Assault on Precinct 13 (Special Edition) Reviews

• Intense, Nail Biting Action

  
  By A2HJZ2KN9YA9L2 on 2001-02-23
  One should not watch this movie expecting the highly choreographed gunfight ballets that John Woo initiated & every other action movie has followed ever sense. This movie preceded all of that. The plot focuses on a small group of police officers and convicts fighting off a relentless street gang in an all but abandoned precinct. There are two central heroes of this movie: Bishop, a Black Police Chief who is new to the job & looking for a little adventure at the beginning of the film (a superior officer asks him "Do you want to be a hero your first time out?" "Yes, Sir," Bishop replies); and there is Napolean Wilson, a White man on his way to death row when the prison bus he is riding is forced to make a detour (check out this plot twist: another prisoner starts coughing & wheezing, nearly passing out, and guess what, rather than pulling a shiv on the cop who examines him, it turns out the guy is really sick! How often does that happen in a movie?). Napolean Wilson is a man with a lot of snappy comebacks. He says everything that we wished we'd said in certain situations after we thought about it because we know it would be so cool. More than one character says "You're pretty fancy, Wilson." The details of Wilson's crime is never revealed, but the fact that it was exceptionally savage is clear by the response of everyone else's response to him. These characters could have been lifted from any John Ford movie, but the fact that the movie takes place mostly at night and has a more contemporary time frame gives the movie a sweaty-palmed urgency that the Westerns lack. Even though the movie was made in 1976, the scene where the street gang cruises around & considers who to kill in a random drive-by shooting feels all too contemporary. Director John Carpenter limits the dialogue of the street gang in much the same way that the old Westerns would keep Indians at a distance -- so that the audience would never feel any empathy towards them. This hardly seems necessary as it seems difficult to feel pity for street gangs, but the move only helps to make them seem more fierce & inhumane than they might have otherwise been perceived. John Carpenter's memorable score also helps to accentuate the tension. A brilliant low-budget thriller that tops most of the big-budget ones we are stuck with today.
  
  

• They really don't make 'em like this anymore

  
  By A3N5XIM9R2OQH0 on 2005-04-08
  Before there was Halloween, there was Assault on Precinct 13, John Carpenter's second movie and arguably his first masterpiece. Fans of his later work should be warned though, there's no traditional horror or supernatural elements here, just one of history's all-time great low-budget action movies. By now the plot should be familiar to just about anyone reading this review: a lone cop and a couple of lifers have to defend a virtually abandoned police station against a street gang's onslaught. However, it's what Carpenter does with this concept that makes Assault on Precinct 13 such an exciting and memorable watch. It's a brilliantly executed pressure-cooker of a movie, thrusting a few decidedly disparate people into an unimaginably dire situation and letting us watch them as they try to figure out what to do about it. Although Carpenter has made much of the influence of classic westerns on this movie (Rio Bravo in particular), there are also ample doses of the eerie minimalism and stark brutality that Carpenter brought to Halloween, along with the tense, claustrophobic atmosphere that characterized much of Night of the Living Dead. Released in 1976 against the backdrop of escalating violence and decay in America's cities, the movie plays perfectly into fears of urban crime, as a small band of heroes are literally confronted with an onslaught from a small army of gang members. At bottom, though, Assault on Precinct 13 is a story of courage and heroism under the worst of circumstances, and it accomplishes this difficult task without being the slightest bit preachy, which may be even more impressive.
  
  The movie certainly begins in a harrowing enough fashion, as the opening sequence shows six members of a gang known as Street Thunder being cut down by police gunfire in a darkened alley, followed by their gang's (oddly multiracial) leadership swearing a highly unpleasant blood oath vowing revenge for the deaths of their colleagues. From there the movie slows to a snail's pace for a while, establishing the important plot points and characters and steadily building suspense as the members of Street Thunder cruise the streets of the ghetto looking for a suitable target. However, this relative quiet is shattered in a most dramatic fashion in the now-infamous incident in which a little girl meets her unfortunate end at the hands of a machine-like gang leader (played in extremely menacing fashion by Frank Doubleday) while her father chats on a pay phone a few yards away. Carpenter admits in the DVD's commentary track that this scene would virtually guarantee an NC-17 rating today, and it's hard to disagree: it's almost unspeakably horrific, both in its unflinching violence and in the utter anguish that ensues when Dad sees the gang's handiwork. Things don't get much better when the girl's father exacts some revenge of his own on the shooter, as he winds up getting more than he bargained for and kicking the plot into high gear in the process when the rest of the gang pursues him into a nearly abandoned police station.
  
  This admittedly obvious plot device doesn't just get the action of the movie in motion, it establishes an important pattern: long periods of exposition punctuated by explosions of hard-hitting visceral action. Made for about $100,000 (a tiny amount even 30 years ago), Assault on Precinct 13 is hardly a big-budget Hollywood extravaganza in the vein of Die Hard or Total Recall, but its cheap and simplistic feel actually winds up working in its favor. With virtually no money for special effects or big-name stars, Assault on Precinct 13 succeeds due largely to its emphasis on mood, economical dialogue, and characterization. Much like the aforementioned Night of the Living Dead, this movie examines the dynamics that unfold when a group of strangers are thrown together and forced to confront a mass of nameless, faceless enemies lurking right outside. More so than in Night of the Living Dead, though, here we really get an idea of the characters as people, particularly the three principals: Austin Stoker's amiable (and classically Afroed) black cop Ethan Bishop; Lynn Zimmer's determined secretary Leigh; and of course Darwin Joston's iconic convict Napoleon Wilson. From his icy stare to his sardonic wit to his considerable azz-kicking skills (check out that textbook arm break on the thug in the holding cell), Wilson is right up there with Eddie Murphy's Reggie Hammond from 48 Hrs. in the pantheon of film's most memorable antiheroes-turned-heroes.
  
