Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American action thriller film written, directed, scored and edited by John Carpenter. It stars Austin Stoker as a police officer who defends a defunct precinct against an attack by a relentless criminal gang, along with Darwin Joston as a convicted murderer who helps him. Laurie Zimmer and Tony Burton co-star as other defenders of the precinct.

Writer/director Carpenter was approached by J. Stein Kaplan to make a low-budget exploitation film for under $100,000 but with total creative control. Carpenter wrote The Anderson Alamo, inspired by the Howard Hawks Western film Rio Bravo and the George A. Romero horror film Night of the Living Dead. Shot in winter of 1975, production went smoothly and finished on time and on budget. Despite controversy with the MPAA over the explicitly violent and infamous "ice cream" scene, the film received an R rating and opened in the United States on November 10, 1976.

Assault was met with mixed reviews and unimpressive box-office returns in the United States. However when the film premiered in the 1977 London Film Festival, it received an ecstatic review by festival director Ken Wlaschin that led to critical and popular acclaim throughout Europe. It gained a considerable cult following and was later re-evaluated in America as one of the best action films of its era and of Carpenter's career. A remake appeared in 2005, directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.

Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot ==Plot[edit] == The story takes place on a Saturday in Anderson, a crime-infested ghetto in South Central Los Angeles. Members of a local gang known as 'Street Thunder' have recently stolen a large number of automatic rifles and pistols. The film begins at 3 A.M. that morning, as a team of heavily armed LAPD officers ambush and kill six members of the gang. Later, the gang's four warlords swear a blood oath of revenge, known as a "Cholo", against the police and the citizens of Los Angeles.
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Production
 * 3.1 Screenplay
 * 3.2 Pre-production
 * 3.3 Principal photography
 * 3.4 Post-production
 * 3.5 Distribution
 * 4 Reception
 * 4.1 Initial release and critical revision
 * 4.2 Critical reception
 * 4.3 Awards
 * 4.4 Legacy
 * 5 Analysis
 * 5.1 Inspirations for Assault
 * 5.2 Carpenter's directorial trademarks
 * 6 Soundtrack
 * 7 Home video releases
 * 8 See also
 * 9 References
 * 9.1 Annotations
 * 9.2 Notes
 * 9.3 Bibliography
 * 10 Further reading
 * 11 External links

During the day, three sequences of events occur parallel to one another: First, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker), a newly promoted CHP officer, is assigned to take charge of the decommissioned Anderson police precinct during the last few hours before it is permanently closed. The station is manned by a skeleton staff composed of Captain Chaney (Brandon) and the station's two secretaries, Leigh (Zimmer) and Julie (Nancy Loomis).

Across town, two of the Street Thunder warlords, along with two other gang members, drive around the neighborhood looking for people to kill. One of the warlords shoots and kills a little girl and the driver of an ice-cream truck. The girl's father, Lawson, pursues and kills the warlord, upon which the other gang members chase him into the Anderson precinct. In shock, Lawson is unable to communicate to Bishop or Chaney what has happened to him.

Just before this, a prison bus commanded by Starker (Charles Cyphers) stops at the station to find medical help for one of three prisoners being transported to the state prison. The prisoners are Napoleon Wilson (Joston), a convicted killer on his way to Death Row, Wells (Burton), and Caudell, who is sick.

As the prisoners are put into cells, the telephone lines go dead, and when Starker prepares to put the prisoners back on the bus, the gang opens fire on the precinct, using weapons fitted with silencers. In seconds, they kill Chaney, the bus driver, Caudell, Starker, and the two officers along with Starker. Bishop unchains Wilson from Starker's body and puts Wilson and Wells back into the cells.

When the gang members cut the station's electricity and begin a second wave of shooting, Bishop sends Leigh to release Wells and Wilson, and they help Bishop and Leigh repel an attempted invasion, though Julie is killed in the firefight. Wells is chosen to sneak out of the precinct through the sewer line and hotwire a car, but is killed by a gang member hiding in the backseat.

