Didja Notice?

 

The preamble of the movie discusses events that occurred in 1998, a year after those of Escape from New York.

 

At 1:58 on the DVD, the Wells Fargo Center in Los Angeles is seen. The IBM building there is prominently featured.

 

The massive earthquake that separates Los Angeles from the mainland, turning it into an island, strikes on August 23 in the year 2000.

 

At 2:13 on the DVD, the Bonaventure Hotel building in Los Angeles is seen, with sheets of glass falling off it from the massive earthquake.

 

At 2:24 on the DVD, a 1994 Ford F-150 slams into a 1993 Ford Escort during the earthquake.

 

At 2:31 on the DVD, Union Station is seen.

 

A gigantic tidal wave is seen swamping the Santa Monica Pier at 2:52 on the DVD.

 

After the newly-elected President's prediction of a quake devastating L.A. comes true, the U.S. Constitution is amended to allow him a lifetime term of office.

 

The new President moves the nation's capital from Washington D.C. to his home town of Lynchburg, Virginia.

 

The new western coastline of the United States is walled off and fortified with USPF guards from the southeastern hills of Orange County to the northwestern shore of Malibu. The map shown at 3:32 on the DVD depicting the boundaries of the wall are roughly accurate for Orange County north to Malibu.

 

The President's first act as Permanent Commander-in-Chief is Directive 17: once an American loses his or her citizenship, they are deported to Los Angeles Island and they never come back.

 

The tallest building seen on Los Angeles Island is the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower (1,018 feet).

 

The USPF vehicle seen at 4:04 on the DVD is a military Humvee, an AM General HMMWV M1025.

 

At 4:21 on the DVD, we see the ruins of the San Fernando Valley Mall. This is a fictitious location.

 

The USPF vehicle that brings Snake Plissken to Firebase 7 at 4:46 on the DVD is an Alvis FV 603 Saracen.

 

At 5:15 on the DVD, the television news reporter appears to be reporting for channel 981. She is also wearing a USPF jacket, suggesting that she works for them and the USPF controls much of the news.

 

    The news report states that Snake was arrested two weeks ago on charges for gun fighting for profit in the U.S. territory of New Vegas, Thailand. In the real world, of course, there is no "New Vegas" in Thailand, nor is that nation a U.S. territory.

   In the epilog of "Burning Down the House", Snake turns up in New Vegas as a for profit gunfighter, though that story seems to be set a couple years before this one.

 

Notice in various scenes of Commander Malloy's desk at Firebase 7 that he has a couple of potted cactuses on his desk.

 

The guns carried by the USPF soldiers are FN FAL battle rifles with Cobray 37mm flare launchers mounted to them.

 

As Snake disembarks from the Saracen, he appears to be wearing the same clothes he wore in Escape from New York (and most of his later adventures chronicled so far). His brown leather jacket looks to be more scuffed up now.

 

The USPF Duty Sergeant reads Snake's name from his file as S.D. Bob Plissken. In Escape from New York, Hauk's file had his name as simply S.D. Plissken. In "Siberia Bob", Snake went by the alias "Bob", so it may be that this alias eventually becomes known to the authorities by this time.

 

As Snake is being escorted through the deportation area by the Duty Sergeant, an overhead announcement states: "You now have the option to repent of your sins and be electrocuted on the premises. If you elect this option, notify the Cleric Sergeant in your Processing Area." This is similar to an announcement at the Manhattan Island Maximum Security Penitentiary in Escape from New York: "You now have the option to terminate and be cremated on the premises."

 

Commander Malloy tells Snake, "I thought we had you in Cleveland." This refers to events in "Burning Down the House".

 

As Snake is briefed on his new mission, Brazen tells him that the President's daughter, Utopia, stole a top secret prototype unit from the Benford Space Defense Lab. The Benford Space Defense Lab is a fictitious institution.

 

At 9:53 on the DVD, notice that Utopia is seen wearing a large button on her coat that reads "True Love Waits". This may be a reference to the Christian group True Love Waits, founded in 1993, which promotes sexual abstinence before marriage.

