Assaut

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 begins… 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.

Watching John Carpenter's latest 'Ghosts Of Mars' recently I couldn't help but wonder what happened to Carpenter's vision. 'Assault On Precinct 13' was made 25 years earlier on probably a tenth of the budget and is basically the same movie only ten times better! Carpenter self-consciously uses Hawks' 'Rio Bravo', adds a touch of Romero's 'Night Of The Living Dead' and comes up with arguably the most exciting siege movie of all time. This gem is a perfect example of superior low budget film making. Relative unknowns Austin Stoker ('Abby') and Darwin Joston ('Eraserhead') are both outstanding as the stars of this taut and unpredictable thriller, and the supporting cast includes Laurie Zimmer (sadly her only movie), Nancy Loomis ('Halloween'), Kim Richards ('The Car' - in the movie's most controversial and memorable scene), and Carpenter semi-regular Charles Cyphers ('Escape From New York'). One of Carpenter's best efforts and overall an extraordinarily underrated movie. 'Assault On Precinct 13' is a classic! Add this to your "must see" list immediately!

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.

John Carpenter is the master of the B-Movie genre, making well-liked films such as Halloween (birth of the slasher film), Big Trouble in Little China and Escape to New York. Assault on Precinct 13 is one of Carpenter's best, and one of my favourites of his.

In Los Andres gang-warfare is troubling the streets, and one gang was able to steel some advanced weapons to use for their mayhem. The gang, Street Thunder play revenge on the LAPD and swear a blood oath. On his first day on the job, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), is assigned to run Precinct 9, Division 13 police station, a station about to closed down, and running on a skeleton staff. At the same time Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston), a prisoner on his way to death row is transfered, but on the way to a high security prison, a prisoner becomes ill and they have to stop at Bishop's station. In South Central LA, Lawson (Martin West) is searching for the house for his daughter's nanny. When he stops his young daughter buys an ice-cream from a van, and ends up getting shot by a gang member. Lawson quickly seeks revenge, killing one of the gang members. By doing this, he obviously get the gang hunting him, and ends up in the police station. The gang lays siege on the station, and the cops and criminals have to work together to survive.

It's a simple premise and plot, and works as a suspenseful horror like film. The siege of an numerous enemy is very similar to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. It is a short film, and very action packed. It is violence, as excepted, with a shocking scene involving a young girl dying. My DVD is rated 15, but I'm surprised it's not an 18 (and that is rare). The acting a little wooden, but it doesn't matter so much in this type of film. At least John Carpenter tries to bring some character and backstory, especially Napoleon Wilson who works as an anti-hero and a early prototype to Snake Plissken in Escape from New York. Some of the pacing is a little off, especially in the beginning. But Carpenter knows simple ideas, like cops and criminals working together to stop a greater threat, and action and set pieces.

This is possibly one of Carpenter's best films,with the exception of The thing.It is one of the great siege films of all time.The scene with Kim Richards(escape to witch mountain) is one of my favorites.This movie proves you don't have to have a multimillion dollar budget and big name stars to make a great movie.The performance by Laurie Zimmer was incredible.I can't believe she was never cast in another film(but thats Hollywood for you).If you like action and thrillers this film is definitely worth a look.Its not perfect, the plot has some holes, the premise is at times shaky, but all of the actors produce believable performances,especially Austin Stoker,Darwin Joston, and of course Zimmer.