Meanwhile, the gang members remove all evidence of the skirmish in order to avoid attracting outside attention. Bishop hopes that someone has heard the unsilenced police weapons firing, but the neighborhood is too sparsely populated for nearby residents to pinpoint the location of the noise.

As the gang rallies for an all-out final assault, Wilson, Leigh, and Bishop retreat to the basement, taking the still-catatonic Lawson with them. The gang then storms the building and rush the survivors. Bishop shoots a tank full of acetylene gas, which explodes violently, killing all the gang members in the basement.

Finally, two police officers in a cruiser radio for backup after discovering the dead body of a telephone repairman hanging from a pole near the police station. When more police officers arrive and secure the station, the surviving gang members retreat. Venturing down into the basement, the police officers find dozens of dead and badly burned gang members strewn about the hallway. The only survivors are Bishop, Leigh, Wilson, and the comatose Lawson. Bishop asks Wilson to walk out of the station with him, rather than be led away in chains. ==Cast[edit] == ==Production[edit] == Following the release of Dark Star, Assault and a second script entitled Eyes were supposed to be two ultra-low-budget films written and directed by John Carpenter, with financing by J. Stein Kaplan and Joseph Kaufman. After reviewing the first draft of Assault and following the sale of the script Eyes to Barbra Streisand and Jon Peters, later renamed Eyes of Laura Mars, Kaplan and Kaufman concentrated on just Assault. "J. Stein Kaplan was a friend of mine from USC," said Carpenter. "He knew Joseph Kaufman from his days in Philadelphia … Basically their fathers were funding Assault on Precinct 13". The two families of the producers formed the CKK corporation to finance the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200385_3-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200389_4-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:1 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6] ===Screenplay<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Carpenter had hoped to make a Howard Hawks style western like El Dorado or Rio Lobo, but when the $100,000 budget prohibited it, Carpenter refashioned the basic scenario of Rio Bravo into a modern setting.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:2 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  Carpenter employed the John T. Chance pseudonym for his original version of script, entitled The Anderson Alamo, but he used his own name for the writing credit on the completed film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:3  The script was written in eight days.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200328_7-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[7]  Carpenter joked, "The script came together fast, some would say too fast."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]
 * Austin Stoker as Ethan Bishop
 * Darwin Joston as Napoleon Wilson
 * Laurie Zimmer as Leigh. According to Carpenter, Zimmer "hated herself" after seeing her performance in the dailies while he thought she did a great job.
 * Martin West as Lawson
 * Tony Burton as Wells
 * Charles Cyphers as Starker
 * Nancy Kyes as Julie
 * Henry Brandon as Chaney
 * Kim Richards as Kathy Lawson
 * Peter Bruni as Ice Cream Man
 * John J. Fox as Warden
 * Frank Doubleday as White Warlord. Doubleday said to director Carpenter during the shoot: "Usually I play a man with a gun. This time I'm going to play a man who is a gun."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]
 * Marc Ross as Patrolman Tramer
 * Alan Koss as Patrolman Baxter
 * John Carpenter as Gang member

