Snake Plissken
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| Snake Plissken | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Escape from New York (1981) |
| Last appearance | Escape from L.A. (1996) |
| Created by | John Carpenter |
| Portrayed by | Kurt Russell |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Snake[1] |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Lieutenant |
S.D. "Snake" Plissken is a fictional character in John Carpenter's films Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., played by Kurt Russell.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Background
Snake Plissken is a former U.S. Army Lieutenant, serving under Special Forces Unit Black Flight (not "Black Light" contrary to popular belief), with two Purple Hearts,[2] and the youngest soldier to be decorated by the U.S. President[3] for bravery during campaigns in Leningrad and Siberia in World War III against the USSR.
Some time later, he turned to a life of crime, probably due to the perceived betrayal of the United States government during the "Leningrad Ruse". Snake took up with partners Harold Hellman (later known as "Brain") and Fresno Bob. In Kansas City around 1993, Hellman apparently let Plissken and Fresno Bob get cornered by police,[4] at which time Fresno Bob was brutally tortured and killed by sadistic law enforcers within the United States Police Force.[5]
Possibly as a result of the Kansas City incident, it was widely believed in the criminal community that Plissken was dead. This is a running gag in Escape from New York: "I heard you were dead" (an homage to the John Wayne film Big Jake). In Escape from L.A. the recurring joke is changed to "I thought you'd be taller."
Snake has a tattoo of a snake on his stomach, possibly as a reference to the Man with No Name, on whom Snake is partly based, who had metal snakes on the grip of his pistol in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy.
[edit] Escape from New York
As mentioned in the movie, Snake was arrested in 1997 after breaking into the U.S. Federal Reserve in Denver, Colorado. Following the heist, the story of his capture was filmed, although the footage was cut from the beginning of the movie. It can be seen on supplementary materials on the VHS and DVD editions of Escape from New York.
He was sentenced to life in New York maximum security prison, the entire island of Manhattan, surrounded by an impenetrable wall and left in an anarchic state. At this time, Air Force One was hijacked and crashed into Manhattan, and the President, played by Donald Pleasence, was captured by the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes), the de facto leader of the prison. Robert Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) offered Snake a full pardon for every criminal action he committed if he would go in and rescue the President within 24 hours. Plissken succeeded with the help of Harold Hellman (Harry Dean Stanton) (now known as Brain, and working for the Duke of New York), Brain's "squeeze" Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau), and a taxicab driver nicknamed Cabby (Ernest Borgnine). Only Plissken and the President survived in their escape.
[edit] The Adventures of Snake Plissken
Marvel released the one shot "The Adventures of Snake Plissken" in January 1997. The story takes place sometime between Escape from New York and before his famous Cleveland escape mentioned in Escape from LA. Snake has robbed Atlanta's Center for Disease Control of some engineered metaviruses and is looking for buyers in Chicago. Finding himself in a deal that's really a set up, he makes his getaway and exacts revenge on the buyer for ratting him out to the United States Police Force. In the meantime, a government lab has built a robot called A.T.A.C.S. (Autonomous Tracking And Combat System)that can catch criminals by imprinting their personalities upon its program in order to predict and anticipate a specific criminal's every move. The robot's first test subject is America's public enemy number one, Snake Plissken. After a brief battle, the tide turns when A.T.A.C.S. copies Snake to the point of fully becoming his personality. Now recognizing the government as the enemy, A.T.A.C.S. sides with Snake. Unamused, Snake sucker punches the machine and destroys it. As A.T.A.C.S. shuts down, it can only ask him, "Why?" Snake just walks off answering, "I don't need the competition".
[edit] John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles
Snake Plissken appeared in John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, a four-part comic book miniseries released in 2003 that was published by CrossGen comics. The story takes place some time after the events in Escape from New York. Snake has been given a military Humvee after his presidential pardon and makes his way to Atlantic City. Despite the fact the director's cut of the New York movie shows Snake was caught after a bank job, this story has Snake finishing up a second heist that was preplanned before his capture. The job is stealing JFK's car he was assassinated in from a casino and then delivering it to a buyer on a yacht in the gulf. The job involves Snake's partnership with a man named Marrs who ends up double crossing him. Left for dead in a sinking crab cage, Snake escapes and is luckily saved by a passing fisherman named Captain Ron. When Ron denies Snake's request to use his boat in order to beat Marrs to the robbery, Snake decides to kill him. But when he ends up saving Ron from a Russian mob wanting money, Ron changes his mind and helps Snake. Once at the casino, Snake comes face to face with Marrs and his men who arrive at the same time, ending in a high speed shoot out. Snake gets away with the car and its actress portraying Jackie Kennedy, leaving Marrs to be caught by the casino owner who cuts him a deal to bring his car back and live. After some trouble, Snake manages to finally get the car to the buyer's yacht with Ron's boat and is then attacked by Marrs. Following the fire fight the yacht and car is destroyed, Marrs and Captain Ron are dead, and Snake makes his escape in a helicopter with the 30 million credits owed to him for the job.
