Snake Plissken, the taciturn antihero of John Carpenter's "Escape from New York," was clearly modeled after Clint Eastwood's character from the celebrated Man With No Name trilogy. They both have similarly gravely voices and seem to be resolutely amoral. If the parallels aren't clear enough, Carpenter cast Lee Van Cleef, Eastwood's frequent Name Trilogy co-star, in "Escape from New York." Unlike Eastwood's Man, however, Snake possesses a note of punk rock nihilism. He doesn't care about the world and doesn't give a damn if the U.S. President has been kidnapped or if some distant peace talks may fail. Snake has seen untold horrors from his one remaining eye, and he clearly lost his faith in humanity long ago.
Kurt Russell played Snake Plissken, and he has long felt that it's one of his b