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Carpenter's script makes many allusions to film history and inspirations for this film. There are many references to the films of Howard Hawks. For example, the character of Leigh, played by Laurie Zimmer, was a reference to Rio Bravoscribe Leigh Brackett.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200011_9-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  The running gag of having Napoleon Wilson constantly ask Got a smoke? was inspired by the cigarette gags used in many of Howard Hawks's westerns.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  There are also subtle references to directors Sergio Leone and Alfred Hitchcock.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  The day and time titles were used to make the film feel more like a documentary.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:5&10 ===Pre-production<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault underwent several months of pre-production.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:44  Carpenter assembled a main cast that consisted mostly of experienced but relatively obscure actors. The two leads were Austin Stoker, who had appeared previously in Battle for the Planet of the Apes and Sheba, Baby, and Darwin Joston, who had worked primarily in television and was also Carpenter's next-door neighbor.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  After an open casting call, Carpenter added Charles Cyphers and Nancy Loomis to the cast.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Behind the scenes, Carpenter worked with cinematographer Douglas Knapp (a fellow USC student),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  art director Tommy Lee Wallace, sound mixer Bill Varney<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  and property master Craig Stearns.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]  "I hardly knew what the job required," replied Wallace, "but he believed in me, and, of course my price was right. It was typical of John during those lean days. He made the very best of whatever talent and facilities he had around him."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200316_11-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  Carpenter drew storyboards for key sequences, including the "ice cream truck" sequence, the death of the white warlord, Napoleon Wilson struggling to get the keys of the guard after the siege starts, and the failed escape by prisoner Wells.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:13 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12] ===Principal photography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault started in November 1975 and was shot in only 20 days, including Thanksgiving, on a budget of $100,000.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:43 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 1]  The film was shot on 35mm Panavision in a 2.35:1 anamorphic aspect ratio with Metrocolor film,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-7" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Whitney_15-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14] Carpenter's first experience with Panavision cameras and lenses.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-8" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  Carpenter has referred to this film as the most fun he has ever had directing.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200012_16-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Two weeks of shooting indoors were followed by two weeks on-location.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-7" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:70  The interiors of the police station were shot on the now-defunct Producers Studios set while the exterior shots and jail cells were from the old Venice police station.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-8" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:87 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  The bus traveling to Sonora was shot on a closed section of the Los Angeles freeway system, with cast and crew having lunch on the freeway.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-9" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:77-86  Carpenter has said that the trick with shooting a low-budget film is to shoot as little footage as possible and extend the scenes for as long as one can.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-9" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The first scene, in which several gang members of Street Thunder are gunned down by cops, was shot at USC. The gang members were USC students who, Carpenter added, had a lot of fun finding ways of dying while spilling blood over themselves.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">"The first night I saw dailies," replied art director Wallace, "projected on a bedsheet in the producer's ratty apartment… My jaw dropped and I sat up so straight I cast a shadow with my head. This looked like a zillion dollars. This looked like a real movie."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200317_17-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16] ===Post-production<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Carpenter edited the film using the pseudonym John T. Chance, the name of John Wayne's character in Rio Bravo. Debra Hill acted as an uncredited assistant editor.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:49  According to Carpenter, the editing process was very bare bones. One mistake Carpenter was not proud of was one shot "cut out of frame," which means the cut is made within the frame so a viewer can see it. Assault was shot on Panavision, which takes up the entire negative, and edited onMoviola, which cannot show the whole image, so if a cut was made improperly (i.e., frame line not lined up properly) then one would cut a half of a sprocket into the film and "cut out of frame," as happened to Carpenter. In the end, it did not matter because he said "It was so dark no one could see it, thank God!"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Tommy Lee Wallace, the film's art director, spoke admirably about Carpenter during post. "[Carpenter] asked if I could cut sound effects. The answer, of course was 'Sure!' Once again, here I was, a perfectly green recruit, yet John made a leap of faith … he further insisted we get the best processing money could, which at that time was the legendary MGM color labs. Finally, he insisted we get the best postproduction sound money could buy, which was Samuel Goldwin Sound, another legend. The expense for this unorthodox apporach ate up a huge amount of the budget. The production manager fumed that we were exploiting people to pay for processing— and it was true."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200317_17-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16] ===Distribution<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Although the film's title is Assault on Precinct 13, the action mainly takes place in a police station referred to as Precinct 9, Division 13, by Bishop's staff sergeant over the radio. The film's distributor was responsible for the misnomer. Carpenter originally called the film The Anderson Alamo<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]  before briefly changing the title to The Siege to shop to distributors.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200385_3-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 2]  The film was acquired by Irwin Yablans.