Monday, October 8, 2012
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
John
Carpenter’s cult-classic, >$100,000-budget action thriller “Assault of
Precinct 13” is the parent to all “siege” movies that would come a decade
later, including “Die Hard.” Itself a modern re-make of “Alamo”-type
flicks, this also was to be set in the West, but Carpenter could not swing the
budget. The bare plot: A mysterious pack of gang members attack a L.A. ghetto
police station on the eve of its closure, trapping a stalwart African-American
officer (Austin Stoker), several women, and convicted felons (including Darwin
Joston) inside. “Assault” is a midnight feature that can play as a maybe-zombie film -– the gang members dabble with bowls of blood and are all but suicidal. Deep-thoughts: It’s a post-Vietnam American meltdown, or a satire on
1950s films that celebrated white heroics and all but demeaned blacks, flipped
on its, middle finger held out proud. But the heck with deep anything, this is a blazin’ cool cheap “B” flick that excels its origins and is seriously nasty fun. The title,
by the way, is infamously wrong. The besieged station is District 13, Precinct 9. “Assault of Precinct 9”?
Hmmm. Na. “13.” B+
Labels:
1976,
action,
African-american,
Austin Stoker,
crime,
Darwin Joston,
Die Hard,
gangs,
horror,
John Carpenter,
Los Angeles,
police,
race,
thriller,
violent
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