Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

 

 I am addicted to Cult films and being a cinephile I heard lot's of good things about "Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)" and I thought I had to watch it to satisfy ny curiosity. I watched it with my mother just to amuse her but she never liked the film and so did I. 

The story starts in the crime infested ghettos of Los Angeles, a group of "Street Thunder" gang members gets ambushed by the police after stealing a large number of weapons and ammunition.

In the wake of the bloodbath 3 leaders of the gang swear a blood oath to terrorize the citizens of Los Angeles to avenge their fallen members. 

A newly promoted Lt. Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) takes command of the old Anderson police station before it closes with it's 2 secretaries Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Loomis). Meanwhile the "Street Thunder" gang strikes with the killing of a young girl eating ice cream and it's driver. The father of the girl Lawson (Martin West) takes it upon himself to avenge his daughter and chases the gang members with the gun from the driver and kills one of them. Shocked by the murder of her daughter and for what he had done  he runs and seeks refuge inside the Anderson police station but is unable to explain what happened due to shock.

"Noooo!!!"

A prison bus in the meantime arrives at the precinct hoping to get a doctor for one of the prisoners who became sick, 2 of the other prisoners are Wells (Tony Burton) and the notorious Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston). As the prisoners were about to be loaded back to the bus the Street Thunder gang attacks the station almost single handedly wiping out the entire convoy leaving Wells and Wilson the only survivors. Now it's up to Bishop with the help of the 2 convicts and the feisty Leigh to fight off the seemingly endless attacks by the  gang members. 

I suppose the film could have been better than advertised and John Carpenter with his reputation as the master of blending horror, action and suspense could have made the film more grittier and realistic. 

The action scenes at times were awkward and the dialogue were too "Hawkish" for it's own good, the endless shooting scenes really did not make the film exciting and made it less interesting. The gang members did not act like real people but  mindless zombies that became target practice for the main characters, the film had it's moments with Napoleon Wilson and Leigh providing the sexual tension it needed trying to evoke the Bogie-Bacall chemistry that Howard Hawks used in his heyday which I know Mr. Carpenter is a big fan. But the running gag with the smoke and the convicts playing potatoes really killed the movie for me.

The ending really did not give the film closure as it should have because the gang members were easily defeated by 2 guys and 1 wounded secretary. Maybe because my expectations were a bit too high but this film really disappointed me and it was not the cult film I was expecting, this film is a far cry from Carpenter's other films like "Halloween" and "The Thing" which are favorites of mine. 

Grade: D+