Under the Spotlight: Harry Dean Stanton’s resourceful and smart ‘Escape from New York’ survivor

Posted On July 20, 2024July 20, 2024

Throughout his career, Harry Dean Stanton largely played supporting roles. Still, he held such performative talent that he often delivered the most memorable performance in a given movie. Sure, Stanton had a handful of lead roles in the likes of Paris, Texas, and Lucky, but for the most part, he was a man who could emerge from the background yet still command an audience’s attention.

Among several excellent efforts in movies such as Alien, Repo Man, Pretty in Pink, The Green Mile, Wild and Heart and The Last Temptation of Christ, Stanton delivered a magnificent portrayal in John Carpenter’s 1981 science fiction action film Escape from New York as Harold ‘Brain’ Hellman, providing a crucial part of the high-octane narrative.

The film tells of a future version of Manhattan that has been turned into an unguarded maximum security prison and the task of Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken to rescue the President of the United States from the violent and dangerous wasteland. Eventually, Snake meets up with his former associate Brain, who serves as the right-hand man to The Duke, a powerful crime boss of Manhattan.

Juxtaposed with the chaos and depravity of Manhattan, Brain is defined by his intelligence and style, matched by his doting girlfriend, Maggie, played with equal brilliance by Adrienne Barbeau. In addition to his wit and smarts, which suit his character’s nickname, Stanton can portray Brain as a man who has lived through some harrowing experiences. However, he is resilient enough to survive in the most dangerous environments.

Because of that, the audience gains an air of sympathy for Brain, although this is put at risk when he initially betrays Snake. What makes Escape from New York so interesting is its lack of morality. This is a world where ethical considerations are thrown out the window, and both Russell and Stanton’s ability to convey moral ambiguity is what simultaneously makes their characters feel fearsome and yet likeable.

As is often the case with many of Stanton’s greatest supporting role performances, his effort as Brain is one of subtlety. Rather than lean into the over-the-top qualities of Russell, he instead taps into a restrained form of acting, at points using only his eyes or barely perceptible gestures to indicate his emotions or motives, particularly in moments with Russell’s Plissken, who he has a complicated relationship and history with.

When discussing his impression of Stanton, John Carpenter once told The Guardian, “He was an accomplished character actor and a unique man. He would come absolutely prepared for his part and ad-lib things that weren’t in the script but which were hilarious. He did that, especially on Escape from New York; he made that character his own. He saw that character as a sort of poet, like Lord Byron. I hadn’t thought of it, but it was great.”

That kind of on-the-fly approach to acting makes Stanton’s portrayal of Brain all the more impressive. While he may initially seem like a self-benefitting schemer of notable intelligence, Stanton can give his character another, more vulnerable side that shows his camaraderie, particularly when he properly joins forces with Snake in his mission to save the president.

Harry Dean Stanton didn’t necessarily need to be the first name on the call sheet to steal the show of a movie, and even up against the power and might of Kurt Russell, in Escape from New York, he showed his ability to give just as memorable a performance as the leading man. Through Brain, we saw Stanton deliver his considered and nuanced form of acting subtlety, yet another integral piece of his wider acting brilliance.

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