[edit] Escape from L.A.
Sixteen years since his escape from New York, Snake was once again enlisted for a similar situation, as the story begins with a similar plotlines as was used in Escape from New York. This time, he was forced to retrieve a disk for a remote control which controlled a series of EMP style satellites. These devices were positioned around the entire world. The disk was somewhere in Los Angeles. The city had separated from the mainland due to an earthquake in August 2000 and had become an island separate from the United States which had become a totalitarian theocratic state.
[edit] Cancelled projects
[edit] TV series
In the early 2000s, John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, and Debra Hill developed a proposed Snake Plissken television series that was ultimately turned down by all the major networks for being "too dark and bleak." It is widely believed that the concept of the series was what was used for the Snake Plissken Chronicles comic series, though this is speculative.
[edit] Chronicles project
Along with the comic book, other Snake Plissken Chronicles projects were announced. A Namco-produced video game was announced,[6] but was later cancelled. Production I.G was also set to create an anime film based on the property, reportedly based on the Escape From Earth concept John Carpenter and Kurt Russell had conceived, but this also never materialized. Carpenter and Russell would have executive produced, and Russell would have provided the voice and likeness of Snake.[7]
[edit] Escape from Earth
This was a proposed second sequel often mentioned by Carpenter and Russell in interviews prior to the release of Escape From L.A. The concept was that Earth was the only place left for Plissken to escape. After Escape From L.A. failed to attract much business, the project never materialized.
In August 2006, there was an Internet rumor circulating that the project was actively being pursued by Paramount at Russell's urging, but the rumor was revealed to be untrue[2].
[edit] Future appearances
[edit] Escape from New York (remake)
On March 13, 2007, It was announced that Gerard Butler will play the role of Snake Plissken in a remake of Escape from New York. Kurt Russell, as well as many fans, did not approve.[8][9][10]
As of June 2008 a rumor has been circulating that the project is proceeding with Josh Brolin as Snake Plissken.[11] No other news of the remake has been heard since then.
[edit] References in other media
- Snake Plissken was referenced in the Metal Gear video game series. The main protagonist of the games, Solid Snake is named after Plissken and like him, is a special forces operative. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Solid Snake goes undercover under the name of Iroquois Pliskin, causing him to be called Pliskin and Snake throughout the game. His famous eye-patch is also referenced by Naked Snake/Big Boss and Solidus Snake.
- Snake Plissken's name is referenced in Super Robot Wars character Ingram Plisken.
- In March 2007 Ain't It Cool News reported on the ongoing efforts to create the Snake Plissken Memorial Playground in Gumniste, Kosovo.
- Character "Hoss Delgado" from "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" as well as the television special "Underfist" shares a combined resemblance with both Snake Plissken and Ash from the "Evil Dead" series.
- In season one, episode eleven of American Dad, when Stan's father jumps on Roger, Roger says: "Yeah, can someone tell Snake Plissken here to back off."
- In Duke Nukem 64 on Level 3 (Death Row) it is possible to find the mutilated body of Snake Plissken. Upon doing so Duke mutters "I guess he didn't escape from L.A."
- In Hunter Hunted at the beginning of the game, as well as various levels in the game, there is some graffiti on the wall that reads "Snake P. was here," and "Snake. I thought you were dead."
[edit] Notes
- ^ In the Italian versions of the movies, which are dubbed in Italian, the nickname of the character is changed to Iena (hyaena) probably due to the difficulties in synching the Italian dub with the original (Italian for snake is serpente which is a longer word). The changing of the nickname did no harm to the character: the films in Italy are very popular and so is the name Iena Plissken.
- ^ Mentioned by Cmdr. Malloy in Escape from LA.
- ^ Mentioned by Hauk in Escape from New York.
- ^ When they meet later in Escape from New York, Brain says to Plissken, "You were late."
- ^ This is loosely referred to in Escape from New York when Snake confronts Hellman saying, "You know what 'they' did to Fresno Bob? Do you want me to show you?"
- ^ IGN: New Snake Game
- ^ Production IG working on Escape from New York Anime - Anime News Network
- ^ IGN: Kurt Blasts Escape Remake
- ^ edmontonsun.com - Showbiz: Movies, TV and Theatre - Snake Plissken hissing over Escape From New York remake
- ^ NEWS RUSSELL ENRAGED WITH NEW SNAKE PLISSKEN Music, movie & Entertainment News
- ^ [1]
