Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)People can be at their most dangerous with their backs against the wall. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) is an action movie about a siege against a nearly decommissioned police station, and the people who are forced to defend a poor soul sought by a murderous gang calling themselves "Street Thunder". Initially defended by residual law enforcement officers--including interim commander, Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), and secretary, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer)--they are joined by a pair of convicts temporarily detained on the way to death row, including the seemingly ambivalent, Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston). But against this gang, all must fight for survival on equal footing.
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Assault on Precinct 13 begins as a series of seemingly disconnected stories that collide at the police station in Anderson, California, a ghetto of Los Angeles. The film opens with a shootout with police that claims the lives of six members of Street Thunder. The surviving gang members commit to a "Cholo"--a blood vendetta where they exact a reign of terror on the streets, and where none are spared their vicious aggressions. The ultra-violent state of gang warfare is hinted at on Bishop's radio en route to his assignment at the precinct--actually Precinct 9, District 13. Although Bishop proves to be capable enough, it is evident that his experience in police work comes from a place where he was never involved in anything more violent than a drunk and disorderly charge. Bishop comes across as a kind of "Andy Griffith" cop, whistling cheerfully on his way to work, dressing neatly and maintaining a generally good disposition. This is a far cry from the battle-worn outpost where he's assigned in the badlands of Anderson, where the few resident cops on their way out are eager to leave the demesne to the proverbial wolves. Leigh--and her colleague, Julie (Nancy Loomis)--are pleasant enough, but display either hardened cautiousness or skittishness (respectively) that suggest that they have seen their share of bad events in this station. Bishop is promised an easy night of little more than manning the post until the final shutdown of phone lines and electricity takes place (supposedly to take place in the morning). But Bishop is in for more than his fair share of excitement, which is heralded by the arrival of the prison bus with Napoleon, his comrade-in-cuffs, Wells (Tony Burton), and their handler, Special Officer Starker (Charles Cyphers), forced to divert the bus due to a sick prisoner. But the event which really turns up the heat is the arrival of a distraught man named Lawson (Martin West), stricken after a violent altercation with members of Street Thunder--who killed his daughter, Kathy (Kim Richards)--turning the station into a powder keg, primed to explode.
One of the most striking things about Assault on Precinct 13 is how tangible the violence is in the film. The violence is notoriously shocking, with long, protracted shootouts that turn the station into Swiss cheese--there is also the infamous scene where the young Kathy is shot dead in cold blood after discovering a startled ice cream man gave her the wrong flavor. The world of Assault on Precinct 13 is one where the gangs have clear dominion over locales like Anderson--a bad neighborhood where it is always the wrong time of day to drive through it, even in broad daylight. This is a world where there is an active war between the police and the gangs, and Precinct 9, Division 13 is on the front lines. In fact, the station is like an outpost on the verge of retreat, ready to give ground to the enemy. Bishop and the others' standoff is like a final push against this reviled foe, even making allies out of death row inmates (like Napoleon) out of a mutual interest in survival. The "Cholo" is described by Wells as a commitment by the gang to get their revenge at any cost, regardless of the value of their own lives. It is a pact represented by a bowl into which they each spill their blood, which is later shattered on the steps of the station--a message of their unfaltering, fatalistic desire for bloodshed. What Assault on Precinct 13 proposes, however, is that the surviving members of the siege are able to last because they have noble convictions, as opposed to their besiegers. For Bishop and Leigh at least, they are committed to serving and protecting Lawson--even if they don't know what he must have done to provoke the gang--because as police officers, that is their duty. Napoleon seems to operate on his own kind of system of honor and rules; after Leigh releases him from his cell to help defend the station--and she is wounded in the process--he defends the station (and her) out of that sense of honor, even if he is a convicted murderer. Assault on Precinct 13 was an early film for John Carpenter, and it embodies many characteristics that would become emblematic of the auteur's style, including tense moments of action and suspense paired with his own heavily-synthesized musical score. The pulsing soundtrack is crucial to setting the tone of adrenaline-fueled tale of panic and survival, where the survivors must utilize advantages like choke-points and other creative elements in their surroundings to ensure they can beat back wave after wave of hateful gang members out for their blood. And like the subsequent works by John Carpenter--including Halloween and his remake of The Thing--Street Thunder is an enemy that is adept at exploiting its environment to terrorize the protagonists. They operate from stealth to stalk their prey, going so far as to remove the bodies of their fallen to avoid drawing the attention of passersby. The claustrophobic and harrowing battle that wears on the survivors feels more relevant today in an era where terrorism is a widely publicized topic, with the hateful, immoral gang of Street Thunder standing in for the likes of ISIL. In this, Assault on Precinct 13 proposes that there are evils which are so atrocious to social mores that even cops and criminals can unite to stand against what these kinds of terrorists represent.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense and riveting action film, with lots of shootouts and perilous situations. Assault on Precinct 13 also depicts the horrors of gang violence and the collateral damage that comes with it in a visceral way.