 

Utopia is said to have hijacked Air Force Three. To the best of my knowledge, Air Force Three is not a call sign used for any U.S. Air Force aircraft. Air Force One is the call sign of any U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying the President, while Air Force Two applies similarly for aircraft carrying the Vice President without the President. Possibly, Air Force Three is used here as an aircraft carrying the President's daughter (or other family members), but often the term "Executive One Foxtrot" is used for such occasions instead.

 

Utopia carries a Heckler & Koch HK93A3 aboard Air Force Three.

 

Brazen reveals that Utopia began to retreat from life into a virtual reality simulator after her sister committed suicide.

 

Cuervo Jones is said to be a Peruvian terrorist and member of the Shining Path. The Shining Path is also known as the Communist Party of Peru, founded in 1980, known for its brutal tactics and is considered a terrorist organization by Peru and many Western powers, including the U.S.

 

Cuervo Jones seems to have been loosely based on Che Guevara. Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary who was instrumental in the overthrow of the Batista government of Cuba in 1959, allowing Fidel Castro to become the island nation's ruler and establishing a communist government there.

 

Cuervo Jones is also said to be the leader of Mescalito Justice, a gang in L.A. This is a fictitious gang used for the film. "Mescalito" is another name for peyote, a spineless cactus known for its psychoactive properties when ingested.

 

When the President offers him a pardon for every immoral act he's committed in the United States if he brings back the prototype device, Snake remarks that it "sounds familiar". That's because the offer is nearly identical to that which he received to bring back the audio tape from New York in Escape from New York.

 

Snake is deliberately infected by the USPF with what is called the Plutoxin 7 virus. This is a fictitious virus, which is later revealed to be merely a fast, hard-hitting case of the flu.

 

The special gun Snake takes into L.A. is called Coreburner. It is actually a heavily modified LaFrance Specialties M16K. Snake's own pair of guns are the fictitious Smith and Wesson #22147 model (based on the actual Smith and Wesson 629 Hunter).

 

As Snake dons the stealth clothing, the cobra tattoo on his stomach is basically just a line drawing tattoo. In Escape from New York, the tattoo was filled in with dark coloring. The cobra's head is also farther up his torso here than it was in the earlier film.

 

As Snake prepares to head out, Malloy and Brazen tell him that the Shining Path and a number of South American countries are planning an invasion of the United States to take back North America, the "revenge of pre-industrial societies".

 

Malloy tells Snake he'll enter L.A. via the San Fernando Sea. This is presumably the ocean-flooded basin of what was once the San Fernando Valley.

 

Snake makes the journey from the mainland to Los Angeles in a one-man Shark 3 submarine. This is a fictitious vehicle.

 

Brazen tells Snake he'll put ashore at the Cahuenga Pass and make his way over mountains to the Hollywood Bowl. Cahuenga Pass connects the San Fernando Valley (Sea) to Los Angeles through the Santa Monica Mountains.

 

The computer display at 20:53 on the DVD shows the following cities/districts as part of the island of Los Angeles: Malibu, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Anaheim. Many others, though not labeled here, would be within that range as well.

 

During his undersea journey to the island, Snake passes the L.A. City Hall at 20:59 on the DVD.

 

At 21:19 on the DVD, a submerged freeway speed limit sign reads 85 mph. In the real world, the speed limit in Los Angeles has never been that high. A sign for the 101 Freeway is also seen here; the 101 is an actual freeway running through L.A. (and all the way up to northern Washington state).

 

At 21:37 on the DVD, what appears to be a great white shark tries to clamp it jaws on the Shark 3 sub in front of the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. This also serves as a joking reference to the Jaws films released by Universal and the Jaws shark attack on the Universal Studios theme park tram ride.

 

After Snake lands the Shark 3 on the island, it falls back into the ocean, despite his effort to hold it, hampering his ability to make it back to the mainland. In Escape from New York, his glider was similarly pushed off the top of the World Trade Center.

 

Pipeline carries an AKM rifle.

