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ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MORGAN'S RATING | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Isolated, cut off. Inside an abanonded police station, a handful of cops and some convicts on their way to Death Row must join forces and defend themselves against the gang called Street Thunder, who have taken a blood oath to destroy. From the director Halloween and The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13 combines elements of the classic western and modern thriller to create a cult favorite, one of John Carpenter's very best films. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin Stoker (Bishop), Darwin Joston (Wilson), Laurie Zimmer (Leigh), Martin West (Lawson), Tony Burton (Wells), Charles Cyphers (Starker), Nancy Kyes (Julie), Peter Bruni (Ice Cream Man), John J. Fox (Warden), Marc Ross, Alan Koss (Patrolmen), Henry Brandon (Chaney), Kim Richards (Kathy), Frank Doubleday (White Warlord), Gilbert De la Pena (Chicano Warlord), Peter Frankland (Caudell), Al Nakauchi (Oriental Warlord), James Johnson (Black Warlord), Gilman Rankin (Bus Driver), Cliff Battuello, Horace Johnson (Guards), Valentine Villareal, Kenny Mitaniti (Toughies), Jerry Viramontes (Chicago Hood), Le Whitaker (Black Hood), Kris Young, Randy Moore, Warren Bradley III, Joe Woo Jr., William S. Taylor (Gang Members), Brent Keast (Radio Announcer), Maynard Smith (Police Commissioner). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L.A.'S DEADLIEST STREET GANG JUST DECLARED WAR ON THE COPS. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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PRODUCTION INFORMATION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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DIRECTOR: John Carpenter (They Live). WRITER: John Carpenter. PRODUCER: J. Stein Kaplan. ASSISTANT PRODUCER: Steve Fine. EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Joseph Kaufman. ORIGINAL MUSIC: John Carpenter. DISTRIBUTOR: Astral Films. |
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QUOTES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FACTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wells: Look at that, two cops wishing me luck. I'm doomed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RELEASE DATE: November 5th, 1976 (USA) BUDGET: $100,000 (USA) - Following the release of his first feature, Dark Star (1974), John Carpenter was approached by a group of investors who gave him carte blanche to make whatever kind of picture he wanted, albeit with a very limited budget. Although Carpenter wanted to make a Western, he knew he wouldn't have the resources to make a period piece. He wrote this film as a highly stylized, modern-day Western, essentially remaking Rio Bravo (1959) directed by Carpenter's hero, Howard Hawks. Carpenter acknowledges this debt to Hawks and Rio Bravo by using the pseudonym of John T. Chance for his film editor's credit. That name was John Wayne's character in Rio Bravo. - The precinct's new address, 1977 Ellendale Place (written on a sign erected in front of the building) was John Carpenter's real address when he first lived in L.A. - Carpenter has said that he based his score to this film on both Lalo Schifrin's score to Dirty Harry (1971) and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". - Darwin Joston's portrayal of Napoleon Wilson is inspired by Charles Bronson's character "Harmonica" in Once Upon a Time in the West (1969); when asked to explain themselves and their actions, both respond "Only at the point of dyin'..." - Director cameo: John Carpenter as one of the gang members shot trying to climb in through a window. |
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Captain Collins: There are no heroes anymore, Bishop. Just men who follow orders. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Napoleon Wilson: In my situation, days are like women -- each one's so damn precious, but they all end up leaving you. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corrections Officer: Detective, you run this precinct like chicken night in Turkey. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prison Warden: He just slipped right out of the chair. Napoleon Wilson: Yeah, I don't sit in chairs as well as I used to. |
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Napoleon: Still have the gun? Julie: Two shots. Should I save them for the two of us? Napoleon: Save 'em for the first two assholes who come through that vent. |
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Napoleon: I was born out of time. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CRITICAL COMMENTS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Riveting..." -- Leonard Maltin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"The action is so raw it doesn't seem choreographed, so fast it doesn't seem implausible, and so intense you never ask what it's all about -- you just hang on." -- Entertainment Weekly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"...there's no mistaking the modern racial and sexual politics encoded in the distinctly western elements of Carpenter's lean, mean, genre-defying masterpiece." -- Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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