Assault On Precinct 13

I could not let this week pass without mention of another brand-new 40th Anniversary Digital remastering of a true cult classic of contemporary cinema.

John Carpenter’s ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) is a movie that has earned it’s spurs as a key achievement of independent film-making. Fans of HALLOWEEN (1978), who have never seen this film, should do the decent thing and see it whenever they can. In addition, they should also pay homage to the London Film Festival, for it was there in 1977, after an unsuccessful US debut, that the film began to find it’s audience. Guardian Film Critic Derek Malcolm described it at the time as ‘The cult film of the year”

Irwin Yablans, who worked with Carpenter on HALLOWEEN, said that had it not been for the success of ASSAULT in England, he would not have had the courage to go forward with HALLOWEEN. Carpenter took the name of the distributor of ASSAULT in the UK, Miracle Films’ Michael Myers – and used it subsequently for the name of the killer in HALLOWEEN.

I say all this in the aftermath of it’s March 9th. 2016 screening to open a season of Carpenter classics at London’s Prince Charles Cinema. Having only ever seen it myself on DVD and TV, initially during a Summer 1982 debut screening on ITV, this brand new Digital remastering allowed me to see the film with fresh eyes – and it’s as if I never seen it at all, a testament to it’s enduring power and appreciation amongst not only Carpenter fans, but also fans of the genre per se.

It remains to this day a wonderfully dark, humorous and textured action thriller, effectively a remake of Howard Hawks’ RIO BRAVO (1951) – and even goes right down to Carpenter using John Wayne’s character’s name, John T Chance, as a pseudonym for the editor on ASSAULT.

Incidentally, it wasn’t the last time he used an alter-ego. The name Martin Quatermass was Carpenter’s writing credit on his 1988 horror offering PRINCE OF DARKNESS, in homage to Nigel Kneale, who created the famous series of sci-fi horror offerings two decades before the release of this film.

Made at a cost of $100,000, mostly from an independent investor who approached Carpenter to make a film and – in a rare show of faith – giving him carte blanche to make a film, the film has the look of something that cost 100 times that, mostly thanks to the insistence of the film-makers to always get the best equipment and facilities available.

Presentation-wise, this is a truly magnificent Digital transfer, encompassing much of the power and majesty that defined the film for me on my first viewing three decades before. Even if you own a copy of the film on DVD or Blu-Ray, you will derive a lot of pleasure seeing it in a cinema.

The plot involves the shooting by police of a gang called ‘Street Thunder’ a group of multi-racial and ethnic members in a night shooting. Although the Mayor of Los Angeles County calls a news conference citing that ‘the juvenile gang problem is completely out of control’, a quartet of gang members decide to swear a blood oath.

Meanwhile, morally determined Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) is on his first day on the job and is given a simple assignment to supervise the closure and reassignment of Precinct 9, Division 13 in the Anderson District of LA. Simple enough task you say.

However, the arrival of a bus load of criminals, amongst them notorious Death-Row convict Napoleon Wilson (the late, great Darwin Joston, never better) and Wells (Tony Burton, who later played Apollo Creed’s ringman in ROCKY), proves only the start-off point for Bishop and the other police station employees, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer), Julie (Nancy Loomis) and Chaney (Henry Brandon).

Elsewhere, an ice-cream seller (Peter Bruni) and a father and daughter (Martin West and Kim Richards) are also drawn into the evening’s drama…..

I have declined to reveal one or two of the key moments of the film here, even though the film is now forty years old, to those who may not have seen it. The remastering of the action here elevates it to an even more powerful experience than what I have had in previous viewings. As I say, this is like seeing the film for the first time again. Douglas Knapp’s cinematography captures the essence of a desperate night and Carpenter’s screenplay remains as observant and funny on occasion, helping to offset the shock of the violence and brutality on show. This is a film of deliberate build, suspense and pace. The music score (which Carpenter admitted to blatantly lifting from Led Zeppelin’s IMMIGRANT SONG and SCORPIO’S THEME from DIRTY HARRY) is as catchy as ever.

The film was remade in 2005 with Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne, but this slicker update never quite attained the level of appreciation Carpenter’s original did.

Joston’s Wilson has the best lines, but is matched by Burton’s Wells, particularly during the latter half of the film, setting the tone for some very comical exchanges. Zimmer (who never did anything after this film) is also notable as Leigh, excellent support and a counterbalance to the male characters. Loomis as Julie is a complete contrast to her sexually eager student Annie in HALLOWEEN. Charles Cyphers, who plays Starker in this film, went on to become a regular in future Carpenter offerings like THE FOG (1979) and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) as well as HALLOWEEN.

Little else to say, except that this is near perfection as a thriller – and sits amongst my other Carpenter favourites HALLOWEEN, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and THE THING. Although Carpenter has not done much of note in recent years, this quintet of films secures his place in the annals of genre film-making history alongside the likes of David Cronenberg and the late Wes Craven.

Verdict

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Film and TV Journalist Follow: @Higgins99John Follow: @filmandtvnow