Movie Review: Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 

Starring: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer, Martin West, Tony Burton, Charles Cyphers, Nancy Kyes ,Peter Bruni, John J. Fox, Marc Ross, Alan Koss, Henry Brandon, Kim Richards, Frank Doubleday, Gilbert De la Pena, Peter Frankland, Al Nakauchi, James Johnson, Gilman Rankin, Cliff Battuello, Horace Johnson, Valentine Villareal, Kenny Miyamoto, Jerry Viramontes, Len Whitaker, Kris Young, Randy Moore, Warren Bradley III, Joe Woo Jr., Bill Taylor, Brent Keast, Maynard Smith, John Carpenter, James Jeter 

Director: John Carpenter 

The CKK Corporation, Overseas FilmGroup, USA, 1976. 

In Anderson, California LA, police shoots members of Green Thunder gang. The gang leaders swear revenge. Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) is assigned to take charge of Precinct 13, which is a secluded station about to be closed down. The police station is manned only by Officer Chaney (Henry Brandon) and two secretaries Leigh and Julie (Laurie Zimmer and Nancy Kyes). 

Gang warlords

Leigh, Julie and Bishop

Death row prisoner Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston), Wells (Tony Burton), and Caudell (Peter Frankland) are waiting for transportation to jail. Sadistic Warden (John J. Fox) knocks Wilson off a chair. Later Wilson pays back accordingly. Wilson is a mysterious man, he has done some bad things but he is charismatic and has his principles. Officer Starker (Charles Cyphers) supervises the transportation. Because Caudell is sick the prison transport has to make a stop at Precinct 13. 

Prisoners Wells and Caudell with Officers Starker and Warden

Napoleon Wilson

The gang kills innocent civilians including little girl. Grieving father Lawson (Martin West) shoots one criminal and escapes to the nearest police station. Can you guess which one?

a) Precinct 12
b) Precinct 13
c) Precinct 14

Kathy and Lawson

Lawson is in state of shock and can not speak much. The gang attacks the police station. Telephone lines are cut and ammo is low. When hundreds of criminals siege the station, the surviving cops and prisoners must co-operate if they want to survive the night. 

White warlord (Frank Doubleday)

Hundreds of criminals attack the station

The movie was Carpenter's second major film made with low budget. As such it is not yet as refined as his later films but the minimalistic movie became prototype for later action thrillers. The movie has many characteristics present also in later Carpenter movies: small band of characters fighting against evil horde, strong female heroes, witty anti-heroes and camaraderie of cops and villains. Even the failed "Ghosts of Mars" follows the patterns created in this movie. One gang warlord looks like Che Guevara, similar character Cuervo Jones appeared also in "Escape from L.A." Carpenter's influences for "Assault on Precinct 13" were "Rio Bravo" and "Night of the Living Dead." 

The gang members do not have dialogue giving them inhuman zombie-like aura. The gang members recover the bodies of their dead, maybe this is a Vietnam War reference as Viet Cong was also known to recover bodies as a psychological warfare measure concealing their true losses. Carpenter builds the tension slowly and then hits hard with fierce action scenes. The actors are quite unknown but do a good job. The minimalistic style of the film makes the atmosphere important and characters interesting instead of distracting the audience with flashy effects. The movie transcends its low budget, cleverly making the most action occur in the almost deserted police station. John Carpenter composed the simple but exciting synthesizer soundtrack.

Rating:Very Good