Stupidity: When the duke approaches the wall at the end, Snake dives on him and briefly knocks him out. Snake could have easily grabbed his gun back and left the duke unarmed (or even just killed the duke there and then), but just gets up and runs, leaving it with him.
Gavin Jackson
2nd Nov 2017
Escape From New York (1981)
9th Oct 2017
Escape From New York (1981)
Question: Could someone please explain to me what I consider two of the biggest plot holes in this film. Firstly, how was Snake going to get his glider back in the air? If it had jets or thrusters on it, that would make sense, but when it first took off, it was being towed by a plane which means it is just a standard glider (Plissken does admit to Hauk that it will be an issue, but that explains little). Also given that it is a one-seat glider, how was he going to bring back the president on it? In fact, how were Brain, Maggie and the President (in their attempted double-cross) all going to squeeze onboard?
Chosen answer: You are correct in citing these problems as plot holes. Writer-director John Carpenter is notorious for glaring plot holes in his films over the decades, inasmuch as Carpenter crafts his films for shock effect, rather than continuity. Other examples of Carpenter's plot holes can be found in the original "Halloween" (for instance, how did the killer Michael Myers, who had been confined in a mental institution since he was a child, learn to drive an automobile like a stunt driver his first time behind the wheel?), and in "The Thing" (why is the Thing discovered frozen in ice only about 4 feet below the modern surface while its spaceship is buried ten yards deep in 100,000-year-old ice?), as well as in "Prince of Darkness," "Vampires" and other Carpenter films. One explanation is that Carpenter tends to edit-out slower, extraneous scenes that more fully explain the plot, in order to maintain a fast-paced storyline.
I would assume he would push free fall and build up enough speed to fly, and then pull up, the WTC was the largest building in NY at the time anyway.
11th Jan 2014
Escape From New York (1981)
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Answer: When Snake is told how he getting in the other guys said he can take off from a free fall.