  Still, for all its character and plot development, Assault on Precinct 13 is at its best when it's in full-bore action mode. The violence is actually somewhat sporadic and generally not particularly graphic, but when it gets going it really gets going. The movie's most thrilling sequence undoubtedly occurs when the members of Street Thunder stage a full-scale assault on the police station and its inhabitants greet them with guns blazing. Watching Bishop, Wilson, and even Leigh dispense justice in the form of hot lead is itself more than worth any rental fee you might pay. It's actually somewhat reminiscent of the legendary climactic church standoff in John Woo's The Killer, which is of course a good thing 'cause that movie rules.
  
  Fittingly, Image Entertainment has decked out this new special edition DVD with loads of extras, most notably a full-length commentary track from Carpenter and an interview with Carpenter and Stoker (though mostly Carpenter, which is too bad because Stoker's a funny guy) filmed a few years ago at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The commentary and interview are full of insights from Carpenter, from descriptions of the film's technical aspects to the art of low-budget filmmaking to discussion of the film's influences and the aftermath of its release. There's also a brief, but extremely hilarious, revelation by Carpenter of how he managed to avoid getting Assault slapped with an X rating. Great stuff, just like this movie. You'd have to be nuts to avoid picking up the DVD, especially given its low price.
  
  

• Low budget thrills almost, but not quite, excuse horrendous acting, dialogue

  
  By A2PNTEDGMOLMOY on 2005-11-18
  "Assault on Precint 13," John Carpenter's 1976 cult classic, is the third John Carpenter movie I've seen. Like every film fan, I admire "Halloween" as one of the most terrifying movies ever made, and "The Fog" brings some genuine chills despite some of its more cheesy elements. Both films raised my expectations for "Assault," as did the number of laudatory reviews I'd seen for Carpenter's movie, only the second in his career.
  
  "Assault" is Carpenter's much ballyhooed attempt to update the "Western" genre of film, and specifically "Rio Bravo," by bringing the genre cliches from the plains of the Southwest to the gritty streets of L.A. In many respects, "Assault" is a triumph, but in other key areas, "Assault" falls flat on its face.
  
  From the opening credits, you can tell this is a John Carpenter movie. First of all, Carpenter uses his trademark economy of notes on a synthesizer to create a haunting soundtrack, pulsing with dark power and ominous portent. In a creepy opening scene, six members of the "ultraviolent, racially mixed youth gang, 'Street Thunder'" get gunned down by shotgun-toting cops. In a typical Carpenter twist, we don't see the cops' faces during the shootout, only their guns . . . are the gang members the anonymous killers to be feared, or is it the anonymous, faceless cops?
  
  Soon, other members of the gang swear vengeance against the city and the cops by slitting their arms and pouring blood into a bowl. A reckoning is on the horizon.
  
  Carpenter builds suspense with all his trademark skill. Gang members cruise the city streets armed to the teeth with guns and silencers until an infamous confrontation with a father and daughter at an ice cream truck in a scene ominously titled, "The Wrong Flavor." (This scene is as terrifying in its brutality as any scene from Carpenter's horror films, and still gives me goosebumps.)
  
  The father ends up running to Precint 13, which is slated for closure and is only populated by a skeleton crew of two cops and two administrative assistants. Street Thunder is naturally on the father's tail, and they aren't taking any prisoners. Compunding the horrors of the evening for the small staff of the precinct, a prisoner-transfer bus has had to make an emergency stop because one of the inmates is sick, which leads to convicted murderer and Death Row inmate Napoleon Wilson being locked up downstairs. Wilson's crimes are never discussed in detail, but it's clear from the wide berth everyone gives Wilson that he's a baddie of titanic proportions.
  
  As darkness falls, Street Thunder (a faceless, innumerable band of street thugs) lays siege to Precinct 13, alternating machine-gun bombardments (stylishly achieved with silencers, so the bullets have a spooky "pinging" sound rather than a booming roar) with mindless frontal assaults. Those inside the Precinct who survive the first wave of bullets join forces, cops and prisoners, to fight off the gang. Can they survive the assault with low ammunition, no phone lines, and a seemingly limitless supply of murderers on their doorstep?
  
  Carpenter brings a lot of flair to this movie, particularly when you consider that the budget for the flick was reportedly around $100,000 . . . low even by 1976 standards for an action flick. Carpenter uses a surprisingly large bag of director's tricks for a guy making his second movie to create some genuine tension in "Assault," and the entire movie is marked by a darkness and a bleakness that is quite powerful.
  
  All that is to the good. Unfortunately, "Assault" is marked by one of the weaker scripts you're going to find this side of George Lucas, and the acting isn't much better. (What does it say when the most convincing line readings are given by Larry Burton as the convict Wells, an actor who is most famous as Apollo Creed's trainer from the "Rocky" movies? Nothing good, I assure you.) Napoleon Wells is played by Darwin Joston, and while everyone acts like Wells is the ultimate hard case, Joston completely fails to inject any of the rakish charm into Wells that the script labors so mightily to achieve. Austin Stoker plays the straight "white hat" lead as the top cop in the Precinct fairly well, but again he's handicapped by some incredibly wooden dialogue. Laurie Zimmer tries to inject some sultry sexuality into her role as Laurie, a secretary at the Precinct, but on a couple of moments you can actually see her looking at the floor to find her marks so she knows where to stand.
  
