Appendix 19
Assault on Precinct 13
Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American action thriller film written, directed, scored, and edited by John Carpenter. Austin Stoker stars as a police officer who defends a defunct precinct against a relentless criminal gang, along with Darwin Joston as a convicted murderer who helps him. Laurie Zimmer, Tony Burton, Martin West and Nancy Kyes co-star as other defenders of the precinct.
Carpenter was approached by producer J. Stein Kaplan to make a low-budget exploitation film for under $100,000, on the condition that Carpenter would have total creative control. Carpenter's script, originally titled The Anderson Alamo, was inspired by the Howard Hawks Western film Rio Bravo and the George A. Romero horror film Night of the Living Dead. Despite controversy with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) over a scene involving the violent killing of a young girl, the film received an R rating and opened in the United States on November 5, 1976.
Assault on Precinct 13 was initially met with mixed reviews and unimpressive box-office returns in the United States, but when the film premiered in the 1977 London Film Festival, it received an ecstatic review by festival director Ken Wlaschin that led to critical acclaim first in Britain and then throughout Europe. It garnered a cult following and reappraisal from critics, with many evaluating the film as one of the best action films of its era and of Carpenter's career.
A remake was released in 2005, directed by Jean-Francois Richet and starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.
