John Carpneter's cult classic Escape From New York, is set in a dystopia 1997! New York city has been transformed into a virtual <br /><br />maximum security prison where some of the most degenerate and deadly criminals have been left to languish. But when a gang of freedom fighters hijack air force one and subsequently crash land there, it's an eerie precursor of events of 911, the president played convincingly by Donald Pleasance is taken hostage by some of the criminals who rule the roost. So the authorities who are led by iconic spaghetti western actor Lee Van Cleef send in Snake Plisskin (Kurt Russell) a once highly decorated soldier who s now imprisoned after a string of thefts, is coerced in to rescue him, but they trick him into thinking they've given him a vaccine, which results in a very clever plot twist which it's a device which will kill him if he doesn't complete his mission in 24 hours. Escape From New York is a surprisingly made action classic it makes great use of Steadicam shots which in-itself is a classic carpenter trademark. the film is best seen in it's 2:35:1 aspect ratio the usual TV showing in pan and scan butcher the composition.