 

If Snake really landed in the Cahuenga Pass, then Pipeline followed for a fair distance on foot, because when Snake confronts him again at the west 8400 block of Mulholland Drive, that's about 1.25 miles from the pass.

 

At 23:24 on the DVD, Snake walks past the street sign for the intersection of Mulholland Drive and (Woodrow) Wilson Drive. The landscape seen here does not really match the residential neighborhood of the real world.

 

At 23:51 on the DVD, a 1991 Ford Mustang GT is pursued by another vehicle.

 

At 25:21 on the DVD, Snake walks past the ruins of the Capitol Records building. In the background, the Broadway Hollywood Building is seen.

 

At 25:29 on the DVD, a tattered Cutty Sark billboard is seen on the side of Grauman's Chinese Theater. The song that plays on the soundtrack during this scene is "Sweat" by Tool (1992).

 

At 25:38 on the DVD, notice an old theater marquee of the Los Angeles Theatre now reads "Safe Sex, No Condoms Needed, Polypropylene Orifices, Satisfaction Guaranteed". Snake shortly after enters a doorway with a sign above it reading "Zero Plastic".

 

The song playing at 26:13 on the DVD is "Professional Widow" by Tori Amos (1996).

 

At 26:27 on the DVD, notice that one of the hookers blows a kiss to the dead agent hanging on the cross.

 

At 28:06 on the DVD, Snake is at the 5600 W block of Sunset Boulevard, a real street in Los Angeles. 

 

At 28:18 on the DVD, Snake walks past a discarded door from an old taxi cab. The taxi logo on it is actually the logo used for the 1978-1983 sitcom Taxi (though the series took place in New York, not Los Angeles).
Taxi door	Taxi sitcom logo

 

Cuervo's car in the parade is a 1959 Buick Invicta. Notice that he has a disco ball mounted on top of the trunk; in Escape from New York, the Duke had a small disco ball hanging from the rearview mirror of his Cadillac.

 

During the parade, Snake commandeers a 1996 Harley-Davidson Sportster to give chase to Cuervo.

 

Cuervo remarks to Utopia that Snake Plissken used to be a gunfighter who faded out from the scene a few years ago. At the end of "Burning Down the House", we saw that Snake had become an arena gunfighter in New Vegas around 2011.

 

At 31:46 on the DVD, one of Cuervo's men is firing a Micro Uzi at Snake during the chase. The Korean Dragons are also seen to use Micro Uzis later in the film.

 

At 32:05 on the DVD, Snake is seen crawling onto the cab of a 1973 Chevrolet K-Series Custom Deluxe Fleetside.

 

At 32:25 on the DVD, Snake jumps onto the roof of a Ford Bronco II.

 

The car full of Cuervo's thugs that investigates the "Bangkok" shooting site is a 1988 Ford LTD Crown Victoria.

 

At 36:57 on the DVD, notice that the Beverly Hills sign has another sign below it reading "QUIET, Surgical Zone". Snake is entering the territory of the Surgeon General of Beverly Hills, who has made the Beverly Hills Hotel his base of surgical operations.

 

The second ambulance that enters the driveway of the Beverly Hills Hotel is a 1965 Cadillac S&S Parkway Ambulance.

 

At 38:02 on the DVD, one of the Surgeon General's men fires a Coda Net Gun at Snake to capture him.

 

After Snake knocks out the Surgeon General with the blow dart, it's a little ridiculous (even for this satiric film) that the Surgeon General's hand holding the surgical blade just happens to fall so that it perfectly cuts the ropes holding Snake to the gurney.

 

Snake takes an M1911 handgun from the Surgeon General after knocking him out. He later gives it to Taslima.

 

Snake moves aside a couple of manhole covers in the street as he and Taslima escape from the Surgeon General's men. Cast iron manhole covers in the U.S. often weigh well over 100 pounds and are difficult for one person to move, especially without a pry bar.

 

The freeway Snake is walking on when he sees the Korean Dragons ahead is likely Interstate 10 since Taslima told him to get off on the Vermont (Ave.) exit and go south to find Cuervo's camp.