  The gang members of "Street Thunder" are a mixed bag, as well. If you rate them against the gang members of "The Warriors," to choose another period piece about the gangs, or against any recent flick about gangs, they come across as almost comically impersonal and robotic (with the powerful exception of the ice cream cone scene, of course). But for 1976, "Street Thunder" was probably a pretty scary bunch. And if you view "Street Thunder" as a representation of the mindless evil prevalent in the disintegrating American society of the 1970's, they are pretty spooky as they just keep on coming in wave after wave. (But still, modern audiences may not be spooked by a gang where a couple of the members are clearly wearing pressed khakis.)
  
  It's difficult writing a review of a "cult classic" where you haven't drunk the Kool-Aid like everyone else. You just know that you're setting yourself up for the patented, "he just didn't get it" response. But after seeing the heights Carpenter can hit with his other movies and reading so many "five-star" reviews for "Assault," I had high expectations. In many respects, these expectations were met, but you can't give a glowing review to a movie where the dialogue and the acting are just so darn bad.
  
  

• A Carpenter classic, but buyer beware

  
  By AJKWF4W7QD4NS on 2005-05-03
  Two years before John Carpenter made a name for himself with the original Halloween, he put together this low budget classic in which desperate cops and prisoners must band together to withstand a siege. The original Assault on Precinct 13 mixed elements of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead as a rather large gang wages a street war on a soon to be closed police station. Weaving an engaging character study with some incredibly intense action sequences, Assault on Precinct 13 still manages to pull out all the shocks today that it did in 1976, including the infamous ice cream truck scene which helps set the stage for police station siege. Forget about the recent watered down Hollywood remake; the original Assault on Precinct 13 remains one of the best low budget action films ever made, and one of the best films to come from the mind of visionary John Carpenter. Buyer beware, do not mistake this version for the Special Edition version which happens to have the same cover artwork. This cheaply priced edition has no extras whatsoever, and can be found in bargain bins.
  
  

• Posssibly the best low-budget action picture ever!

  
  By on 1999-04-06
  Why were there so many boring action pictures in the seventies? Are they just dated? No, "Bullit" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" came out in the sixties and they are two of the most exciting action pictures ever made. Perhaps it's because the budgets are low? Afraid not, this ultra-low budget, seventies action picture from John Carpenter is one of the most exciting pictures ever made.

  This picture proves that a low-budget cannot mar the excitement of a great action picture if it's well crafted.

  This picture takes a little bit of "Rio Bravo" (a small band of unlikely heros stand together to fight it out against seemingly impossible odds.), and a lot of "Night of the Living Dead", (small band of unlikely heros defend themselves against violent killers who are attacking a small building.)

  This movie is well-written. Has some strong characters,(Especially the black cop, and the "heroic" convicted serial killer, Napoleon Wilson.) This picture also has one of John Carpenter's most effective musical scores.

  Forget about "Halloween". This is John Carpener's best work as a writer/director.
  
  

• What $100,000 Could Buy In 1976
  By A2D8CUJPOSRPNA on 2005-01-06
  In-between his debut with the ultra low budget 1974 cult classic DARK STAR and his breakthrough success in 1978 with HALLOWEEN, John Carpenter, a member of the 1960s film school generation that also gave us Lucas, Spielberg, and Scorsese, achieved a minor miracle by making a taut action/suspense thriller on a budget that wouldn't even cover the catering bill on most big budget Hollywood flicks today. ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is that film, and it is solid proof of what a mere $100,000 could buy in 1976 with the right story and the right people.
  
  In essence an urbanized variation on director Howard Hawks' 1959 western classic RIO BRAVO, ASSAULT stars Austin Stoker as a newly-promoted L.A.P.D. lieutenant whose first assignment is to oversee the closing down of an aging police precinct building in south Los Angeles on a hot summer night. At first, Stoker thinks this is nothing more than a routine matter. But after a young girl (Kim Richards) is killed alongside an ice cream truck by gang members, and her father (Martin West) seeks refuge after killing one of the thugs, Stoker and his skeleton crew, which includes prisoners being transferred from one jail to another, find their building under siege from dozens of multi-ethnic gang members who are willing to kill with extreme prejudice. Stoker and the remaining staff of the precinct must align with the prisoners (including Tony Burton and Darwin Joston) to hold the building and eliminate the gang bangers.
  
  The result, despite some melodramatic dialogue and cliches, is a very provocative crime thriller from an era in which most such films gave audiences credit for having brains. Much has been made about the similarities between this film and RIO BRAVO, as well as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and they still hold up quite well even now. But equally important, the film's story of people under violent siege also resembles the climaxes of both Hitchcock's THE BIRDS and Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS. Through his own editing (as John T. Chance, the name of the John Wayne character in RIO BRAVO) and music score, Carpenter ups the ante in terms of suspense, and the scene of Richards being killed at the ice cream truck is violent and disturbing without being a gratuitous case of blood and gore. Stoker, a veteran character actor in numerous 1970s action films, does a good turn as the head cop.
  
  Filmed primarily on location in south Los Angeles, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is a textbook example of how tension, suspense, and highly-charged action can be made coherently on a shoestring. It is a very fine cult film that time has been very kind to.
  