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200385_3-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[3]  During post-production, however, the distributor rejected Carpenter's title in favor of the film's present name. The moniker "Precinct 13" was used in order to give the new title a more ominous tone.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5]  When the film became popular in Britain, Michael Myers of Miracle Films purchased the British theatrical distribution rights.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The film was released in Germany on September 3, 1979 under the title Das Ende, or The End.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-13" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:168 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The most infamous scene in the movie occurs when a gang member, without hesitation, shoots and kills a little girl standing near an ice-cream truck. The MPAA, headed by Richard Heffner at the time, threatened to give the film an X rating if the scene was not cut.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZinoman2011122_20-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZinoman2011123_21-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  Following the advice of his distributor, Carpenter gave the appearance of complying by cutting the scene from the copy he gave to the MPAA, but he distributed the film with the "ice cream truck" scene intact, a common practice among low-budget films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZinoman2011123_21-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19]  Carpenter regrets shooting the ice cream scene in such an explicit fashion: "…it was pretty horrible at the time … I don’t think I’d do it again but I was young and stupid."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The film eventually received an R rating<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Whitney_15-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  and has a running time of 91 minutes.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 3] ==Reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == ===Initial release and critical revision<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault was first released in Los Angeles at the State Theater on November 10, 1976 to mixed critical reviews and unimpressive box office earnings.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Guardian_3-9-78_24-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  Whitney Wiliams of Variety wrote, "Some exciting action in the second half packs enough interest to keep this entry alive for the violence market... John Carpenter's direction of his screenplay, after a pokey opening half, is responsible for the realistic movement."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Whitney_15-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  Dan O'Bannon, Carpenter's co-writer on Dark Star, attended the Los Angeles premiere. At this point in their professional relationship, O'Bannon was jealous of Carpenter's success and reluctantly attended the premiere. O'Bannon was disgusted by the film and told Carpenter so. According to author Jason Zinoman, O'Bannon saw a reflection of the coolness that Carpenter displayed toward him in the film's casual disregard for the humanity of its characters. It reminded him of how easily their friendship had been discarded. "His disdain for human beings would be serviced if he could make a film without people in it," replied O'Bannon.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZinoman2011120_25-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The film opened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 1977 where it received favorable notices from some of the British critics.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  "Carpenter at Cannes wiped us off the face of the earth with Precinct 13" replied director George A. Romero, who was at the festival with his film Martin. "Right from the scene when the little girl gets blown away, I was blown away."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEZinoman2011122_20-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  As a result, Linda Myles booked the film for the Edinburgh Film Festival in August 1977.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]  However, it wasn't until the film was screened at the 21st London Film Festival on December 1, 1977 that the film got a major critical boost.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:153 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wlaschin1977_26-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  Ken Wlaschin, festival director,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  described the film in the brochure: <p style="line-height:1.5em;">"John Carpenter, whose small-budget science-fiction epic Dark Star was widely acclaimed, has turned his inventive imagination to the thriller for his first solo directional effort. The result, even without taking into consideration his tiny budget and cast of unknowns is astonishing. Assault on Precinct 13 is one of the most powerful and exciting crime thrillers from a new director in a long time. It grabs hold of the audience and simply doesn't let go as it builds to a crescendo of irrational violence that reflects only too well our fears of unmotivated attack... It is a frightening look at the crumbling of rational ideas of law and order under an irresistible attack by the forces of irrationality and death."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wlaschin1977_26-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23] <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Wlaschin found Assault to be the best film of the London Film Festival and included it in his "Action Cinema" section of that festival.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Wlaschin1977_26-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  It became one of the festival's best-received films, garnering tremendous critical and popular acclaim.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:156  According to Derek Malcolm of the Guardian, the applause was "deafening".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Guardian_3-9-78_24-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  Carpenter was delighted by the new praise.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The overwhelmingly positive British response to the film led to its critical and commercial success throughout Europe. Derek Malcolm of Cosmopolitan wrote, "[The film] is fast becoming one of the cult movies of the year ... The great virtue of the film is the way it grabs hold of its audience and simply refuses to let go. It exploits all our fears of irrational violence and unmotivated attack, and at the same time manages to laugh at itself without spoiling the tension - a very considerable feat. Carpenter, who is clearly a director with places to go, has succeeded in making a comedy that scares the pants off us. And don't think you're laughing at it. As a matter of fact, it's laughing at you."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Malcolm1978_28-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 4]  Malcolm later wrote that he held some reservations about the film: "I don't feel like going on and on about the movie, partly because I think it is in grave danger of being oversold anyway, and partly because it isn't much more to me than tremendous fun".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Guardian_3-9-78_24-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]  The film broke one house record in the UK and was named one of the best films of the year by critics and moviegoers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-17" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:162

