Number One With A Bullet
John Carpenter made such benchmark films as “Halloween,” “The Fog” and the first remake of “The Thing.” One of my favorite Carpenter films is the dystopian 1981 classic “Escape from New York.”
The plot line of the movie has Air Force One crashing into Manhattan Island in the not-too-distant future. According to the narrative, Manhattan has been walled off and transformed into a maximum-security prison populated with the worst dregs and criminals America can produce.
With time winding down on an international summit which could threaten the fate of the entire planet, Snake Plissken, a former Special Forces soldier played by Kurt Russell and condemned for life for robbing the Federal Reserve bank, is the world’s last hope. Plissken reluctantly agrees to infiltrate the island prison and rescue the President in exchange for a pardon for his past crimes
The Duke of New York, a flamboyantly insane character played by Isaac Hayes, runs the prison from the inside. Snake embarks on his mission armed with a sound suppressed 9mm MAC-10 submachine gun equipped with a telescopic sight as well as a Smith & Wesson Model 67 .38 Special pistol, also sporting an optical sight. In relatively short order Snake is captured and the MAC-10 falls into the hands of The Duke.
At one point the President, played by Donald Pleasence, is secured to a wall, the briefcase containing a tape critical to the success of the summit chained to his wrist. The Duke amuses himself by using the MAC-10 in semi-auto to shoot an outline of bullet holes around the terrified President. In a stroke of luck, The Duke nails the latch on the President’s briefcase and the vital tape falls to the ground where a lunatic named Romero recovers it.
To replicate this shot we arranged a standard silhouette at 20 meters and reclined comfortably with our MAC-10 in the manner of The Duke. Taking our time and likewise shooting semi-auto, we traced the outline of the target through a full magazine. While the MAC-10 submachine gun is hardly known for its accuracy potential, we did a decent job of replicating The Duke’s performance. We might have nicked Mr. Pleasence here and there, but he would have survived.