Overview
Tagline:
L.A.'s deadliest street gang just declared war on the cops.
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Plot:
The lone inhabitants of an abandoned police station are under attack by the overwhelming numbers of a seemingly unstoppable street gang.
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User Comments:
Violent and witty
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| Nancy Kyes | .... | wardrobe mistress (as Louise Kyes) |
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Additional Details
Also Known As:
John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13
The Anderson Alamo (USA) (working title)
The Siege (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
91 min
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1
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MOVIEmeter: 
27% since last week
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
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), which was 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, which was the name of
John Wayne's character in "Rio Bravo".
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Goofs:
Factual errors: The silenced revolver that Wells uses would not be silenced. On the vast majority of revolvers have a gap between the cylinder and the barrel, through which some powder can escape, rendering the silencer ineffective.
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Quotes:
Warden:
[
after punching Wilson out of a chair without the slightest provocation] 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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Recommendations
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This is rightly considered a classic cult movie from the 1970's by the once reliable John Carpenter (who also composed the edgy early synth score). Basically it's a faint mish-mash of other movies, the dialogue is reminiscent of great westerns as a black policeman and a white convict battle against gang members in a Night of The Living Dead re-working. It's also tempting to draw Vietnam allegories (as with many American movies of the mid 1970's and after); the faceless, nameless gang members die in the droves but keep attacking the besieged police station and the lawmen and the lawbreakers, black and white, must unite to defeat them and escape with their lives.
The real joy of this movie, however, is the playing of the two virtually unknown leads, Austin Stoker and the late Darwin Joston. They have a great, almost wry chemistry and use Carpenter's stripped-down witty dialogue to great effect. Because there are no 'stars', there are no real expectations, and the shocks when they come (including the famous ice cream sequence) are more shocking for it.
The representation of women leaves a little to be desired (the two female characters obviously shop at the same sweater store!) but the character Lee shows some inner strength and resolve, and even has time for some kind of upper hand in terms of sexual tension between herself and Joston's Napoleon Wilson.
If you haven't seen this movie I urge you to watch it; in terms of B movies and cult thrillers it's the yardstick in my opinion; simple, stylish, violent, witty and not remotely sentimental.