 

At 46:57 on the DVD, Snake ducks behind a 1979 Ford Mustang to avoid the shots of the Korean Dragons.

 

A group of Korean Dragons members are seen to ride in a 1951 Mercury Sport Coupe at 47:10 on the DVD.

 

Cuervo's car driven by Eddie is a 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible.

 

At 47:40 on the DVD, some of the graffiti painted on the street tunnel reads "Tunnel of No Return".

 

After Snake gets shot with the "fun-gun", Eddie tells him not to worry, "Pure mesh, man. 100-proof artery choker." He is probably using "mesh" as a slang term for mescalito.

 

    Test Tube explains that Sword of Damocles is a series of 24 communications satellites orbiting the Earth that each have an electromagnetic weapon attached that can target any point on the planet with an EMP that permanently shuts down all electronic equipment in the pulse's range.

    The Sword of Damocles is from a Greek legend that tells of the man Damocles who exclaims that the emperor Dionysius is truly fortunate for all his power and fortune. Dionysius offers to let Damocles exchange lives for a day so he may feel what it's like and the man eagerly agrees. Damocles is then treated like a king and enjoys a sumptuous meal in the court. Only after he finishes eating does he notice a sword dangling precariously above, held by a thread, whereupon Damocles asks the emperor's leave, saying he no longer wants to be so fortunate. The tale is meant to illustrate the constant fear and danger felt by those in power. In modern times the metaphor of the Sword of Damocles is meant to suggest a precarious situation just waiting to turn deadly.

    An electromagnetic pulse can legitimately be used to damage or destroy most types of unshielded electronic devices.

 

Notice that Test Tube remarks about the Sword of Damocles that one could key in all the satellites and shut down the whole planet, sending the Earth back to the Dark Ages. This is what Snake actually does at the end of the film. (The Dark Ages traditionally refers to the European Middle Ages, about 400-900 AD, a period of relatively high superstition and lack of cultural output.)

 

Test Tube tells Cuervo that the world code that brings all the satellites online is "666". The number 666 is also stated as the Number of the Beast in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible.

 

At 51:22 on the DVD, Cuervo calls Test Tube pendejo. This is Spanish for "stupid" or "coward".

 

As Cuervo begins his televised statement, he says, "Hello, North America. Buenos noches, sud America." Buenos noches, sud America is Spanish for "Good evening, South America."

 

Cuervo tells the President to have a police chopper pick him up at the Happy Kingdom. This is a thinly veiled version of Disneyland in Anaheim; two well-known nicknames for the theme park are the Magic Kingdom and the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

The basketball contest Snake is forced to participate in takes place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the Summer Olympics were held in 1932 and 1984.

 

The Cuervo man who is wearing Snake's black jacket is carrying a MAC-10 submachine gun.

 

At 55:16 on the DVD, a man who fails to win the basket shooting contest is shot to death by a number of Cuervo's men surrounding the fenced basketball court on three sides. Realistically, those men would be shooting each other as well, as many of the bullets would undoubtedly soar across the court to the other side!

 

At 55:29 on the DVD, notice that Utopia's jacket has a picture of Cuervo on the back!

 

As he's introducing Snake's impending death to the crowd at the Coliseum, Cuervo calls Snake vato. This is a Spanish slang term for "man".

 

At 59:21 on the DVD, we can see that, in the background, the countdown clock for Snake's final shot at the basket is down to 3 seconds. But then, at 59:30, it's still at 3 seconds!

 

At 1:00:37 on the DVD, the "SC" logo of the USC Trojans athletic teams (University of Southern California) is seen on the Coliseum sign behind Cuervo and Eddie as Cuervo tries to shoot the fleeing Snake. The Coliseum is the home stadium of USC. The rifle Cuervo uses is a Ruger AC556; Snake later takes it from him.

 

The car Snake blows up at 1:01:35 on the DVD is a 1980 Buick Riviera.

