<P> Escape from New York was released in the United States on July 10, 1981 . The film received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $25 million at the box office . The film was nominated for four Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction . The film became a cult classic and was followed by a sequel, Escape from L.A. (1996), which was also directed and written by Carpenter and starred Russell but was much less favorably received . </P> <P> In 1988, following a 400% increase in crime, the United States government has turned Manhattan into a giant maximum - security prison . A 50 - foot (15 m) containment wall surrounds the island and routes out of Manhattan have been dismantled or mined, while armed helicopters patrol the rivers, and all prisoners there are sentenced to life, with no means of leaving . </P> <P> In 1997, while traveling to a peace summit between the United States, China and Russia, Air Force One is hijacked by a domestic terrorist posing as a stewardess . The President is given a tracking bracelet and his briefcase (containing an audiotape describing the secret to using nuclear fusion for power generation) handcuffed to his wrist . He makes it to an escape pod, and lands in Manhattan just before Air Force One crashes, killing everyone else aboard . </P> <P> Police are dispatched to rescue the President . However, Romero, the right - hand man of the Duke of New York, the top crime boss in the prison, warns them that the Duke has taken the President hostage, and that he will be killed if any further rescue attempts are mounted . Commissioner Bob Hauk offers a deal to Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces soldier convicted of attempting to rob the Federal Reserve in Denver: if Snake rescues the President and retrieves the cassette tape, Hauk will arrange a presidential pardon . To ensure his compliance, Hauk has Plissken injected with micro-explosives that will rupture Snake's carotid arteries within 22 hours; if Snake returns with the President and the tape in time, Hauk will have the explosives neutralized . </P>

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