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Subsequently, the film underwent a reassessment by American critics and audiences, and it is now generally considered one of the best action films of the 1970s. When playing at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1978, the film was described in the program notes as, "...a nightmarish poem which plays on our fears of irrational and uncontrolled violence."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[26]  Carpenter has said that the British audiences immediately understood and enjoyed the film's similarities to American westerns, whereas American audiences were too familiar with the western genre to fully appreciate the movie at first.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Variety1977_13-7" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200012_16-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15] ===Critical reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:1.5em;">"Lean, taut and compellingly gritty, John Carpenter's loose update of Rio Bravo ranks as a cult action classic and one of the filmmaker's best."

-Rotten Tomatoes' consensus for Assault.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Rotten76_31-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27] <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault has received nearly unanimous praise from critics in the years since its release, emphasizing John Carpenter's resourceful abilities as director, writer, editor and music composer, Douglas Knapp's stylish cinematography as well as exceptional acting from Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, Laurie Zimmer and Tony Burton. On August 18, 1979, Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, "[Assault] is a much more complex film than Mr. Carpenter's 'Halloween,' though it's not really about anything more complicated than a scare down the spine. A lot of its eerie power comes from the kind of unexplained, almost supernatural events one expects to find in a horror movie but not in a melodrama of this sort … If the movie is really about anything at all, it's about methods of urban warfare and defense. Mr. Carpenter is an extremely resourceful director whose ability to construct films entirely out of action and movement suggests that he may one day be a director to rank with Don Siegel."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[28]  In April 1980, Jeffrey Wells of Films In Review wrote, "Skillfully paced and edited, Assault was rich with Hawksian dialogue and humor, especially in the clever caricature of the classic 'Hawks woman' by Laurie Zimmer."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[29]  In 1986 Tom Allen and Andrew Sarris of the Village Voice described the film as "one of the most stylishly kinetic independent films of the 1970s."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-34" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[30]  In May 1988, Alan Jones of Starburst wrote, "Bravura remake of Rio Bravo."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Jones-1988_35-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  In November 1996, Dave Golder of SFX magazine hailed the film as, "A superb, bloody thriller about a siege in an abandoned L.A. cop station."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Goldner-1996_36-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  In his book The Horror Films of the 1970s, John Kenneth Muir gave the film three and a half stars, calling it "a lean, mean exciting horror motion picture... a movie of ingenuity, cunning and thrills."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Muir_37-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[33]  Mick Martin & Marsha Porter of the Video Movie Guide gave the film four and a half stars out of five, writing, "…John Carpenter's riveting movie about a nearly deserted L.A. police station that finds itself under siege by a youth gang. It's a modern day version of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, with exceptional performances by the entire cast."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-38" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[34]  In 2003 Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly described Assault as "a tight, tense thriller … Carpenter's eerie score and Douglas Knapp's stylish cinematography give this low-budget shoot-out all the weight of an urban Rio Bravo."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Assault-EW_39-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[35]  Leonard Maltin also gave the film three and a half stars out of four: "A nearly deserted L.A. police station finds itself under a state of siege by a youth gang in this riveting thriller, a modern-day paraphrase of Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo. Writer/director Carpenter also did the eerie music score for this knockout."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Maltin-2008_40-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[36]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Despite the universal acclaim, Assault is not without criticisms and detractors. Tim Pulleine of the Guardian described the film as superficial despite successfully meeting the requirements of the genre.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-41" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[37]  Brian Lindsey of Eccentric Cinema gave the film 6 out of a scale of 10, saying the film "isn't believable for a second — yet this doesn't stop it from being a fun little B picture in the best drive-in tradition."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EC_42-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">As of June 3, 2012, Assault currently has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Rotten76_31-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27]  Carpenter's highest rated film as writer/director on the website.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-43" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[39]  The RT consensus is: "Lean, taut and compellingly gritty, John Carpenter's loose update of Rio Bravo ranks as a cult action classic and one of the filmmaker's best."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Rotten76_31-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27] ===Awards<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">John Carpenter won the 1978 annual British Film Institute award for the "originality and achievement of his first two films", Dark Star and Assault, at the 1977 London Film Festival.