Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) Review

Director: John Carpenter

Starring: Austin Stoker, Darwing Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Nancy Meyers, Tony Burton

Country: United States

Over the last year, Scream Factory, a subset of Shout Factory, has released several John Carpenter films on high definition Blu Ray. Besides remastering nearly all of Carpenter's lesser known horror films, the company has given the HD treatment to two of the director's action flicks: They Live and Assault on Precinct 13. While most people know Carpenter for being strictly the horror guy, one can tell that Carpenter's real passion and love for film lies in his adoration of both the horror genre and the western. Fortunately for us action junkies, Assault on Precinct 13 blends both. In doing so, Carpenter crafts a gritty and realistic actioner that pays homage to two of his favorites, The Night of the Living Dead and Rio Bravo.

Carpenter's title cards are so simple yet affective.

The film has a basic premise that one could find in any standard action film. What is interesting is what happens before we arrive to the eventual assault on Precinct 13. The film takes a good 40 minutes following four sets of characters until they all convene with one another at Precinct 13.

The film's prolouge sets everything into motion. A few members of a South Central Los Angelese gang steal several guns and go on the run. The police eventually catch up to them and gun them all down in an alley.

1. Four members of the gang swear a blood oath to simply go on a rampage against all citizens of L.A. 

2. A father and his daughter stop for ice cream. When the gang members slaughter his daughter, the father kills one of the men and runs to Precinct 13 for shelter.

3. A warden has to transfer three of his prisoners to death row. When one of them gets sick, he chooses to stop at the nearest precinct, 13 to be exact.

4. A new police lieutenant is assigned to stay with the remaining skeleton crew at the soon to be shut down Precinct 13. 

Silenced Mausers: a rarity in any present day action flick.

I absolutely love how these stories all convene into one setting and location for the big showdown. The rest of the film than feels like The Night of the Living Dead as the surviving prisoners and cops fight off every single member of the "Cholo" gang from getting inside of the precinct. 

The main lieutenant, Ethan Bishop, is played very well by Austin Stoker. Stoker reminds me of Jim Kelly (Enter the Dragon) or Fred Williamson (The Inglorious Bastards), except that he is not as self aware as to how bad ass he is. Stoker is an honorable man who is willing to sacrifice his own life for the safety of some random man who just barged into the police station. I find any character with that kind of moral code to be extremely likable. Stoker is also really good at firing a bolt action rifle. He's so good in fact that he is able to hip fire the dang thing point blank into numerous gang members' heads!

The beauty of blanks.

The other two notable lead characters are the main prisoner Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) and Leigh (Laurie Zimmer). Wilson is an extremely bad ass prisoner who doesn't seem like he truly belongs in prison. While his backstory is never fully explained, I'd figure that he was the kind of guy who was put into an unfair position that unfortunately landed him jail. He also has a knack for blasting gang members with a pump shotgun. The other character is the film's lead female, Leigh. While she maintains the same bland emotion throughout the entire film, I actually really enjoyed her character. She maintained her cool throughout everything, kills at least four of the gang members, and even gets shot and takes it like a man! 

The film also has several memorable supporting players. One of the most notable has to be the four main gang members seen throughout the first 40 minutes of the film. These guys are incredibly menacing. They slit their arms for a blood oath and drive around sniping people for fun! They also only speak one line each in the entire film. This is another stroke of genius by Carpenter. By having the gang members not speak, we view them as unstoppable machines of destruction and evil. The other comparison is to that of zombies (yet another connection to The Night of the Living Dead). They rush blindly towards Precinct 13 and kill with no remorse.

Poor girl.

The most memorable supporting character of them all goes to the poor daughter of the father. This girl just wanted to get some ice cream and ends up meeting face to face with the lead member of the gang. He shoots her right in the chest, killing her instantly. This scene was apparently very controversial upon the time of its release. I think that while the scene is pretty shocking, it is not as disturbing as some scenes that one can find in far more visceral films.

Other aesthetic touches I enjoyed were just simply the benefits of the time period. There were no digital effects in the films of the 1970's. Therefore, all of the blood and gun effects are provided by pure and unabashed squibs and blanks. The squibs are especially bloody. When the guards and warden are gunned down in the precinct's garage, the blasts of blood that fly off of them are extremely gory. This film was also John Carpenter's second effort and it features one of his earliest synthesized scores. I love John Carpenter's film scores and this one is just as memorable as the synthesized scores heard in Escape From New York and Halloween II.

One of the best shots in the film. The Gang.

The film's master achievement is in blending elements from The Night of the Living Dead and Rio Bravo. The film's Western elements can be seen in that very few people of the law (a police officer or a sheriff) have to face off against many outlaws (gang members). The film also takes place inside of a jail, a setting that can be found in many Westerns. Weapons such as rifles, revolvers, and shotguns are also very prevalent in Westerns too. 

The horror elements can be seen in how cruel and unrelenting the "Cholo" gang members are. They operate like zombies. It seems that there is an infinite amount of these guys. They pour through the windows and break down doors just like Night's undead creatures. The lead character, Ethan Bishop, also reminds me of the lead character in Night. They are both African American men who take charge of an extremely dangerous situation. Even though Carpenter had originally wanted to make a Western, his genre mixer is still a great flick worth being proud of.

"Which of us do you think lives?"

Rating: 8/10 - John Carpenter's very first action film boasts some tense scenes, a memorable score, great characters, and a realistic tone that makes for a very gritty mid '70's actioner.

The Extras: 

Best Kill: As a bunch of gang members break into the main office, Bishop tosses a pump shotgun to Wilson. He turns around and blasts the crap out of three gang members. It's extremely awesome and totally unforgettable.

Best Line/Exchange: "Anybody got a smoke?" says Wilson about a hundred billion times in the film. While I found this line to be pretty annoying, I enjoyed how it was eventually Leigh who pulls out a cigarette and hands it over to him. It makes for a semi-touching scene and it comes right after a scene filled with violent tension.

Best Action Scene: The first attempt by the gang to break through all of the windows is definitely the highlight of the film. It features the most gunfire in the flick and is extremely bad ass. You could say that all three of these The Extras bits are within the same scene in this film.

Also Check Out:

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) - An unnecessary John Carpenter remake. I have not seen the film but by the looks of the film's trailer, it definitely looks like a major dumbing down of an already simple and basic film.

The Night of the Living Dead (1969) - Even though I mentioned it a lot within my review, I would highly recommend checking out this film. It's the original zombie film and essential for any horror or action fan to check out.

Dirty Harry (1971) - I'm going to list this film because Precinct 13 features a lot of police officers fighting against criminals with guns and bloody squibs. The original Dirty Harry has a lot of this and will definitely please fans of gritty and violent actioners.