Kurt Russell: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
1. Snake Plissken - Escape From New York
Escape From New York was Russells second collaboration with Carpenter, with the director fighting to get him cast over rivals like Charles Bronson and Tommy Lee Jones. Up to that point Russell was typecast from his Disney days, so nobody could see him as a badass anti-hero; after they saw the film, he never had that problem again. Snake has become his defining role in many ways, and has become oft imitated elsewhere including and Hideo Kojima himself freely admits it Solid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series. Russell brings a relaxed cool to the role, speaking in a Clint Eastwood-like hush but he can explode into violence at any moment. The thing that really separates Snake from the rest are the little humane touches; he has a code of honour, such as the moment he hands over the gun to Maggie and he spends half the movie limping when he gets injured. The character was so damn cool his reputation wasnt even tarnished after the CGI wave surfing of Escape From L.A.; and if he can survive that, he can survive anything.
