10 Movie Posters That Lied To Your Face

3. Escape From New York

Escape from New York
AVCO Embassy Pictures

Escape from New York is the tale of a walled-in Manhattan prison and the mission of one man, Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken, as he ventures inside to save the United States President.

The film’s poster depicts Snake and company seemingly trying to escape a riot with the head of the Statue of Liberty lying prone in a random Manhattan street. It’s famous for multiple reasons. First of all, it’s a really cool piece of art and the kind of thing you’d frame and hang on your wall. Secondly, it doesn’t reflect a scene in the film. It’s all made up.

There is exactly one moment where we see ol’ Libby and that’s near the start of the movie. Fun fact: this is the only part of Escape from New York actually shot in New York.

At no point does the statue ever come back into things and naturally of course she doesn’t get beheaded either. Come to think of it, considering she’s way offshore, how exactly would the Statue of Liberty’s head end up in a random street anyway?

It’s certainly a really cool image but it badly misrepresents the film. If you were waiting to see that crazy action sequence you were going to wind up disappointed.

Contributor

Coming from a content creation background that now spans over two decades, Psy cut her teeth on personal video production and community radio. Originally joining the team as a writer and presenter, she added video editing duties to her responsibilities over time and became the longest-standing editor of the irreverent gaming show Tues Your Own Adventure. Psy has worked on many previews and reviews, long-form editorials (either her own, or supporting as an editor), as a frequent quizmaster and more. Praised for the two-pronged attack of her hard work ethic and light-hearted editing style, Psy is otherwise known as a font of retro video game knowledge which has caused her to rack up many gaming quiz wins. Outside of WhatCulture, Psy runs First Aid Spray Podcast - a long-running channel that focuses on Resident Evil in all of it's forms. You can follow her on BlueSky at http://psywhite.bsky.social and Instagram at http://instagram.com/therealpsywhite