Fresh off his impressive feature-length debut, Dark Star, John Carpenter was hired by producer J. Stein Kaplan to create a low-budget exploitation film.
But this was a sponsored DYI, not a big studio blank check.
Armed with a meager (even by 1970s standards) $100,000 budget and complete creative control, the multi-talented Carpenter needed to flex his creative muscles to make this work.
He got cracking.
Carpenter wrote the final script in just 8 days and scored the film in 3 (performed with help from Tommy Lee Wallace). The film was shot in just 20 days, and he picked up the editing duties (along with creative partner Debra Hill).
And he proved resourceful. He cast his neighbor, actor Darwin Joston, in one of the principal parts. USC film students were recruited as extras.
The result? Assault on Precinct 13, an action thriller hybrid of Rio Bravo and Night of the Living Dead.
A film that developed a cult following and garnered international attention, Assault on Precinct 13 has been a reference point for contemporary filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez and Quinten Tarantino (From Dusk Till Dawn, in particular).
But nearly 50 years later, is this film still a low-budget classic or too dated to hold up?
Fun Fact: Michael Myers, the knife-slashing killer in Carpenter’s Halloween, is named after Michael Myers of Miracle Films, who purchased the distribution rights to Assault on Precinct 13 in Britain.
The Plot of Assault on Precinct 13:
In a Los Angeles ghetto, police officers ambush and kill six members of Street Thunder, a local gang.
Incensed, Street Thunder leaders White Warlord (Frank Doubleday), Chicano Warlord (Gilbert De La Pena), Oriental Warlord** (Al Nakauchi), and Black Warlord (James Johnson) swear a blood oath against the police and people of L.A.
The next day, Highway Patrol Officer Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) and a skeleton crew, including Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Loomis), oversee the final hours of Anderson Precinct, which is closing permanently.
Soon, a bus transporting convicts, including Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) and Wells (Tony Burton), is forced to stop at Anderson Precinct when prisoner Caudell (Peter Frankland) becomes alarmingly sick.
Next, Mr. Lawson (Martin West), chased by members of Street Thunder, seeks shelter at Anderson Precinct.
As the warlords and their Street Thunder gang lay siege to the precinct, hungry to kill Lawson and anyone in the way, the police and convicts must band together in a desperate fight to survive the night.
The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:
- John J. Fox as Warden
- Charles Cyphers as Special Officer Starker
- Marc Ross as Patrolman Tramer
- Alan Koss as Patrolman Baxter
- Henry Brandon as Sergeant Chaney
- Gilman Rankin as Bus Driver
- Peter Bruni as Ice Cream Man
- Kim Richards as Kathy Lawson
**This is how the character is credited. I do not refer to Asian people as “Oriental.”
The Good Things:
Amping You Up:
The film opens to simple red title credits on a black background, but Carpenter’s atmospheric electronic score rolls in like a pot of coffee on an empty stomach, kicking up the adrenaline.
If you could put sound to sweltering L.A. heat, the wish-wash percussion holds it. A thumping drum taps in heartbeats.
Then it hits you with a catchy synth-bass refrain that screams something’s about to go down.
And echoing strings hold high notes like blurred sirens, carrying a hint of ghostliness.
Carpenter is known for his electronic scores, and it seems a default I say positive things about them when I review one of his films.
But this theme is arguably his very best.
Plot Progression/Story Structure:
The pacing glides, and the structure is kinetic. The movie starts with a literal bang, characterization comes on the fly, and nothing drags.
We follow our three parties (Ethan, the convicts, and the gangsters) over the afternoon until they arrive at the Anderson Precinct for a fatal showdown.
And the unlikely alliance between convicts and police ups the tension, as the threat to Ethan and the officers could be inside the Precinct as much as outside.
Strong Performances:
Austin Stoker’s Ethan Bishop is matter of fact despite the predicament. You can see his fear, but he doesn’t let it get the better of him.
Darwin Joston’s Napoleon is engagingly enigmatic. He walks a thin line between sarcastic fatalism and nobility, a best friend you’re not quite sure you can turn your back to.
And Laurie Zimmer’s tough-talking yet vulnerable Leigh brings back the Hawksian Woman archetype she’s based on. She wields a revolver and a dry sense of humor.
