Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

The light of the police siren shines upon the infested streets of a metropolis. As it searches for potential trouble, darkness hides beyond the reach of the men in uniform. One threat could be the Crips, another could be the Gambino crime family, and yet another could be the Japanese mafia. The search to find a way to take down these gangs can be a frustrating issue, given how not only large they are, but of how connected they could be to the neighborhood. Just getting rid of the troublemakers could spell the end of street that had been operating in that manner for years. So how do we take them down?

The problem in a lot of major cities is that these groups aren't just big, but can often have hundreds of members that are trained to blend in with society. The man selling hot dogs and even fellow police could be a possible member. This is certainly not a new thing as federal forces have had to deal with this for years. Today's movie takes us back to the 1970's in a crowded, yet secluded area of Los Angeles that involves few fighting many in Assault on Precinct 13.

Within the Anderson ghetto of South Central, a local gang called Street Thunder has just stolen a large amount of ammunition. The LAPD manages to kill a bunch during an ambush, but that was just opening the floodgates. Recently appointed CHP officer Ethan Bishop (played by Austin Stoker) is assigned to supervise the last day of the thirteenth precinct before it moves. In there are Sergeant Chaney and two secretaries, Leigh and Julie. At the same time, a bus with three prisoners is forced to stop at the precinct as one of them is sick. While their waiting for medical attention, a shell-shocked man bursts in.

It turned out that his daughter was gunned down by Street Thunder gang members and he retaliated by shooting a warlord. They in turn chased him and saw that he ran inside the precinct. Just before help can be called, the phone and power is cut as possibly a hundred more members reign a hail of gunfire. Several people are hit, with Bishop, Leigh, and two of the prisoners, Wilson (Played by Darwin Joston) and Wells surviving. With much of the bodies and blood mysteriously cleaned up by Street Thunder, those in the thirteenth precinct have to try to survive before they get in.

For his first movie, John Carpenter hit a home run with Assault on Precinct 13. While not having any big stars and mostly confined to this one location, the movie makes up by having a tense tone throughout. And this is even before everyone is trapped. The sequence involving Street Thunder just looking through a gun scope to find people to kill gives you that sense that there is nothing redeemable about these people. That's probably why when they descend onto the police precinct, they seems like living zombies from Night of the Living Dead.

As he probably couldn't afford anyone major, this forces all the main characters to have some well- defined personalities that made you root for them. I really got into Austin Stoker as the new guy on the block, trying to figure out the best way to make do with the few weapons they have. He's an example of how a leader is done right in this situation. This balances out well with Darwin Ioston, who seems relaxed about the situation, as if he's seen far worse, and is a likely, though unsure ally. This makes for some interesting banter.

Along with the good script is some great, even frightening action. The film is smart to never have a leader of Street Thunder, causing us to view the villa

Fmovies: `Assault on Precinct 13' shows Carpenter in the fine creative form of his earlier days, when he produced such thriller and horror gems like `Halloween', `The Thing' and this little movie. As usual he eschews a complex plot in favour of a great little central concept - in this case a group of civilians, prisoners and police trapped in a deserted police station under siege from a mysterious gang who want to get at one man inside.

The acting in these movies is generally bland, but Carpenter at least breathes some dimension into his characters. The lead role goes to Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), the cop in charge of minding the building for the night. Naturally he's honourable but there's also a good sense of pragmatism to his character. Similarly the prisoner Napoleon (Darwin Joston) isn't just a criminal - there's something quite human to him. The same goes for the civilians caught up - despite their disparities the characters become a relatively cohesive unit that's quite believable, enjoyable without veering into grating sentimentality ever. Naturally a lot of them are cannon fodder but the loss of individuals in such movies is one of the anticipations you expect in the genre.