 

At 1:01:59 on the DVD, Cuervo drops the black case during his fight with Snake. Then he is seen dropping it again in the next shot!

 

At 1:02:26 on the DVD, Eddie takes a Magnum Research Desert Eagle Mark VII pistol from one of Cuervo's fallen men and pursues Snake and Utopia into the sewers with it. Snake later takes it from him.

 

When Eddie shoots Snake in the leg during the aftershock in the sewer, Snake drops the black briefcase before he tumbles back and down the large open drain. But the case is next seen quite a ways up from the drain even though the water flow is towards the drain; it should have gone down the drain or at least be sitting right next to it.

 

When Eddie crawls back up the manhole with the black case, Cuervo at first points a Ruger P90 pistol at him.

 

Eddie tells Cuervo that Snake's body must have washed down into Wilshire Canyon. There is no actual Wilshire Canyon in L.A., but we soon see that the big quake has apparently turned the real world Wilshire Boulevard into a canyon by splitting it down the middle.

 

Pipeline's dune buggy appears to be a VW kit car called a Meyers Manx.

 

Pipeline tells Snake that Hershe hangs with the Saigon Shadows, another fictitious street gang.

 

After Snake gains control of the car from Eddie in the alleyway and makes Eddie tell him how to find Hershe, Eddie tells him to keep going straight and make a right two blocks down. But we can see that the car is now driving the opposite direction through the alley, passing the same parking lot at 1:08:53 they passed going the other direction at 1:08:07.

 

Hershe's base of operations is seen to be the Queen Mary. It does not appear to be in Long Beach's Queensway Bay at this point; it would seem the ship was tossed into the city by enormous waves from the great quake of 2000.

 

Hershe and her men are found hanging out in the pool room of the Queen Mary. The room does not look much like the one aboard the actual ship (even accounting for the fact that the pool has been drained and empty for decades, unlike the one seen here).

 

At 1:10:33 on the DVD, a pinball machine and a jukebox are seen in Hershe's compound aboard the Queen Mary. I've not been able to identify either model, though the jukebox looks like a Wurlitzer.

 

Upon meeting Hershe, Snake realizes she's really a transgendered Carjack Malone. Malone worked with Snake and Texas Mike to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in "Draw".

 

Hershe carries a Seecamp LWS pocket pistol between her legs.

 

Eddie tells Hershe it would take 2.5 hours to reach Happy Kingdom on the 5 in the shape it's in. He is referring to Interstate 5, a freeway that runs through L.A. and right past Disneyland (Happyland) in Anaheim.

 

At 1:14:12 on the DVD, it looks as if the graffiti on the back of the Hollywood Sign may read "Cuervo".

 

Eddie uses red nail polish to place a small dot on one of his map of the stars CD's in order to make it look like the Sword of Damocles instruction CD for purposes of pulling a Texas switch on Cuervo. A "Texas switch" is an attempt to replace an object with a fake without the owner's awareness.

 

It's not very likely that Snake and the Hershe clan could fly hang gliders from the Queen Mary to the Happy Kingdom, especially considering the low altitude they take off from on the ship's deck!

 

During the hang glider flight and attack, Snake carries a modified Heckler & Koch SP89 submachine gun obtained from Hershe's people. Hershe carries a Heckler & Koch MP5K.

 

At 1:15:18 on the DVD, the sun appears to be rising as the hang gliders take off from the Queen Mary, judging by the light on the horizon. But then it is dark throughout the battle at Happy Kingdom and finale on the mainland.

 

    At 1:15:58 on the DVD, we see the full name of the Disneyland-esque theme park is Happy Kingdom by the Sea. An aerial shot of the park shows it to be on a bay of the ocean; the real Disneyland is about 10 miles inland from the ocean.

    Notice that the Happy Kingdom equivalent of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle is at top center and the Matterhorn at top right.

 

Most of the Happy Kingdom scenes take place on a set constructed to look similar to the Main Street, U.S.A. portion of Disneyland. Even the trash cans seen here look very much like the Disneyland trash cans.

