(pb; 1981: movie tie-in, based
on John Carpenter and Nick Castle’s screenplay)
From the back cover
“1997. In an America ravaged by war and gutted by riots and social collapse, ‘Snake’ Plissken was the deadliest man alive. Ex-soldier, ex-hero, outlaw. Snake was so slippery no trap could catch him, no jail could hold him. Then he was set up, betrayed, captured. They sent him into the ultimate prison: New York City. A penal colony 12 miles long and two miles wide. An urban jungle where men had become things and only the most brutal survived. But they gave him one shot at freedom. Somewhere in that cesspool of humanity was the President of the United States. Snake had twenty-four hours to find him. The rest was easy. He just had to get out alive.”
Review
Above-average movie tie-in novels consistently add different, character-expanding elements to their source-film stories. Mike McQuay’s Escape does this, e.g., showing New York police commissioner Bob Hauk’s rarely displayed sensitive side while revealing why he, a Leningrad war vet like Plissken, took the job. Additionally, McQuay details Plissken’s past and why he is the way he is, making Escape a standout, vividly pulpy read. That McQuay is also an excellent character-centric action writer with an in-joke sense of humor further makes Escape, long out of print, a book worth owning, an adaptation that’s as great as its source script/film.
#
The source film, starring Kurt Russell as Snake Plisskin and Lee Van Cleef as Bob Hauk, was released stateside on July 10, 1981.
No comments:
Post a Comment