Carpenter did a great service by making the protagonists of the piece silent. They never utter a word. They have nothing in common, hailing from all races. We have no motivation for their actions and thankfully we're spared weak, and frankly pointless, excuses. Instead their blank faced determinism, and the manner in which they mete out death, lends them a horrific cold bloodedness that is far more memorable than typical thriller character building. There's not so much a sense of palpable evil but a much more terrifying sense of complete inhumanity. Carpenter also uses his great skills with claustrophobia - even the outdoor scenes are deserted, lonely, isolated. The actual station under siege is well designed - we're made aware of the layout quickly, before the action starts, so that the action sequences make sense without confusing us on issues of location. The darkness of the proceedings - pale lighting and so forth - add to the edgy mood of the characters. And Carpenter once again has a nice musical score accompanying his movie - it may sound dated, but it suits the ambience and atmosphere to a tee.

`Assault on Precinct 13' is hardly clever. It's not claiming to be. It's a low budget work with a central `siege' idea. It works because of the claustrophobic element, the feeling of desperation in the characters, some neat villains and fairly well fleshed characters. It may not be the pinnacle of its type, but it sure is enjoyable while it lasts. 6.8/10.

Ackowledged by it's own creator on the DVD, Assault on Precinct 13 is a bit more of a hybrid than just a sheer homage to Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo. It has traces of that (editing name, ho-ho), and of the Western specifics in bits of the storytelling devices and stereotypes. But it also has traces of the horror film, of the basic theme of demise by outside forces that not only rests in the best of zombie films but also in a lot of Carpenter's later work. What makes the film seem fresh today, even if it takes its time to get started in the first half hour, is how focused the action is around the story. Even with these basic characters- those with speaking parts closer to archetypes than not- it all works. It's a practically-perfect midnight movie.

You've got your good guys, a mix of cops and criminals (one of them, Darwin Joston's Napoleon Wilson, has enough style as an actor without even flinching at times). And you've got the ravenous gang (achem, zombies) out for blood after a gun down by a vengeful father. What surprising about how this very simple premise is set up, of a showdown in the worst pit of Los Angeles, is how it's all close to being just a pure exploitation film. But there's some thought or maybe just music to the film (not the actual music, though that's cool in its way) just as relentless as in Carpenter's other work, maybe even more in its rough way. It is a violent film, but the violence comes and goes leaving more room for talk than one might expect given it's by-a-thread rating. It's quite clear where the visual style would end up lending itself to in later years too (i.e. Reservoir Dogs).

When taking aside the occasional misstep, like an unneeded (suggested) sub-plot (not that Joston or Laurie Zimmer are bad actors, but they lack chemistry), Assault on Precinct 13 comes out without many scratches at all. It's a lean film at 90 minutes, with enough tension for two more. When it is shocking it shocks, when it wants a cheap, solid laugh or (more often) grin it comes through, and it doesn't pull any punches in letting you know here and there this is nothing more than a genre exercise. That Carpenter is able to pull it off so un-pretentiously is a credit to his first inspiration, as well as to the spirit of the long boiled ingredients of older films. In short, the most cult you can find by the filmmaker without going to his previous effort Dark Star. Grade: A

Assault on Precinct 13 fmovies. The gritty, stylish 'Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)' is my first experience with American director John Carpenter, labelled an "auteur" by the French and a "bum" by his compatriots. At this early stage, I'm siding with the French. This is one of the definitive "siege films," a deft, low-budget blend of the American Western (let's say '3:10 to Yuma (1957)') and a zombie movie ('Night of the Living Dead (1968)' being an obvious influence). In modern-day Los Angeles, the lone inhabitants of a closing-down police station – among them police officers (Austin Stoker), secretaries (Laurie Zimmer), and prisoners (an ice-cool Darwin Joston) – are affronted by dozens of armed gangsters, who are waging a bloody war with the authorities as payback for recent gang-member deaths.

After an extended prologue, in which disparate story lines fatalistically converge on each other (and featuring one particularly nasty moment than nearly landed the film an X-rating) the siege scenario beginsÂ… and the tension rarely lets up. One sequence in particular, a tense crawl towards a parked car, had me holding my breath for minutes, its conclusion a veritable kick in the guts. Carpenter, assisted by his own low-key but insistent synchronised score, manipulates the film's urban setting to his advantage: isolation becomes so much more unbearable when civilisation is so near, and yet so unattainable. Chillingly, most of the antagonists themselves remain faceless shadows in the darkness, representing an incomprehensible force of evil, consumed by bloodlust, and unafraid of the consequences.