 

At 1:16:57 on the DVD, a Bank of America outlet is seen inside Happy Kingdom.

 

Brazen reports to the President that they've just received word from Miami that an armada has departed Cuba and has an E.T.A. to the Florida coast of 45 minutes. The last we heard of Florida (in "Don't Let a Snake into the House"), it was an independent nation now; that was in 1997, so it's possible the U.S. took the state back in the years since then.

 

Eddie says the Happy Kingdom kept changing owners and it finally went bankrupt when the "the thing in Paris killed them." Disneyland also had a park in Paris, France (Disneyland Paris) that opened in 1992 and initially had lower than expected attendance and lost money, but began making a profit in 1995 and has continued since.

 

The USPF copter with the retracting rotor blades that arrives for the meeting with Cuervo is an unnamed, entirely fictitious model.

 

The shot of Hershe flying in on her hang glider at 1:20:29 on the DVD appears to have been flipped, as the sign for the Penny Arcade is reversed!

 

When Snake snatches the Sword of Damocles control unit off the ground a split second before Cuervo can at 1:22:54 on the DVD, a faint, cartoony sort of musical note is heard. Listen: the snatch

 

At 1:24:09 on the DVD, Cuervo fires an M16 rifle at the helicopter as Snake and crew begin to lift off.

 

At 1:24:35 on the DVD, the shooter on the right-hand side of the screen is using a SWD/Cobray Street Sweeper shotgun (with the ammo drum attached).

 

Hershe shoots apart the middle of the rope that was anchoring the helicopter to the ground. But when the copter rises up into the air in the next shot, the piece of rope that should still be dangling from the port landing skid has vanished.

 

At 1:25:10 on the DVD, Cuervo aims an M136 AT4 Anti-Tank rocket launcher at the helicopter. As he maneuvers it on his shoulder to aim, it can be obviously seen that the launcher is unloaded, you can see completely through the tube! Yet he somehow fires a rocket from it anyway!

 

In the woods, Snake finds a battered pack of American Spirit cigarettes with one cig still left in it. This is a fictitious brand (not be confused with Natural American Spirit cigarettes, coming in a completely different-looking package).

 

At the end of the movie, Snake almost seems to break the fourth wall, looking directly at the camera as if at us and saying as the picture fades to black, "Welcome to the human race."

 

The song that plays over the closing credits of the film is "The One" by White Zombie, written for the film. 

 

Unanswered Questions

 

How did the future president know that a tremendous earthquake would separate Los Angeles from the mainland of California? Just a lucky guess?

 

Is Map to the Stars Eddie still alive on the island? We see that he survived the jump from the helicopter near the end of the film.

 

What will become of the nations/society/humanity on Earth after Snake disables electronic devices around the globe with the Sword of Damocles?

 

Memorable Quotes

 

like the mighty fist of God.wav

Los Angeles Island.wav

escape from L.A.wav

late-breaking story.wav

war hero, criminal, the Force's most wanted man.wav

Plissken sightings.wav

welcome to L.A.wav

good old days.wav

S.D. Bob Plissken.wav

you now have the option to repent of your sins and be electrocuted.wav

I thought we had you in Cleveland.wav

sad story.wav

I'm going to Hollywood.wav

sounds familiar.wav

freedom in America.wav

you better hope I don't make it back.wav

thought you might try that.wav

I kinda thought you'd be taller.wav

Bangkok rules.wav

draw.wav

Snake Plissken cruisin' Sunset Blvd.wav

don't make noise.wav

I used to be.wav

I thought you'd be taller.wav

all of a sudden they made it a crime.wav

dark paradise.wav

send it right back to the Dark Ages.wav

Plissken's been dead so many times, I can't count them all.wav

I give you the death of Snake Plissken.wav

this is L.A.wav

this town loves a winner.wav

that's why I left your ass in Cleveland.wav

take her to the chair.wav

lame switch.wav

land of the free.wav

catches on quick.wav

I told you you better hope I didn't make it back.wav

he shut down the Earth.wav

welcome to the human race.wav 

 

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