Category: The 1980’s

TSJ Revisits John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, Part 2 of 2

I’m writing about Escape from New York this week on my blog, Life After Gateway. This is Part 2 of 2 (find Part 1, here).  Today we’ll look at some of the personalities who emerged from the making of this movie:  Kurt Russell, Dean Cundey, and James Cameron.

This film was a watershed moment in their careers.  For Kurt Russell, it marked his transition from childhood roles. For Dean Cundey, it was his continuing rise through the ranks in cinematography; a career which really began with the massive success of Halloween. And for James Cameron, it was his work on the effects that helped make him a notable figure in the industry. On this movie, he was known as the ‘resident genius,’ and his work made heads turn.

You’ll learn more about these three in this article.

Read more →

TSJ Revisits John Carpenter’s Escape from New York, Part 1 of 2

The film that marked Kurt Russell’s transition from child actor to the world of commercial action/adventure movies will be forty-four years old this year. It was a pivotal film for Carpenter, who proved that Halloween and The Fog were no flukes, and it also marked yet another fantastic outing for Dean Cundey, who went on to become one of the most successful cinematographers in the industry.  It also introduced many of us to a new personality in genre filmmaking, which might surprise you.  Escape from New York was a watershed film in 1981, and I wanted to take a closer look at it this week.  Here is Part 1 of my retrospective, including anecdotes, trivia, and other interesting tidbits about the film.

Read more →