Escape from New York (1981)
Escape from New York is John Carpenter's dystopian action film and one of the foundational works of 1980s post-apocalyptic cinema. Carpenter directed and co-wrote with Nick Castle.
Actor: Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef spent fifteen years playing henchmen who die in westerns, including a silent role in High Noon, before Sergio Leone cast him in For a Few Dollars More and made him a lead in Italy at forty.
The face is the instrument: hawk nose, narrow eyes, and an absolute stillness that Leone shot in extreme close-up for minutes at a time.
For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly are the essential ones, and his Angel Eyes is a genuinely frightening screen villain because he is never in a hurry.
He worked in Italian and later Hong Kong productions for the rest of his career, including Escape from New York for John Carpenter.