Gangsters Subbing for Ghouls
In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were outside, trying to scuttle in. In Assault on Precinct 13, it’s the Street Thunder gang.
In a deliberate decision by Carpenter, the gangsters are not deeply characterized. They are almost like Night’s zombies – hellbent on wreaking havoc no matter the cost, following their “cholo code” and blood oath.
It brings a sense of horror to the film, as the men outside don’t play by mortal rules.
Diverse Cast and Cloudy Moral Underpinnings:
It’s said on lead actor Austin Stoker’s Wikipedia that Assault on Precinct 13 was one of the few heroic starring roles for a black actor in an action film of this period outside of the blaxploitation films.
And it’s refreshing that this 1976 movie featured black and white cops, black and white convicts, and diverse gangsters.
It also blurs the lines – authority not coinciding with morality, criminals not without honor.
For example, the authoritative warden commits injustice when he wacks Napoleon out of a chair; Ethan came out of the mean streets of Anderson to become a cop, not a criminal. And the convicts unite with the police when they could betray them.
The Not-As-Good Things:
Combat by Montage and the Final Showdown
When the police and convicts defend the building from the invading thugs, the action isn’t awful. Still, it doesn’t sparkle by today’s fight-film standards.
It’s a montage of shotguns blasting at windows, where gangsters peak in through the blinds almost Home Alone style, or revolver shots taking down hoodlums storming narrow corridors.
Bullet ballet a la John Woo would be out of place here, but a few more compelling scuffles and close calls would improve things.
And without spoiling it, the final showdown is somewhat disappointing.
It’s a clever last-ditch plan to survive, but it relies on enemies who spent the movie firing silenced automatic weapons coming at them hand-to-hand.
The Street Thunder are intense enough to go berserker, but they were tactical too. The film could have explained the lack of guns.
Let’s Play a Kids’ Game
There’s a task that only Wells and Napoleon can do that might help everyone escape, but it’ll be dangerous.
To decide who goes, Wells demands they play potatoes rather than flip a coin (a kids’ game where you recite a silly rhyme and smack your hands; whoever gets the last hit as the verse ends loses).
Maybe my sense of humor here sucks, but seeing Wells and Napoleon bopping fists like children on a playground threw me out of the movie.
Mr. Lawson Does a Barrel Roll
**Minor Spoilers Here**
Mr. Lawson’s shootout with White Warlord makes little sense.
After a chase, Lawson and the Warlords pull their cars to a stop.
Perhaps they are unarmed, but three warlords flee the vehicle rather than attack Lawson, which seems out of step with their blood oath.
White Warlord pulls out his automatic weapon and opens fire.
But Lawson gets the better of White Warlord when he performs his version of a barrel roll (a move in the video game Starfox that magically deflects laser blasts).
Lawson uses the epic evasive maneuver of…just slowly ducking back inside the car and re-emerging when the other guy has stopped shooting.
It’s a clunky sequence.
That Little Girl
**Minor Spoiler Here**
This film is infamous for a scene showing the shooting and killing of character Kathy Lawson, a little girl. It almost got the film an X rating from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
In interviews, Carpenter puts killing the character down to being young and stupid.
Kathy Lawson’s shooting death isn’t as shocking today, where we have popular comics like Something is Killing the Children (I’ve read it, and it does what it advertises).
But offing the girl was a silly move bound to draw the wrong kind of attention.
Go Watch Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13 is a classic action thriller with a kickass score.
Like ghosts, gangsters stalk the streets, an amalgamation of our fears of violence and disorder. They lay siege to Anderson Precinct, terrorizing but galvanizing unlikely police and convict allies to fight back.
Its action sequences may not match the intensity and choreography of what you’ll find nearly
fifty years later. Still, it’s a masterful movie that holds the suspense until the end. The setup, performances, and characters are worth your viewing time.
It’s further proof that filmmaking talent like Carpenter’s can overcome limitations in budget.
P.S.: There was a 2005 remake, which divides opinion (and I haven’t seen it).
Assault on Precinct 13 is rated R and was directed by John Carpenter.
You can stream it for free on TubiTv or rent it from other streaming sites.
You can watch the trailer here.
And for more John Carpenter, check out:
A review for Dark Star
A review for The Fog
Disclaimer: The factual information about the film in this review was gathered through online sources, such as Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.
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