Hauk: “You going to kill me now, Snake?”
Snake: “I’m too tired. Maybe later.”
Escape From New York’s Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is a character that is essentially nonplussed by everything that happens to him. Shanghaied into service by the autocratic U.S. government? Whatever. Attacked by a mob of subterranean crazies? Big deal. Forced to fight a giant with spiked clubs? Meh.
Russell’s stoic annoyance works because he’s given such great larger-than-life foils. Legendary spaghetti western actor Lee Van Cleef and Bond villain Donald Pleasence both chew scenery like there’s no tomorrow. Adrienne Barbeau and Ernest Borgnine aren’t exactly understated supporting actors either. The Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes) is the only one who can stay as cool as Snake.
Snake’s incredibly narrow expressive vocal range tops out at a threatening hiss and bottoms in a reticent grunt of pain. It feels as if he is even playing to the lack of sound in his environment and even the film itself; most of the movie’s action eschews words for environmental sounds and the excellent dark disco soundtrack. Vangelis is often lauded as the ambient king of early ‘80s film music, but director John Carpenter, who composed most of his own scores, did more with less. This emphasis is even more evident in Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween, Carpenter’s best films.
Snake is just a guy forced to do a terrible job, who is so disgusted by the situation that he can’t be bothered to even become outwardly angry. He is extraordinarily cool, but not in a heroic or enviable way. This is appropriate because under most moral systems, action heroes who are likeable or relatable are ethically disgusting. Rarely should a character that excels in violence be likeable or relatable.
Plissken’s sole true heroic action comes at the end of the film, and even it is arguably as much an act of spite as it is of justice. His attitude in this final gesture as he walks into the fadeout — not even bothering to run from the pandemonium he has probably caused — is as noncommittal as anything the dislikeable, non-relatable man has done before. Which is how it should be.
Tags: Action Heroes, Call Me Snake, Escape From New York, Ethics, Kurt Russell, Snake Plissken
