forces soldier played by Kurt Russell, is sent in to rescue the stranded POTUS.
This pessimistic vision of America’s favorite city probably made a lot more sense when the film was made. The 1970s were rough—and they were especially rough for New York. It was a time when muggings and murders were commonplace, when financial ruin had stripped away much of the glitz of prior decades, and when Times Square was a place you went to watch porn, not take pictures with Disney characters. Thankfully, things got better. While crime continued to be bad during the early nineties, by 1997 New York was definitely in much better shape than it was in prior decades.
