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Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Dir: John Carpenter

When a group of L.A gang members are ambushed and shot by the Police their comrades make a blood pact to take revenge.
After the gangs first brutal operation, a series of events leads to a siege of the district Police Precinct that is in the process of being closed down.
Only a skeleton staff remains in the building, which is situated in an almost deserted, run down neighborhood.

His first day on assignment finds Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) in charge of the Station for the night with help from a Desk Sergeant (veteran Hollywood actor Henry Brandon who essayed 'Scar' in John Ford's iconic John Wayne western "The Searchers"), and two Secretaries, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Loomis from Carpenters breakthrough "Halloween"),
Just as a bus-transferring criminals to prison, including 'Napoleon' Wilson (Darwin Jostin) and Wells (Tony Burton), stops at the Station the gang attacks.
Soon the unlikely pairing of Cops and criminals are fighting for their lives against the fanatic gang……

 

Made two years before the phenomenon that would be "Halloween", "Precinct" showcases Carpenter reaching his all to brief peak of creativity that would see such gems as "The Thing", "Escape From New York", "The Fog", "Elvis" "Christine", "Starman" and the aforementioned "Halloween".

"Precinct" features the same slow burn first half that "Halloween" would have. Carpenter expertly builds tension with scenes of the gang making their 'blood oath' and cruising the streets with a scoped rifle mix with the seemingly routine goings on with Bishop at the Station, as he (and we) meet the other characters, and also the ill fated prison transfer of the cons.
Despite this long build up to the actual siege, it is to Carpenters credit that the film never drags. The use of the now famous synth score (a simple, but truly wonderful composition by Carpenter), and expertly created visuals (like the gangs car cruising past the ice cream van, appearing and disappearing in it's wing mirrors, the pools of isolated light around lonely phone booths stranded in the blackness of the night clad City, silent and emotionless killers, eerie deserted streets, slow walking gunmen appearing out of the night) all combine to keep the viewer intrigued.

The siege itself is a cross between Fords "Rio Bravo" (Carpenter famously edited the film under the name of Wayne's character in the film 'John T Chance') and "Night of the Living Dead". But Carpenter plays with these ideas, twisting them into something unique. The most noticeable break with convention is the gangs use of silencers.
Carpenter gives us a long sequence of almost constant gunfire that is simply a series of 'pops' and breaking glass. A far cry from the normal ear splitting roar of gun blasts in other movie shoot-outs.
As bullets rip into the Station it becomes an almost surreal experience, with objects seemingly exploding on their own as they are hit.
The sight of the windows suddenly being blown apart as if by nothing is delightfully bizarre. As were the 'paper sprites' that suddenly fluttered up as a silent bullet hit various notes left lying around.

After this, when the main attack starts and the defenders fight back, the booming blasts of their weaponry seems even louder and more powerful. Add to this a brilliant bit of acting/gun handling by the cast, (expertly edited as well) and this becomes one of the best, straight to the point shootouts ever created. Bloody and brutal in it's lethal efficiency.

Carpenters script is also a cheeky joy. The 'Napoleon' character in particular is given some wonderful dialogue, that marks him as a 'hard' man, and yet with an obviously very clever wit and a his own, strong moral code.
And it's in the interaction between the characters that the Script really shines.
The cliché dialogue is masterful in its creation, it's a vital ingredient to the movies charm.

The cast is also in top form. Stoker is excellent, giving his character a myriad of emotions and outlooks on events as they progress and change.

Joston was simply a joy! This guy should have done more. His delivery of the truly brilliant dialogue his character is given is perfect.
And with 'Napoleon' t's very obvious that we have the blueprint for Snake from "Escape from New York". We have the deadpan humour, the repeated catch phrases ("Gotta smoke?"/"Call me Snake"), the hinted at past and infamy, and the unusual nickname (Napoleon/Snake) and also the running dialogue jokes ("Why do they call you Napoleon?"/"I heard you were dead").
There is also fun work from Tony Burton and if Zimmer is a little OTT, I think it was in keeping with the old school, 'hard' Western heroine that Carpenter was trying to re-create, especially with the dialogue she had.

Twenty four years on, this movie still delivers the action, suspense, humour and all round entertainment it always did. One of Carpenters best films and a complete joy to watch.