10 DAYS OF MAYHEM DAY 2: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976) - Cine-Apocalypse

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Monday, 7 May 2012

10 DAYS OF MAYHEM DAY 2: ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 (1976)


We continue our 10 Days Of Mayhem countdown to the U.K release of The Raid with our second film, A film that is as genre defining as The Raid is said to be, a film set at a time when race was still an issue in certain parts of the U.S and gangs controlled the poorer areas of L.A. John Carpenter's Assault On Precinct 13 is the film and it did indeed influence a change in how certain films are made.


What Carpenter did was break down all the race barriers of gang culture to represent a Gang made up of blacks, whites and hispanics, something that had never been seen before and something we wouldn't see again until Walter Hill's The Warriors 3 years later. But it's this integration of creeds that makes the gang even more sinister because they don't care about what you look like all they want to do cause much mayhem, death and destruction. One particular scene which is also one of the biggest taboo's in cinema is a scene in which a little girl becomes the victim of a random, cold blooded killing, so this gang have no problems when it comes to who they kill and this gives the film a chilling atmosphere. The film follows Lt. Ethan Bishop LAPD on his first night out. He's ordered to go and babysit the 13th Precinct on it's final night as it's about to close its doors. The father of the little girl chases the four gang members and ends up killing one, he escapes and heads into the police station. Around the same time a prison transfer bus finds it needs to stop at the nearest police station as one of the prisoners is sick. Also on board the bus are two other criminals, a man called Wells and a man called Napoleon Wilson, a feared possible Gangster. When the assault on the precinct starts, it's up to the Bishop to put a way the rule book and turn Wells and Wilson free if they have any chance of survival.

The film is a brilliant mix of John Wayne's Rio Bravo and George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. It takes the same premise of Rio Bravo by using the siege but injects the terror and relentlessness of NOTLD as hordes of emotionless, characterless gang members attack the station. This is what gives the film it's horrific sense of dread. But this is an action film not a horror movie and as soon as the Prison bus arrives it's doesn't let up with the gunfire. For a film made on a budget of less than $150,000, Carpenter shows how you don't need studio backing to make an effective action thriller. Originally Carpenter wanted to make a western and wrote a screenplay for John Wayne hoping to get him out of retirement but due to financial reasons, Carpenter opted to rework Rio Bravo and set it in modern L.A. He created a modern western with this film and it's western influences are evident through out the film with references to many John Wayne films and even using a pseudonym for the Credit of editor, John T.Chance which is the name of the character Wayne played in Rio Bravo.

Assault On Precinct 13 is classic effective low budget action movie film making, it's influential in it's depiction of a multi racial gang, it's violent in a way that would only ever been seen in a blaxploitaion film as most studio's would try and avoid the kind of violence on display in this film and is one of John Carpenter's best films. It's made even more atmospheric due the fantastic electro synth score which was done by carpenter himself and this in turn amps up the tension. If you haven't seen this film, do your self a favour and track it down ASAP. You won't be disappointed.  


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