Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Genre: Action / Thriller
Duration: 91 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: John Carpenter
Stars: Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston and Laurie Zimmer
IMDb score:
7,3 (61.436)
Releasedate: 5 November 1976
Assault on Precinct 13 plot
"L.A.'s deadliest street gang just declared war on the cops."
Los Angeles. A man kills a gang member on the street who shot his daughter. The gang is out for revenge and attacks an understaffed police station, where the perpetrator is hiding.
Actors and actresses
Ethan Bishop
Napoleon Wilson
Leigh
Lawson
Wells
Starker
Julie
Ice Cream Man
Warden
Patrolman Tramer
Reviews & comments
DVD-T
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- 15565 messages
- 3150 votes
John Carpenter is truly the king of low budget cinema. It's amazing that he manages to deliver something good every time with so little.
What's great about Assualt on Precinct 13 is that Carpenter doesn't go too deep in terms of story. It just happens. We are given little information and are allowed to fill in the rest ourselves. Despite a somewhat slow start, the film always manages to entertain. Once we arrive at the police station, the movie really starts. The "siege" is a lot of fun to follow. Fortunately, Carpenter provides quite a bit of "cannon fodder". The characters are fun and interesting and there's quite a bit of action in the film where Carpenter doesn't hold back to show some blood. There is also a rather controversial moment in the film. Was really surprised to see that this passed the MPAA approval.
The actors all know how to give their characters a very nice interpretation. Stoker is very good as a good-natured police officer, Joston is great as a criminal with morals and values and Zimmer knows how to hold his own between the men. Although his role is somewhat short, Cypher is still quite memorable.
Carpenter knows very well what he wants, and as with other films, his love for filmmaking is very evident. Everything comes across very relaxed and you just notice that everyone is having a lot of fun. The editing is really very good. And then of course there's Carpenter's great score. At least half of the nice atmosphere that the film contains.
My 18th Carpenter movie and it hasn't disappointed me once. Very atmospheric action movie, this Assault on Precinct 13.
Translated from Dutch · View original
FMS2020
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- 43 messages
- 28 votes
I just re-watched this one. It's definitely the 10th time I've seen that movie. I bought this a while ago on DVD with Dutch subtitles, but unfortunately the image quality and sound are not optimal. That's why I searched the internet and found it with blu-ray quality. I think this movie is one of the best American thrillers ever made. This is most likely due to the director's music. The tension that is built up is really very well portrayed. How would you react if a gang killed your own daughter? And why now? Simply for nothing. I can imagine that this is daily fare in America. In fact, you have to risk your life continuously. I'm a fan of the director because he has some American thrillers to his name, some slightly better than others, but I still find his films very good. If I can be very honest I don't like the remake of this film, I've seen the remake in its entirety but thought it was bad and the tension is not there at all. The original is still the best. This movie gets the absolute 5 stars from me.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Vidi well
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- 553 messages
- 725 votes
Entertaining. I especially liked the first half, because of the continuous tension. We see a cop on his first day at work, a few gang members, a father on the road with his daughter, and a prisoner transport. It is clear that these stories will come together, but it is not yet clear how. Small shock moment was when that young girl was casually murdered. That immediately sets the tone. The violence is milder in the rest of the film.
When the stories come together in the police station, the second half of the film starts, which mainly revolves around action. As a result, the tension of the first half disappears, and a lot of shooting and fighting remains.
The film has weak moments, especially in the second half: wooden dialogues, the father who no longer plays a role in the course, the gangsters who climb in quite implausibly as mindless zombies, and stupid actions like endless discussions for a broken window.
Still a more than sufficient, because the film has a strong atmosphere and is an entertaining sit until the end. Carpenter also shows a number of means in terms of tension building that he would later perfect for Halloween. Nice atmospheric soundtrack too.
3.5*
Translated from Dutch · View originalPre- and sequels
Assault on Precinct 13
2005
2 comments
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