John Carpenter, widely regarded as one of the most influential directors of all time, even recently being cited by Jordan Peele as the world’s greatest horror director, has delivered to the world some of Hollywood’s most memorable and original movies, including Assault on Precinct 13, The Fog, Star Man, Christine and of course the original Halloween.
Kurt Russell, prior to working with Carpenter, was, per Mice Chat, the poster boy for Disney’s live-action movies. After teaming up with the renowned genre director, however, he found his mojo and managed to transition from family friendly comedy actor to cult hero over the course of the 80s, thanks to his collaborative work with Carpenter. Although he’s dabbled in almost every genre imaginable, his tenure as Carpenter’s go-to leading man has had an undeniable impact on his career, influencing his style and movie choices to this very day. Below, we have analyzed and ranked every movie the iconic duo have worked on together.
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5 Elvis
Dick Clark Productions
The first time the now legendary duo worked together was in 1979 for the made-for-TV movie Elvis, in which Russell plays the titular character based on the life of the King of Rock’n’roll, Elvis Presley. It was a fitting role for Russell, considering his first ever movie appearance was in 1963 in It Happened at the World’s Fair and was alongside the king himself, seeing Russell, as a child, kick Elvis in the shins. Russell’s work on Carpenter’s film didn’t go unnoticed, with him receiving a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie. While it didn’t have the stature and reach as later projects between Carpenter and Russell, the chemistry was apparent and laid the groundwork for what was to come.
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4 Escape From LA
Universal Pictures
While still fun, still action-packed, and certainly still exhilarating, unfortunately, after a 15-year hiatus the follow-up to Escape From New York just was unable to make quite the same splash as its predecessor. Russell definitely hadn’t lost any of his trademark charisma. Escape From LA’s plot was very similar to the original, making it lack that originality that made the first so exciting at the time. It also upped the ante in campiness and cartoonish excesses, which, in addition to the inclusion of cult favorites like Bruce Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Pam Grier, and Peter Fonda, may have gone down well with genre fans and Carpenter loyalists, but not so much with mainstream audiences.
3 Big Trouble in Little China
20th Century Fox
Not one to be pigeonholed into any one particular genre or style, Carpenter took on directing duties for Big Trouble in Little China, an action-adventure movie that also contained elements of fantasy and comedy with some martial arts and even a little horror. The bizarre combination of influences and styles resulted in an intriguing, fun, and interesting movie that, at the time of its release, may have been a bit much for some to get their heads’ around and was, unfortunately, a critical and commercial failure and marked the end of Carpenter’s run of success.
Having said that, there’s absolutely no denying the originality and entertainment value found in both Carpenter’s unique style of direction and Russell’s undeniable charisma, getting to flex both his comedic and action acting chops, two styles he’d had plenty of experience in, but not necessarily in the same movie. The film has since gone on to be reappraised, with many now rating it among Russell and Carpenter’s greatest, and, like many other of their movies, it has amassed a large and dedicated cult following, which has helped see it recuperate a lot of the money it lost at the box office in home media sales over the years.
2 Escape from New York
Embassy Pictures
Still riding high on the success of Halloween and The Fog, Carpenter now had the influence in Hollywood to begin work on a project he had begun writing in the mid-70s in reaction to the Watergate Scandal. Following the small screen success of Elvis, it made perfect sense to bring former collaborator Russell back into the fold for their big screen collaborative debut in what would become one of Russell’s iconic roles of all time, despite pressure from financial backers to cast an actor with more of an existing hard man image, like Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones.
Set in the near future of 1997, in which Manhattan Island has been converted into a giant prison to deal with the huge increase of crime, Russell plays Snake Plissken, a grizzled rough and ready, eye patch-wearing convict sent by the Government to rescue the President who has been taken hostage on that very island of dangerous criminals.
Escape From New York is insanely enjoyable, and the action never lets down, resulting in a kind of sci-fi dystopian version of The Warriors. Starring alongside genre favorites including Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes, and Tom Atkins, the film was largely responsible for the reinvention of Russell’s career from Disney star to action hero / cult icon. The movie went on to become a hit with critics and fans and has since secured legendary cult status.
1 The Thing
The original The Thing or The Thing from the Other World (full title) was a black and white science fiction movie released in 1951, directed by Christian Nyby and based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell. It was a minor hit at the time of its release, eventually becoming the highest-grossing science fiction film of the year. As time passed, appreciation for the movie increased, further resulting in it scoring a solid 86% on film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
By 1982, much of the mainstream audience had long forgotten the original, and Carpenter had stepped in and teamed up with an ensemble cast including Russell to remake the movie, which tells the story of a group of American researchers in Antarctica who encounter the “Thing”, a vicious bloodthirsty alien creature which can imitate other organisms.
Carpenter’s remake of The Thing, while still rooted firmly in the sci-fi genre, contained far more elements of horror and was a masterclass in both suspense and tension and also outright blood and gore. The movie was a minor hit at the time, but has since been acknowledged as one of the most important and influential movies in the sci-fi and horror genres, receiving particular praise for its use of practical effects (which reportedly took up $1.5 million of the movie’s budget) and its combination of breathtaking cinematography and creating intense feelings of claustrophobia. Released just one year after Escape from New York, it continued Russell’s career rejuvenation and Carpenter’s ascent as one of the most exciting directors on the planet.
