"Escape from...MARTA?" (YouTube Clip)

[sabino86]

For those like me who are fans of the 1981 John Carpenter cult-classic Escape from New York, this is a little something I found that was pretty damn cool (the original deleted opening to the film).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1drBZe23dao

Yes, that is the MARTA system you are looking at (and a handy guide below):

5:26-5:46: Filmed at the Hartsfield International Airport people-mover (Concourse A).

5:46-6:39: Filmed at the Ashby MARTA station on the West Line

6:40-8:12: Filmed on an actual MARTA train (original Franco-Belge 1979 rolling stock with padded seats)

8:13-10:55: Filmed at the Omni MARTA station on the West Line (now the Dome-GWCC-Philips Arena-CNN Center station)

I find it hilarious (and a bit ironic) that a movie set in New York (yet actually mostly filmed in St. Louis) actually used MARTA to portray a subway (although at the time it looked futuristic).

Awesome nonetheless (and Kurt Russell is a badass too).

[Andrea]

Very cool! MARTA was very futuristic at the time.

Thanks, Sabino.

[ThrashATL]

Great find! Amazing how dated MARTA now looks when it looked futuristic then.

[Teshadoh]

Very cool - great find. One of my favorite films.

[sabino86]

Originally Posted by ThrashATL

Great find! Amazing how dated MARTA now looks when it looked futuristic then.

Tell me about it. But that's what deferred maintenance will do to it (Note how clean the stations were).

[Andrea]

I guess all those big city types in California and New York City figured we were too much of a podunk town to even be mentioned by name.

[sunking1056]

Originally Posted by sabino86

Note how clean the stations were.

Are you implying they're not clean now? Cause I find both the stations and trains to be very clean. It's incredibly refreshing after living in New York.

[Atlantan26]

our train system is much more up to date and clean compared to what chicagoans deal with.

[sabino86]

Originally Posted by sunking1056

Are you implying they're not clean now? Cause I find both the stations and trains to be very clean. It's incredibly refreshing after living in New York.

Not as clean as they were when the system opened (although given that the system is nearly three decades old, it's expected). However, some of the stations need a renovation BAD (Five Points, Civic Center, North Avenue for example).

[ThrashATL]

Originally Posted by sabino86

Not as clean as they were when the system opened (although given that the system is nearly three decades old, it's expected). However, some of the stations need a renovation BAD (Five Points, Civic Center, North Avenue for example).

Just taking a hose, soap and a brush to 5 Points would help. The place is greasy, dank and very uninviting.

[phantom]

MARTA got used in the 1985 movie "The Heavenly Kid", too. The early scene where the newly dead kid is supposedly entering into the acceptance hall of heaven is clearly filmed in the Peachtree Center MARTA station.

The rough-hewn walls & long, long escalator are flare-lit tip-offs! I laughed when I first saw the scene!

[sabino86]

Originally Posted by phantom

MARTA got used in the 1985 movie "The Heavenly Kid", too. The early scene where the newly dead kid is supposedly entering into the acceptance hall of heaven is clearly filmed in the Peachtree Center MARTA station.

The rough-hewn walls & long, long escalator are flare-lit tip-offs! I laughed when I first saw the scene!

Yeah I remember that movie. Pure 80's cheese...

And for your enjoyment:

A clip of MARTA purgatory

[phantom]

Ha, ha! That's the scene. Peachtree Center Station never looked so good. I guess I could look up just how new it was at the time.

Originally Posted by sabino86

Yeah I remember that movie. Pure 80's cheese...

And for your enjoyment:

A clip of MARTA purgatory