The Ron Review: Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Let me say up front that I've never seen the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 and have no intention of doing so. I'm not a fan of remakes in general, as they are just another symptom of how creatively bankrupt Hollywood has become. And they rarely, if ever, improve on the original source material. And what source material we have here -- even though John Carpenter in turn obviously drew from the likes of George A. Romero and Howard Hawks.

I say Howard Hawks because this is pretty clearly a poor man's Rio Bravo, made on Carpenter's usual shoestring budget but with a very similar basic premise. The premise, of course, has to be taken with an enormous grain of salt, and yet I had a great time with this movie.

The story is set in Los Angeles, where various street gangs have banded together to form a sort of umbrella organization that has become a thorn in the side of law enforcement. After a bunch of them perish in a vicious gun battle with the police, the gang bosses vow revenge. They start killing lots of innocent people, and this sets up the film's most shocking scene (WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW).

I consider myself to be a pretty jaded filmgoer; it takes a lot to really shock me. But this was so unexpected and so startlng, especially when you consider that it is a taboo line that even today's goriest filmmakers won't cross. At one point, an ice cream truck driver is killed by the gang members, right after he has given an ice cream cone to a little girl. But it seems he gave her the wrong flavor. She wanted vanilla twist. When she walks back to the truck to complain, a gang member shoots her right in the chest and she falls down dead.

After I saw that, I found myself wondering how in the hell Carpenter had gotten away with that. Apparently, he put the scene back in after he had shown studio executives the movie. I mean, showing a child killed is typically taboo in the movies. At this point, clearly all bets are off, although the rest of the film holds no other moment nearly as startling.

The girl's father goes after the gang members and ultimately winds up in a police precinct building that is due to be shut down -- and as a result is very understaffed. A horde of gang members ultimately surrounds the building, outnumbering the good guys, and the fun begins...

I like the fact that the movie takes its time to really get going, and makes an effort along the way to establish the individual characters. It's refreshing compared with the hyperactive pace of too many of today's movies. When the action comes, it's like an exclamation point.

Besides Howard Hawks, Carpenter was obviously inspired by George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Like that film, here you have a bunch of diverse characters trapped inside a building while an army of the bad guys is outside, trying to get in. And like the zombies, the gang members are treated as faceless, nameless menaces that for the most part never speak or express any individuality.

Sometimes the film is too talky, and what makes this worse is cheesy dialogue. But the quality of the cast helps make up for this. The best performer is Austin Stoker as the police officer who takes charge, ultimately filling a role not unlike that of Duane Jones in Night of the Living Dead. Laurie Zimmer brings an understated sexiness to the film as one of the station clerks who ends up on the front lines of battle. And Darwin Josten is great as convict Napoleon Wilson, who starts out behind bars and ends up helping to save the day. You almost get the sense that he's a prototype for the character of Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell in two of Carpenter's other movies.

Overall, this movie is definitely worth the cost of a rental, especially if you're a fan of John Carpenter or action films.