  
• Quentin Tarantino's favorite movie!
  By AGFO6RNCAAT09 on 2001-04-25
  Prior to "Halloween", John Carpenter scored with this hybrid of "Rio Bravo" and "Night Of The Living Dead". A deserted police station is besieged by a violent youth gang while a police officer, two convicts, and two secretaries struggle to fight them off. Riveting and intense, with an excellent score by Carpenter. Inmate Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) is in particular an intriguing character as is lawman Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), who's solid and dependable as the thugs repeatedly attack the police station.
  
  
• "Anybody got a smoke?"
  By on 2003-04-11
  Merely one of the best B-movies ever, though it required a cabal of British and French film critics to point this out to us. Well, they were right. *Assault on Precinct 13* is pure, unalloyed entertainment, shot by John Carpenter back in 1976 with utmost dedication to frisson and convulsive action, all on a miniscule budget. There's much to admire here, starting with the magnificently ugly location shots (South Central L.A. and Compton). What a desolate place this is, and it contributes to the uncanny impression that the movie gives us, which is that it's set in some not-too-distant, dystopian future in which the cops and the gangs have declared all-out war on each other. (As such, it's rather prescient, too.) It's a world where a little girl with blond pigtails gets blown away while noshing up an ice-cream cone . . . and the ice-cream man packs heat for self-protection. The nihilist tone finds its corollary in the main action sequences, in which a dilapidated police station is put under siege by wordless hooligans who scurry around its environs during the night like a pack of malicious cockroaches. The police station is manned by your typical B-movie existentialist heroes, starting with Austin Stoker as the urbane African-American sergeant (a clear nod to the movie's prime inspiration, *Night of the Living Dead*), a laconic death-row convict who's always asking people for cigarettes, and a stone-face tough-chick detective. Watch for the scene wherein the gang outside shoots up the police station: because they're using silencers on their guns, all you hear are the windows elegantly popping apart from the bullets. Classic stuff. [The DVD is generous, with goodies ranging from Carpenter's electronic score to a badly-filmed live interview with the director and star Austin Stoker (who looks unutterably bored by it all).]
  
  
• Another Carpenter classic!
  By A2V3P1XE33NYC3 on 2005-01-15
  John Carpenter's claim to fame rests largely on his contributions to the horror film genre. He's responsible for the hugely influential 1970s slasher flick "Halloween," of course, but he's also made several other noteworthy horror movies. His remake of "The Thing" still impresses over twenty years later thanks to a great cast, incredible special effects, and scads of claustrophobic atmosphere. "The Fog," starring Adrienne Barbeau, is Carpenter's attempt at a good old-fashioned ghost story. I could go on and on, mentioning the killer car film "Christine," the satanic "The Prince of Darkness," and the Lovecraftian horror of "In the Mouth of Madness." Fortunately, Carpenter occasionally made films in other genres, such as the science fiction classics "Dark Star," "Escape From New York," "Starman," and the hilarious "They Live" starring none other than one time pro wrestler Roddy Piper. In his prime Carpenter had the Midas touch, especially when it came to a very low budget action film called "Assault on Precinct 13." A new version of the film will soon appear in the theaters, perhaps it already has, but it's already quite obvious it will never approach the intensity of the original. How could it? Carpenter pulls a few nasty tricks in this movie that no studio would ever touch today.
  
  "Assault on Precinct 13" stars Austin Stoker as Lieutenant Ethan Bishop, heading out for the first day of his new promotion. Headquarters assigns him to drive over to Precinct 13, a station house located in the worst part of town, in order to help the remaining personnel there shut the place down. Meanwhile, a prisoner transfer is taking place somewhere else in the state, a transfer involving Wells (Tony Burton) and a dangerous felon named Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) headed to death row. Yet another incident unfolds simultaneously with the other two, as a father and his young daughter Kathy (Kim Richards) drive into the slums on personal business. Sadly, these two are completely unaware that several gang members involved in a weapons' heist perished in a confrontation with the police hours before. The gang declares a revenge war on the police and the city for the killings, with the prime targets being anyone unlucky enough to run into these guys on the streets. Of course, no one knows anything about this yet until the gang commits a particularly heinous crime that finds Kathy's father stumbling into the nearly closed station house. Gang members show up to terrorize the occupants of the building and reclaim the father.
  
  At roughly the same time Napoleon Wilson, Wells, and the rest of the prison transfer crew show up at Precinct 13 seeking a doctor for a sick inmate. Only Napoleon and Wells survive long enough to make it inside thanks to the gang members, who lay down a withering fire using the arms captured in the heist. The rest of the film from this point forward moves with lightening speed as Bishop, beautiful secretary Leigh (Laurie Zimmer), Wells, Wilson, and a few others must overcome the mutual distrust that exists between criminals and the police if they are to survive. One thing is for certain: the gang members laying siege to the station couldn't care less who is inside the building. They will kill anyone in an effort to get at Kathy's father. With no phones and no way to move around outside the building, Bishop and his cohorts must rely on a few weapons and even fewer rounds of ammunition to stay alive. Any attempt to escape from the station house spells disaster for those who try it, and it isn't too long before the survivors crouch in the basement awaiting the final bloody assault. Will the police discover the occupants of Precinct 13 before the gang members overwhelm them? Who will live and who will perish? What will happen to Napoleon Wilson after the heroics he displays fighting off the gang members? Watch and see.
  
