Opening narration: In 1988 the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent. The once great city of New York becomes the one maximum security prison for the entire country. A fifty-foot containment wall is erected along the New Jersey shoreline across the Harlem River and down along the Brooklyn shoreline. It completely surrounds Manhattan Island. All bridges and waterways are mined. The United States police force, like an army, is encamped around the island. There are no guards inside the prison, only the prisoners and the world they have made. The rules are simple: once you go in, you don't come out.
Bob Hauk: It's the survival of the human race, Plissken. Something you don't give a shit about.
Brain: I swear to God, Snake, I thought you were dead.
Snake Plissken: Yeah. You and everybody else.
Girl in "Chock Full O'Nuts": You're a cop.
Snake Plissken: I'm an asshole.
Bob Hauk: I'm not a fool, Plissken.
Snake Plissken: Call me "Snake."
Snake Plissken: What's wrong with Broadway?
Bob Hauk: We'd make one hell of a team, Snake.
Snake Plissken: The name's Plissken.
President: God save me, and watch over you all.
Bob Hauk: You going to kill me, Snake?
Snake Plissken: I'm too tired. Maybe later.
Bob Hauk: I got another deal for you. I'd like you to think it over while you're resting. I'd like to offer you a job. We'd make one hell of a team, Snake.
Snake Plissken: The name's Plissken.
Computer Voice: Attention. You are now entering the Debarkation Area. No talking. No smoking. Follow the orange line to the Processing Area. The next scheduled departure to the prison is in two hours. You now have the option to terminate and be cremated on the premises. If you elect this option, notify the Duty Sergeant in your Processing Area.
Bob Hauk: There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board.
Snake Plissken: The president of what?
Chosen answer: During a mission known as the "Leningrad Ruse." He and his flight squadron were sent unknowingly on a suicide mission. During it, his goggles cracked and let in a poisonous gas, paralyzing his iris. He has to wear the patch because his eye can't focus against bright light, causing pain. This is mentioned in the novelization.
LorgSkyegon