One of the most striking things about Assault on Precinct 13 is how tangible the violence is in the film. The violence is notoriously shocking, with long, protracted shootouts that turn the station into Swiss cheese--there is also the infamous scene where the young Kathy is shot dead in cold blood after discovering a startled ice cream man gave her the wrong flavor. The world of Assault on Precinct 13 is one where the gangs have clear dominion over locales like Anderson--a bad neighborhood where it is always the wrong time of day to drive through it, even in broad daylight. This is a world where there is an active war between the police and the gangs, and Precinct 9, Division 13 is on the front lines. In fact, the station is like an outpost on the verge of retreat, ready to give ground to the enemy. Bishop and the others' standoff is like a final push against this reviled foe, even making allies out of death row inmates (like Napoleon) out of a mutual interest in survival. The "Cholo" is described by Wells as a commitment by the gang to get their revenge at any cost, regardless of the value of their own lives. It is a pact represented by a bowl into which they each spill their blood, which is later shattered on the steps of the station--a message of their unfaltering, fatalistic desire for bloodshed. What Assault on Precinct 13 proposes, however, is that the surviving members of the siege are able to last because they have noble convictions, as opposed to their besiegers. For Bishop and Leigh at least, they are committed to serving and protecting Lawson--even if they don't know what he must have done to provoke the gang--because as police officers, that is their duty. Napoleon seems to operate on his own kind of system of honor and rules; after Leigh releases him from his cell to help defend the station--and she is wounded in the process--he defends the station (and her) out of that sense of honor, even if he is a convicted murderer. Assault on Precinct 13 was an early film for John Carpenter, and it embodies many characteristics that would become emblematic of the auteur's style, including tense moments of action and suspense paired with his own heavily-synthesized musical score. The pulsing soundtrack is crucial to setting the tone of adrenaline-fueled tale of panic and survival, where the survivors must utilize advantages like choke-points and other creative elements in their surroundings to ensure they can beat back wave after wave of hateful gang members out for their blood. And like the subsequent works by John Carpenter--including Halloween and his remake of The Thing--Street Thunder is an enemy that is adept at exploiting its environment to terrorize the protagonists. They operate from stealth to stalk their prey, going so far as to remove the bodies of their fallen to avoid drawing the attention of passersby. The claustrophobic and harrowing battle that wears on the survivors feels more relevant today in an era where terrorism is a widely publicized topic, with the hateful, immoral gang of Street Thunder standing in for the likes of ISIL. In this, Assault on Precinct 13 proposes that there are evils which are so atrocious to social mores that even cops and criminals can unite to stand against what these kinds of terrorists represent.
Recommended for: Fans of a tense and riveting action film, with lots of shootouts and perilous situations. Assault on Precinct 13 also depicts the horrors of gang violence and the collateral damage that comes with it in a visceral way.