  There isn't much to dislike about Carpenter's action classic. Sure, the acting is a bit wooden, especially in Darwin Joston's portrayal of the laconic Napoleon Wilson. Too, I found the whole "potato" game a bit ridiculous. But aside from those niggling problems, "Assault on Precinct 13" is an assault on the viewers' senses. Lots of shoot 'em action helps propel the narrative in the station house, but the stuff going on in the outside world is just as interesting. If you've seen the film, you know what I'm referring to as "outside stuff," namely the reason Kathy's father arrives at Precinct 13 in a state resembling a nervous breakdown. I won't spoil this shocking scene for you, but it's the sort of sequence that makes the difference between a film and a cult classic. Nothing we see up to that point prepares us for what happens, and it's the sort of thing that never loses its power to shock. I've seen this movie a dozen times and I STILL sit in utter amazement when that part of the film arrives. You can bet your bottom dollar the remake won't attempt to recreate this scene. I've recommended "Assault on Precinct 13" to friends based on this horrific scene alone.
  
  The Special Edition disc comes loaded with extras. The commentary track with John Carpenter is fairly low key but essential to listen to for his explanation of the aforementioned shocking scene as well as learning about the nuts and bolts of low budget filmmaking. Also included is a videotaped interview with Carpenter and Stoker filmed at one of those horror/science fiction conventions, a trailer, a still gallery, and radio spots. I recommend skipping the latest incarnation of "Assault" and going with this one instead.
  
  
  
• Horrible acting, unrealistic situations, cheesy dialog....
  By A1UVXOPMQEDJFN on 2006-05-11
  I'm sorry folks, but I went into this one with high hopes given the outstanding reviews from both critics and laymen. It would be a tremendous understatement to say I was disappointed. This film is horrible in nearly every respect, but this is the film's fatal flaw: A "character study" is no good when the characters act in a manner which is counter intuitive and against the grain of human nature.
  
  The film portrays two convicts on death row as likeable guys who are willing to help out with this ridiculous standoff because they have no other choice. Sorry to bring up the obvious here, but the ONLY thing any person would care about in that situation is escaping. He would not be pre-occupied with helping defend the police station (he would have immediately shot the cop upon being given a gun); he would not be worried about "his chances out there" (remember he's on death row); he would be concerned only with escaping IMMEDIATELY.
  
  Sorry to all you fans of this "cult classic", but a movie in this vein must be at least SOMEWHAT realistic to gain my praise. This one is a mess.
  
  
• No-Name Actors allow for suspense and intriguing characters
  By A17X5R5JEWRN0G on 1999-06-15
  John Carpenter's greatest movie, in my opinion, tells the story of a precinct under siege by an L.A. street gang willing to fight to the death. The group being attacked is composed of one police officer, a pair of secrataries, a pair of inmates, and the man that caused the gang to concentrate their rage on this run-down precinct. You find yourself on the edge of your seat, forgetting that these people are actors. Especially great performance by Darwin Joston as Napolean Wilson, the wise-cracking serial killer. Whether you prefer action, westerns, horror, or suspense, you are guaranteed to love this movie.
  
  
• Hip-hop on Precinct 13
  By A3CCYAQRHUTPIQ on 2000-08-16
  After 'Dark Star', this was Carpenter's first proper mainstream motion picture. It wasn't a hit in America (people complained that the thought of a street gang being armed with sniper rifles was unrealistic) although it was extremely popular in the punk-gripped UK. Looking at Carpenter's later work, this is possibly his best film. It has a minimalist purity - everything about the film is pared down to the absolute minimum, in exactly the way that 'Star Trek : The Motion Picture' is not. With a tiny budget there was no room for lengthy special effects sequences, and Carpenter himself directed, edited, and wrote the hip-hop, Bomb the Bass-influencing electronic soundtrack. Most of the budget went into the hiring of Panavision cameras, as Carpenter realised that you could cut much faster if you had a wider screen. And after a long build-up, Carpenter does just that, in a series of short, intense action sequences which take place mostly in the dark. Despite the cars and haircuts it hasn't dated all that badly, and it's still worth a look nowadays.

  Note that both the video and DVD boxes are awful, one giving the impression that the film is 'Maniac Cop', and the other giving the impression that the film is 'Big Trouble in Little China'.
  
  

• The BEST John Carpenter film!
  By A3BEMV6PF60UYT on 2001-07-24
  Alot of people are going to disagree with me about it being the BEST Carpenter film, but if you like action mixed with horror than this is a great buy. I saw it a movie rental place and decided since it said it was a Tarintino favorite to buy it. I was a little cautious though because I'd never heard of it and I've saw and heard of a wide variety of movies. But since it was directed by John Carpenter and had Tarintinos seal on it I decided to rent it. Man was I glad I did! It is now one of my favorite movies. I have seen movies where the enemies and stalkers talked and when they talked it seemed to make them human, and to me it shatterd the scary illusion of it. But these gangbangers never talk and it seems to make them scarier if they don't! Nobody knows horror better than Carpenter, he defintly beats Wes Craven! But if you are an action fan (like me) than there still is plenty in it for you. This low-budget masterpiece made such a big impression on me that I now own it. Anyway happy viewing!
  
  
• Get the popcorn out and enjoy
  By A2ZTB8EDDR8RGW on 2002-03-29
  Assault on Precinct 13 is a straightforward, no-nonsense action packed
  thriller, and as such, it can't be faulted. Police Station Precinct 13 is
  going to be closed down, leaving a new Lieutenant in charge on the last
  day. The cells are empty. A skeleton crew is on duty. Things are winding down
  pretty nicely as the slack has been taken up by the new police station. However,
  events begin to gather apace. A man wanders in. He is traumatized. He cannot
  speak. Suddenly a huge armed gang who are after the man besiege the station.
  The phone and power lines go down. The precinct is isolated. They are on
  their own. The tension builds up nicely and never relents.

