It's not even the 13th precinct.

I decided to knock another movie off the “I'll watch it some day” list, and watched:

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Written and directed by John Carpenter, Assault on Precinct 13 is one of those movies that have been floating around in my periphery for decades. It has always been mentioned with a certain reverence like, “it's alright, but it's no Assault on Precinct 13”... At least that is the impression I had about the movie.

The movie opens with a group of gangers being gunned down by the LAPD in South Central. We learn that this gang, a mysterious multi-ethnic gang called Street Thunder has stolen a cache of weapons that include assault rifles and suppressors. The leaders of Street Thunder swear a bloody vendetta against the police and (for some reason) the citizens of LA.

We meet Highway Patrol lieutenant Ethan Bishop, who is asked to run the last night shift for a precinct that is moving. It's the final night and everything should be quiet. Suddenly a prison transport bus arrives as one prisoner is very ill, and that is when a man hysterical with fear runs into the station. He is being chased by Street Thunder and it becomes a desperate fight for survival until help can arrive, if it can arrive.

Assault on Precinct 13 is incredibly solid, and I think it's because there was one person at the helm, not a room full of people who all wanted their ideas to shine. The movie is perfectly balanced and if anything would have knocked that balance askew, the movie would have failed miserably. As it is, it is a tense and fun movie. It is competently shot, but it is the actors and the dialogue that really shines. They have great chemistry and it all works so well.

If you are the kind of movie watcher that wants everything explained, then I'm sorry but you're going to be disappointed. What I wrote about the gang is pretty much all you get to know. A fun fact is that no ganger says a single word. Carpenter has admitted that one of his influences for Assault on Precinct 13 was Night of the Living Dead (1968) and he wanted the Street Thunder thugs to have a somewhat zombie like style.

When the movie was released in the US it received a lukewarm reception, but it got an incredibly warm reception in the UK, which spurred a popular reception in the rest of the world, leading the US critics to have to revisit their critique. The UK distributor was called Michael Myers, and a grateful Carpenter wanted to do something nice for him, so he used the name in Halloween.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes. It is a solid action/thriller that despite all the shooting doesn't dwell too much on the killings. Well except for one scene... It's solid and the actors really knock it out of the park. It's not one of Carpenters best but it is good enough. I'm glad I watched it, and I might see it again one day.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!