Snake Plissken
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S.D "Snake" Plissken is the main character in John Carpenter's films Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., played by Kurt Russell.
Snake Plissken is a former U.S Army Lieutenant. He is an ex-war hero, the youngest soldier to be awarded by the U.S President, for bravery during campaigns in Leningrad and Siberia in World War III. Somewhere along the line he turned to a life of crime, with partners Harold Hellman (later known as Brain) and Fresno Bob. In Kansas City in 1993 Hellman apparently let Plissken and Fresno Bob get cornered by police (when they meet later, Brain says "You were late"), at which time Fresno Bob was apparently killed.
Snake was arrested in 1997 after breaking into the U.S Federal Reserve, and sentenced to life in New York Maximum Security Prison (the entire island of Manhattan, surrounded by a wall). At this time, however, Air Force One was hijacked and crashed into Manhattan, and the President was captured by the "Duke of New York". Snake was offered a full pardon for every criminal action he'd committed if he would go in and rescue the President within 24 hours. He succeeded, with the help of Harold Hellman (now known as Brain, and working for the Duke of New York), Brain's "squeeze" Maggie, and a cab driver nicknamed Cabby, all of whom died in their escape.
16 years later Snake was once again enlisted for a similar situation, this time to rescue the President's daughter Utopia from the prison of Los Angeles (which had separated from the mainland in an earthquake).
Plissken's name and nickname are referenced in the Metal Gear Solid series of video games, where the main character's codename is Solid Snake and one of his aliases is Iroquois Plissken.