  For a film like this, you don't expect too much in-depth characterization,
  and you don't get it; but the script and the actors flush out the characters
  with enough personality to make you care about them. Carpenter should be
  given credit for making the central character black. In
  1976, this was not common. Carpenter also does a good job at hinting at the
  suppressed racism in the police force. Nothing needs to be said as the body
  language of the white police officers says it all. It's done with subtlety
  and is spot on. However, this is not allowed to get in the way of the
  action. The film's protagonists are in a tight spot. We watch as they hold
  out against the besiegers to the bitter end. Along with
  Dark Star, this is Carpenter's best film and far superior to the rubbish he
  churned out in the 80s. Get the popcorn out and enjoy.
  
  

• Like "Rio Bravo," but with machine guns!
  By on 2002-09-12
  This is one of the coolest of John Carpenter's films.
  
  The plot: Gang of criminals with silenced machine guns plan to wreak havoc on Los Angeles. They attack a local police station. However, this police station is deserted except for a lone cop and a couple of secretaries. The group must try to survive in the abandoned station against the unstoppable onslaught of the criminals outside! Any action fan like myself can enjoy a scene in which the station is shot to bits without the slightest hint of sound. The weapons are silenced so you hear no shots. You just see windows break, papers fly off of desks, and a man's chest explodes into bloody mist. Great fun!
  
  
• One of the Top Independent Films Ever
  By AYFAK02JD6VWX on 2003-12-01
  Being a fanatic of John Carpenter, specifically the Halloween series, hearing about this movie made me eager to check it out. I read the raving reviews here on Amazon dot com and decided to take a slight risk and purchase the DVD. Well, I sure was blown away. Movies now a days are never made like this, especially in the way that the characters act. The portrayol of the evil gang members is superb along with the portrayol of the "good guys" in the movie, one in particular being Austin Stoker who plays the main role. This movie is action packed and many parts will leave you shocked. The soundtrack is another great aspect of this film, and way ahead of it's time considering that this movie was made in the 70's. The special features include a very comical interview with Carpenter and Stoker done very recently where some lucky fans got to ask the pair questions regarding this movie along with asking about other John Carpenter classics. Assault on Precinct 13 proves that John Carpenter can make a masterpiece out of a budget no matter how high or low that it is. If you like any work that Carpenter has done then I highly reccomend this film. This is only the second movie he released, but it's deffinatley one of his best.
  
  
• Da Da Da Da Da! Da Da Da Da Da!
  By A2CT2SA6KFE8GC on 2004-05-02
  John Carpenter's reworking of the Rio Bravo concept is one of the best action films of the 70s. It's an action film, but it has the feel of a horror film, most obviously Night Of The Living Dead. Personally, I see this film as a sort of prequel to Escape From New York. It almost feels like the last few years before the whole New York prison deal. As in that film, the gang members attack in a silent, zombie-like swarm. Basically, a group of people stuck in an almost abandoned police station band together, putting all differences aside, to fight back against a siege on the station. Why this gang is attacking this prison is anyone's guess, but they hint early in the film that it's revenge for a gang massacre at the hands of the police. Still, why are they going after these particular people in a station obviously abandoned? And why blast an ice cream man to kingdom come(not to mention a little girl)? Who really cares why they're doing it coz it's fun all the way! Yeah, there's quite a bit of dated lines that make the film seem pretty corny; But bear in mind, these macheezmo lines are used in this film before they were a common action movie cliche. At one point our two criminal heroes decide who's gonna make an escape attempt by playing a game called "Potatoes". It's a wacky combination of Rock, Paper, Scissors and PaddyCake that's hilarious to watch. I only hope Carpenter intended that to be funny. In the interview section of the dvd, someone asks John Carpenter how you win this game. As many times as I watch it, I still can't figure out how he won("I told you I'd lose! Dammit, we're gonna do it again!"). Watching Assault On Precinct 13 is a very satisfying experience and makes you long for the days of good tough guy action flicks.
  
  
• Good, but....
  By A34U1WZDZIB4LM on 2004-09-02
  Sometime ago, I bought this film thinking it was the special edition. (It even had the same cover as this one.) However, I soon found out that it was fairly bare boned, save for a commentary (which was actually recorded from the laserdisc edition) and the theatrical trailer. In short, I was dissapointed.
  
  I recently found this version in a store and bought it. There is definitely more stuff in it, including info about the film and an interview with John Carpenter and Austin Stoker. However, I do have one complaint. The commentary is the same one from the other DVD. I thought Carpenter had recorded a new commentary. Guess not. I indeed prefer this version to the other one I previously bought, but the lack of a new commentary cheeses me off.
  
  As for the film itself, I highly recommend it. Defininetly one of Carpenter's best. I suggest you buy this movie, even if all you can find it on is VHS. It's worth it.
  
  
• Low cost version of the original
  By A1XU2VGHMZEHG4 on 2005-03-13
  If you want to refresh your memory before seing the new release, this is better than a rental. You can find this version in the bargain bin for about $5.
  
  Originally filmed in 1976, this movie follows a fairly common theme of that era. Criminals on a rampage.
  
  They mayhem starts with the assasination of a group of gang members by police. This is followed by the sensless killing of a young girl and her father's attempt to strike back at the gremlins. He stumbles into an abandoned police station that is occupied by a handfull of cops and some convicts on their way to Death Row. Everyone must join forces and defend themselves against the assault that follows.
  