When a man and his daughter drive down the wrong street they get into the middle of a gang shooting. The little girl is killed and the father left distraught, but armed with another victim's gun. He catches up with the gang and kills the leader before seeking refuge in a local police station. However the station is only manned by a few staff as it is in the process of being shut down. A prison wagon also arrives at the station with sick prisoners for temporary holding – however it is then that the street gang launch their attack with stolen and silenced automatic weapons.

I had half watched this film several years ago and didn't review it then because I knew I had been distracted and not able to give it enough attention to be able to form a fair opinion of it – however I didn't really enjoy it then. Giving it another chance produced a much more enjoyable film, even if it seems very basic on the face of it. The plot seems very simple and, in fairness, it is – gang outside, people inside, people try to keep gang out and stay alive. This is doing it a disservice of course because it creates an enjoyable tension from this simple set-up and delivers some enjoyable (if basic) action and thrills. The direction is good; my personal favourite shot being the shot near the end where the smoke clears! This effective delivery is also aided by Carpenter's own score that is nicely pulsating and still sounds great even if it is dated – the important thing is that it still fits the film and therefore works.

The dialogue is trashy but this fits the slight b-movie feel the film has. The characters are also quite simple (very basic backgrounds and personalities for each) but again this seems to work really well. The strength of having a mostly unknown cast is that you can't be sure who will live or die by the end of the film. Despite being mostly unknowns (to me anyway) the performances are generally very enjoyable even if no Oscars are being given out. Stoker and Joston lead the film really well and give good, natural performances with an overflow of charisma. I don't know the other's outside of these two but the rest were good as well, even if the film belongs to Bishop and Wilson. I was a bit let down by the lack of a central bad guy but in one regard the film also uses this well by making the gang an unseen threat that could be an isolated group or an army.

Overall this is a very basic film in several regards, but it is also a very effective and enjoyable one. If you are looking for film references then there are some to be had but for most of us the film's charismatic leads, action and effective tension will be what we stay for – and luckily it has all those with some to spare.

I long for the days when John Carpenter was ingenious enough to make such excellent films as his classics like Halloween, Escape From New York, and of course, The Thing. He's gone way downhill since those glory days but thankfully he built himself enough of a legacy that the aforementioned films will be the one's he is known for, along with a little film called Assault of Precinct 13. This is one of Carpenter's very first films, made back in 1976. It tells the story of a group of people holed up in a police station that is under siege by a ruthless South Los Angeles gang. It is a wicked film full of intense action, riveting suspense, and an incredible score written by Carpenter himself. It is a brief 90 minute flick that has a very low budget indie feel to it, but this only adds to the experience which makes this film into something truly remarkable.

It's hard to place exactly why I love this film. It is one of those that seems like it shouldn't be nearly as enjoyable and excellent as it is. There's plenty of cheese and its a very small scale low budget flick that doesn't possess any kind of pizazz, no remarkable production value, and no big name stars to carry the film. But it might just be all of these things that combine to make this film so much fun and so incredibly compelling. Carpenter makes the most out of what little he has and makes a uniquely awesome film. Herein lies a style that you either love or hate. If you can stand low budget action then you should love this film, as I do. If you long for something bigger then chances are you won't get much out of this. It's a matter of personal preference, but my preferences make me enjoy this film almost too much.

Something else that makes this film work is its overall tone. It's a very serious and hard hitting film. It is brutal and unapologetic when it comes to the level of violence, and it doesn't hold back. The immense darkness of the film makes us believe in what we are seeing and draws us deep into the film's driving emotion and sincerely intense action. This film is not satire, it's not a farce, it's not a parody. It is it's own type of film, managing to be utterly serious and absolutely wicked. This is a must see whether you are a John Carpenter fan or not.