|
|
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303945316
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, NTSC
ISBN: 6303945317
Label: New Line Home Video
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: New Line Home Video
Release Date: February 27, 1996
Running Time: 91 minutes
Sales Rank: 13830
Studio: New Line Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: November 05, 1976
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Before making the original Halloween into one of the most profitable independent films of all time, John Carpenter directed this riveting low-budget thriller from 1976, in which a nearly abandoned police station is held under siege by a heavily armed gang called Street Thunder. Inside the station, cut off from contact and isolated, cops and convicts who were headed for death row must now join forces or die. That's the basic plot, but it's what Carpenter does with it that's remarkable. Drawing specific inspiration from the classic Howard Hawks Western Rio Bravo (which included a similar siege on disadvantaged heroes), Carpenter used his simple setting for a tense, tightly constructed series of action sequences, emphasizing low-key character development and escalating tension. Few who've seen the film can forget the 'ice cream cone' scene in which a young girl is caught up in the action by patronizing a seemingly harmless ice cream truck. It's here, and in other equally memorable scenes, that Carpenter demonstrates his singular knack for injecting terror into the mundane details of daily life, propelling this potent thriller to cult favorite status and long-standing critical acclaim. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
A gritty low-budget thriller, Assault on Precinct 13 offers interesting characters, well-directed action sequences and high levels of atmosphere and tension--anyone who likes this kind of movie could hardly do better.
Rating: - One of the best horror movies of its time
A street gang of seemingly unlimited strength and size lays siege on a police station, when the gang's leader is killed by a man seeking refuge in the station. After it becomes apparent that no help is going to come, the one police officer in the station, a rookie on his first night on the job (Austin Stoker), finds that he must join forces with the two prisoners in his care, if he ever hopes to survive.
"Assault on Precinct 13" is meant to be horror director John Carpenter's homage ... Read More
Rating:  - Carpenter's best
Forget Halloween, forget The Thing, Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 is his veritable masterpiece. It is endlessly cool, boasts his best soundtrack and his tightest direction, and happens to be one of the best thrillers ever made. Oh, and of all things, it's a remake of Rio Bravo! Sadly the soundtrack--one of the best soundtracks of all time--is almost impossible to obtain. The look and feel of this movie is unbeatable. Darwin Josten is incredible as Napolean, and, as Tarantino has said, it's ... Read More
Rating: - Remodelling a classic noir
Ostensibly a remake of John Carpenter's cult favourite, the new and improved Assault on Precinct 13 acknowledges its debt to Rio Bravo early on with a couple of lazy Dean Martin Christmas jingles.
Martin was a deputy drunk in Howard Hawks's 1959 western classic, which is where Carpenter borrowed the plot for his 1976 cop drama. Hatchet-faced tough guy John Wayne played a bossy sheriff in the original; in that film, Dino and Duke keep a passel of bad guys from breaking into jail and ... Read More
Rating:  - Decent idea but weak execution
Warning : this review will have spoilers.
I saw this for the first time (and last - I can't watch the ice cream sceen again) last night. Ok movie, but I felt like I was watching a remake of "Night of the Living Dead" more than a gang movie. The way the gang members silently walked about outside and just mindlessly rushed the building later despite getting shot so easily, they seemed more like zombies. Granted, zombies with silencer equipted weaponry, but members of the mindless undead just ... Read More
|
|