  Since 99% of the movie takes place after dark, it is very difficult to pick out details in the scenes. A noticeable error was the weapon used by one of the prisoners against the gang members. He is given a silenced handgun that he uses during the assault. Note to the technical staff...a suppressor (silencer) doesn't work on a revolver.
  
  
• Effective , pacy , almost plausible
  By AAKGTWGAFT1LQ on 2005-09-04
  This is one of John Carpenter's most effective films .
  Never mind what the influences were - it is a good darkly themed action film . There is a sometimes desperate tension that remains throughout , much like Mr Carpenter's remake of THE THING , which I also urge you to watch.
  
  ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 may be low budget , but it is very much worth your viewing time .
  
  
• This is a fun movie, classic Carpenter, can't go wrong
  By A2I5XLUCBTKQE4 on 2005-09-11
  John Carpenter, in my opinion, is the most brilliant horror/suspense/action genious of all time and the best director in the world, period. That being said, my reviews of his movies are a tad prejudiced but some of his movies are better than others. This is a keeper. It's not as good as Escape from New York or The Thing or Halloween, etc. but it's worth watching over and over and buying.
  I won't give a summary, other reviews have done that. Let me just say, the clostrophobic atmosphere is realistic, the violence is not over the top but tasteful, the characters are gritty and real, and it's a fun flick.
  I love the Napoleon Wilson character, "Anybody got a smoke?" lol
  Crooks turn into heroes and show their heroic sides, there's PLENTY of suspense, and like most Carpenter films, you don't see the bad guys, just shadows and figures running in the night. Carpenter, as always, does his OWN music, and is it perfect or what!!? I love the theme song, great suspense music, sad and emotional music interludes also.
  This movie has some real shocking scenes though (the ice cream truck, yeesh, wow!) so I'd wait till the kids are at least twelve to watch it.
  This movie has the classic western theme that other reviewers have noted, that's what's so great about it.
  Fun movie!
  
  
• Awesome
  By A2QWF2BJ2FM4R2 on 2006-07-04
  if you consider when it was done this movie has not aged that badly. It is a fantastic movie even if you did not take into account the shoestring budget it was made on. The tension is unbelievable as the police station is being attacked by the faceless gang. As many have written the motives are not entirely clear besides revenge against the police for executing gang members at the beginning, following which the remaining gang members go on a killing spree. The remake was unfortubnately a catastrophe but this remains to this day a classic. Also the comments by John Carpenter are great to listen to in retrospect.
  
  
• Carpenter Turns The Corner
  By A3KKM0T1KY42HA on 2007-06-18
  How many movies do you remember seeing back in a different lifetime that you thought were really cool only to check 'em out in the current day and find that they really were average at best? Don't worry...Assault on Precinct 13 is not one of those movies.
  
  There's just something about movies made before the early 80s that just scream, "this-movie-was-made-a-long-time-ago." And Assault on Precinct 13 does too. 31 years is a long time, but after watching Assault on Precinct 13 again this past weekend for the first time since 1976, I was surprised to see how affective the movie still is.
  
  This is one of the first R-rated movies that my dad took me to. So I chalked up the memorable impression that Assault on Precinct 13 made on me to...well...being an impressionable 15 year old kid that was just excited to being going to an R-rated film. Who knew that the reason was really that back in 1976 I was watching the movie that turned the corner for Director John Carpenter from B-movie director to one of the best Horror/Action/Sci-fi storytellers of all time?
  
  The story is simple and the acting is pretty good. Some guy and his daughter have the unfortunate experience of crossing paths at the wrong time in the wrong place with a violent street gang. After a brutal exchange between family and gang, the guy retreats to Precinct 13 with the gang close behind, and the Assault ensues. (I'm not much into spoilers, so my vagueness is deliberate. I will say that the intense ice cream truck scene stayed in my mind for 31 years as if I'd seen it a day ago.)
  
  The movie is presented in a nice widescreen aspect, but the audio is only stereo (which you won't even notice unless you have a Surround system). The tinny stereo sound was a constant reminder throughout that I was watching an "old" movie.
  
  Overall, though, this classic cult film is worth a look...especially since Jean-François Richet's 2005 remake Assault on Precinct 13 (Widescreen Edition) was only fair at best.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• True John Carpenter
  By on 1999-07-17
  Lesser known Carpenter (at least to most modern-day filmgoers) that begins with its eerie, awesome Carpenter-composed music and moves to a movie that keeps you glued to the screen. It's been said in many reviews that this is Carpenter's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-style flick, and it does resemble it. The good guys have triggered something in the bad that triggers them to take revenge. Simple plot, but with Carpenter, ANYTHING is worth watching.
  
  
• One of John Carpenter's best films of the 1970s
  By A1HO9J4DCQDGP9 on 2001-04-16
  Visulise in your mind a police station that is manned by one police officer, a couple of nervous civilians, as well as housing two convicts who are in the process of being transferred out of Precinct 13 before it is finally close down. Add to this a near comatose man who has seen his child killed and reacted by killing the perpetrator, and is now hunted by a group of vicious young gang members who are baying for his blood. Combine this explosive combination and you have a film that leaves you sitting on the edge of your sear from beginning to end. There are no heroes or heroines in this film, only survivors and "Assault on Precinct 13" proceeds to corner your senses and make you totally aware of your own mortality in a word filled with blood and madness. Well worth seeing just for the bodies piling up as wave after wave of gang members allow themselves to be used as cannon fodder in order to gain ground in the besieged police-station. A crackingly good film that that is way more frightening than anything that has come out of the 21st century.
  
