Assault on Precinct Thirteen, 1976 - DVD

This was one of seven films I've watched in the last three days. Seven movies I either rented or brought from home while I was watching my girlfriend's dog. I don't know if I can watch another movie tonight... ok, I'm sure I can, but jesus... The Hard Word, The Devil's Backbone, The Usual Suspects, The Brood (a lot of The's in there), Mission to Mars, Rio Bravo and this one.

I'm a huge fan of John Carpenter's. One of the funniest moments of my childhood that I can remember is when my dad and I sat down to watch The Thing (my favorite of Carptenter's films). We pissed ourselves when Norris's head grew legs and Palmer said "You gotta be fucking kidding." Oh man... that line still gets me.

It wasn't until after college, after I started writing scripts and comics and all kinds of stuff, that I saw Assault in the action section at Blockbuster, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Don't ask me what I was doing in Hoboken.

What caught my eye was a quote from Quentin Tarantino that was on the box. "One of Tarantino's favorite films," as you can see from the image there. I was a Tarantino fan back then, loved Reservoir Dogs, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I can't remember my impressions the first time I saw the film, although I'm positive I enjoyed it. I watched it twice.

Now, I'm going to say something that might upset some people. I'm a late bloomer to some films... very late. And it was only just today that I sat down and watched Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson... directed by Howard Hawks, a huge favorite of Carpenter's. In fact, it was shortly after Carpenter finished Dark Star that he sat down and wrote The Anderson Alamo, the original title for Precinct. He wrote it under the name John T. Chance, John Wayne's character from Rio Bravo.

After watching Bravo, I only see a cursory amount of comparable scenes, circumstances and events. Precinct is definitely its own movie. Carpenter originally wanted to write and direct a western, but the budget wouldn't allow it. Now, I can see how Bravo might have inspired him to write this film... the idea of a siege taking place in a police station, all of that works. But in Precinct, the police officers aren't being assaulted because of a prisoner they have. That makes all the difference.

I find it interesting that Carpenter never went on to make a western. Shortly after Assault was made he went on to write, produce, compose and direct one of the most successful independent films ever made, Halloween... and I think he got stuck in the vein of horror for quite a while.

Precinct has a ton going for it. I think they were trying to make an exploitation picture, but it doesn't really come across as one. It's funny, but the mixture between black and white characters seems not only deliberate, but necessary. The four gang members in the beginning of the film, the commentary by the tv anchorman who talks about the racial diversity of the gangs in the LA area... its difficult to know if Carpenter was trying to touch on issues such as poverty and joblessness, etc... things that happen to everyone, regardless of race. That didn't really come across. What did come across was that Carpenter was showing us that bad guys and good guys come in all colors.

Austin Stoker is phenominal in this picture. I was really impressed with his work. I think because of Stoker's previous work on two Blacksploitation films, Sheba Baby and Abby, one might have gotten the notion that his follow-up would be one as well, but it isn't. He nails this role perfectly. His personality and chemistry flows easily with the remaining cast members.

Darwin Joston plays one of the best anti-heroes I've seen in film, Napoleon Wilson. Joston would go on to play a role in Carpenter's The Fog, along with a part in David Lynch's Eraserhead. That is pretty incredible right there... to have gotten in the door of two incredible directors first feature films. (ok, second for Carpenter, but you know what I mean). He's got an incredible amount of charisma... I attribute his character to a mirror image of John Wayne, at certain points. His presence is more important than his dialog, but his dialog is perfect as well... you can see that in the Wayne character from Bravo, along with Ricky Nelson's character... they think before they say something, and they say the right thing every time.

Laurie Zimmer does a great job in the film as well, though no where near the same type of character that Angie Dickinson played in Bravo. She's smart, tough and is a survivor. Not too uncommon for a late 70's film, but not super common either. This is an interesting character. She's holed up with criminals... falls for one of them (though she's a realist and knows nothing will ever come of it), and she kills bad guys. A total badass, without letting people know she's one, until they have to know.

Tony Burton was in one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, not to mention being the trainer for Apollo in the Rocky films... his quick cameo in Stir Crazy always makes me laugh. He's been in a number of other movies such as The Shining and Hook, but mostly b-movie fare, but he has the funniest line in the whole movie: "I have a plan, it's called Save Ass." Man, that gets me every time.

All four of these characters do an incredible job together.

Carpenter is an incredible director. He writers, he produces, he composes the music for the majority of his films. He's got an incredible repore with the actors he choses to work with. He's got a solid vision and is able to describe it to his cast and crew with relative ease.

I found it a little distressing to hear that a remake of Assault on Precinct Thirteen was in the works. Laurence Fishburn and Ethan Hawke are starring in it... here's the logline I found on IMDB: Laurence Fishburne plays a mobster being held in the soon-to-be-shut-down Precinct 13 on New Year's Eve. Ethan Hawke plays a captain who cobbles together a force made up of cops and criminals to protect the station from a gang that wants to set the mob guy free.

Now, I don't know about you, but first of all there are directors whose work should never be remade. Hitchcock is one, but they gave us a pathetic attempt at Psycho anyway. David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, the Coen Brothers (who went and made a remake themselves), Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, David Cronenberg, and a large number of other directors both past and present.

That logline is more of a description for a remake of Rio Bravo than a remake of Thirteen. And that's a shame. Ok, it's a shame and it's not. For one, there's no way that the remake will touch the original... and two, the plot is different enough that the remake will be its own movie, owning the plotline to Bravo rather than Thirteen... so, in actuality, reason one is mute.

Running a website for screenwriters, I'm sure that you can understand my frustration, along with a large portion of the budding Hollywood community, since we have become innundated with not only remakes but the resurrection of 60's, 70's and 80's kitch tv shows. I am not interested in a feature film of I Dream of Jeannie or The A-Team. I have no desire to watch a film that isn't an original idea, or the ridiculous vehicle of some superstar. There are original ideas out there, original scripts. Why don't you Hollywood execs try looking for them, instead of trying to re-hash and re-package our past?