  
• Among the best of B-Movies out there
  By ALR21TY2ICCH4 on 2002-04-05
  Howard Hawks, John Carpenter. Rio Bravo, Assault on Precinct 13. That's what it boils down to. John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 acknowledges the influence that Howard Hawks had for him. Carpenter did a truly memorable job as a director with a truly low budget: $100,000. This is pure action, more than the norm for 1976. Some might say it's Carpenter's best film.

  The DVD is pretty much available to buy online. It's not overpriced, the film is a good copy, widescreen, with an actual trailer. John Carpenter also has a feature-length commentary on the film. All in all, the DVD is worth buying.
  
  

• The great John Carpenter of yore...
  By on 2003-02-18
  A lean, taut action thriller from the once-great John Carpenter, this movie is an example of what great things can be accomplished on a shoestring budget.

  A loose adaptation of Rio Bravo, the film concerns a cop, some prisoners, and other civilians trapped in an abandoned police station while they face the onslaught of a seemingly endless army of gang members who seek one of the men inside. Somewhat simplistic, but Carpenter makes it work with great action and suspense, and getting the most from his actors, who all do a fine job here. There is also humor, and some very disturbing scenes.

  The villians are one-dimensionally evil, but that's the whole point: good versus evil, and redemption (even a convicted prisoner can rise above his own selfish motivations and become heroic. Or is it just a survival mechanism?).

  A worthy effort by John Carpenter, who has not made a decent film in years ("They Live" was probably his last great movie). Worth owning: I watch this movie at least once a year, and it always entertains.
  
  

• Spot the Reference Time!
  By AKCF45Z2DV6TN on 2004-06-13
  John Carpenter, like Spielberg, is aware of the history of cinema, and often references earlier films (and other pop-culture material) in his work.

  As many have pointed out, "Assault" is essentially a modern-setting remake of "Rio Bravo", and quite well done, with horror-type elements reminiscent of films like "Night of the Living Dead".

  Carpenter seems enamoured of the "unstoppable-mysterious-thing that wants to eat your face" plot; all of his best films seem to use some variation on it. In this case, the Nasty Thing is the uber-gang "Street Thunder", who have declared war on straight society in general, and on the cops in particular.

  A point that not a lot of people seem to have noticed is that there is/are strong influences from Sergio Leone's brilliant Western, "Once Upon a Time in the West" (my unequivocal choice for The Greatest Western Ever Made (currently #2 on the IMDB user's list of 50 Greatest Westerns, second only to Leone's own "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"):

  Both films set up the major action with acts of on-screen violence that were virtually unthinkable at the time -- here, it's the casualness and the identity of the victim, in "Once Upon a Time in the West", it was that plus the shock of recognition of the actor playing the killer.

  When first i saw this film, i believed that Darwin Josten's character, Really Bad convict Napoleon Wilson, was played in emulation of Robert Mitchum -- more recently, i realised that the character is basically inspired by (and Josten is emulating) Charles Bronson's "Harmonica" in "Once Upon a Time in the West"; both are mysterious, laconic and Very Dangerous men who will reveal their backgrounds and intentions "...only at the point of diein'..."

  In the Leone film, another character says of Harmonica that something is driving him, "...somethin' to do with death..."; that applies, i think, equally well to both Leone and Carpenter -- their best works are films that overtly have "something to do with death" in their basic structure.

  Now, i'm not saying that this film is the equal of the Leone -- very few if any are. What i am saying is that this film definitely resonates -- both deliberately and, i am sure, because of Carpenter's own quirks and obsessions -- with the Leone.

  TRIVIA ALERT:

  Watch for Carpenter's cameo as a gang member who *almost* makes it in through a window,

  and,

  Science Fiction fans who have read the novel "The Price of the Stars" by Doyle and MacDonald may feel a bit of deja vu; an important chapter in that book, involving an assault on an isolated Space Force medical station, is admittedly based on this film.
  
  

• Killer movie, but even better, AWESOME music soundtrack
  By AP28EU980272X on 2004-06-14
  after everything's been said or written about this movie, that's the one part I felt I must highlight; the music for this movie was credited to Carpenter, and in the DVD format, it just rocks, just gives the speakers a serious workout. For a 1970s movie, or for any decade, for that matter, it's awesome.
  
  
• A cult action classic from John Carpenter!
  By A1COW0UIB5HA9J on 2004-07-03
  A police station in L.A. called Precinct 13 has two police officers, two women and two convicts including a traumatized victim are being trapped by street gangs who are surrounding the place making it a living hell for them. They have to find a way to get out, defend themselves and make those devils go away.

  An intense, exciting, gripping action drama classic from John Carpenter which happens to be his second movie after "Dark Star". This movie offers loads of action, brutal violence including a on screen child murder, gunfire, an interesting storyline and cool music by Carpenter.

  This movie became a cult classic over the years yet still has a strong following including being one of the greatest action movies in movie history. The DVD here is a nice special edition with great transfer, and cool extras like Poster-and-still gallery, trailer, radio spots and interviews, if you love John Carpenter and action movies then add this to your collection.

  There is going to be a big budget remake due out next year with Ethan Hawke, Ja Rule, Lawrence Fishburne, Brian Deheney and John Leguizomo.

  Also recommended: Die Hard, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Rock, Con Air, Shaft, The Siege, The Peacemaker, Lethal Weapon, Scarface, Commmando, Passenger 57.
  
  

• Escape from New York
• They Live
• The Dark Knight (Full-Screen Single-Disc Edition)
• The Thing (Collector's Edition)