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-44" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[40] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Andrews1978_45-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[41] ===Legacy<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === A mondo-poster designed by Tyler Stout in October 2011.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mondo_46-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[42] <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault on Precinct 13 is now considered by many to be one of the greatest and most underrated action films of the 1970s as well as one of the best, if not the best, films in John Carpenter's career.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Rotten76_31-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[27] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-47" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[43]  In the July 1999 issue, Premiere put Assault on its list of 50 "Lost and Profound" unsung film classics, writing: <p style="line-height:1.5em;">"A trim, grim, vicious, and incredibly effective action movie with no cut comic-relief bit players, no winks at the audience, and no stars. Just a powder keg of a premise (lifted in part from Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo), in which a quasi-terrorist group's killing spree culminates in the action described in the title. Carpenter's mastery of wide-screen and almost uncanny talent at crafting suspense and action sequences make Assault such a nerve-racking experience that you may have to reupholster your easy chair after watching it at home."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-48" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[44] <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In 1988 Alan Jones of Starburst said Assault is "arguably still the best film [Carpenter] ever made."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Jones-1988_35-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[31]  In 2000 John Kenneth Muir placed the film at No. 3 on his rated list of John Carpenter's filmography, behind The Thing and Halloween.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir2000248_49-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[45]  In October 2007, Noel Murray and Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club also ranked Assault at No. 3 of John Carpenter's best films ("The Essentials"), saying, "The first John Carpenter film that really feels like a John Carpenter film, this homage to Howard Hawks Westerns suggests a path that Carpenter’s career might’ve taken ifHalloween hadn’t become such a hit. Carpenter’s made many different kinds of movies over the course of his long career, but he hasn’t gotten to return often enough to terse tales of gun-toting heroes and villains."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-50" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[46]  In his fifth edition of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film in 2010, film historian David Thomson described Assault as "a Hawksian set of a police station besieged by hoodlums - economical, tense, beautiful and highly arousing. It fulfills all Carpenter's ambitions for gripping the audience emotionally and never letting go."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-51" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[47]  Writers Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell have written of the film: "[Assault] looks as fresh as the day it was first screened; its violence still shocking, its soundtrack still effective and both the dialogue and its delivery are top notch, all in a film whose $100,000 budget wouldn't satisfy the catering demands of the average Hollywood picture. This is because there is an overriding vision, a consistency to Carpenter's work that rewards repeat viewing and presents a single unifying world view."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTELe_BlancOdell201111_52-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[48]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Film director Edgar Wright and actor Simon Pegg are big fans of Assault. "You wouldn't really call it an action film," claims Pegg, "because it was pre- the evolution of that kind of film. And yet it is kind of an action film in a way." "It's very much his [Carpenter's] kind of urban western", adds Wright, "in the way it is staging Rio Bravo set up in downtown 70s LA... And the other thing is, for a low budget film particularly, it looks great."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pegg-Wright_53-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[49]  On October 2011, artist Tyler Stout premiered his mondo-style poster of Assault.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Mondo_46-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[42]  Stout's poster would be later serve as the cover on the Region B Blu-ray of Assault.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-54" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[50]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault has influenced a number of action films that came after, setting the rules for the genre that would continue with films like Die Hard and The Matrix.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pegg-Wright_53-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[49] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RM_55-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[51]  The second section of From Dusk till Dawn was described by Variety as a "Night of the Living Dead-tinged offshoot of ... Assault on Precinct 13".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-56" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[52]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">As a result of this film, John Carpenter would go on to work with producer Irwin Yablans on Halloween, the most successful film of Carpenter's career. Due to the success of Assault in London, Carpenter named the Shape in Halloweenafter Michael Myers of Miracle Films, the British distributor for Assault, as a sort of campy tribute. Myers's son Martin considered the tribute as a "tremendous honor" and "a lasting memorial to his late father".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-57" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[53]  Donald Pleasencewould go on to star in Carpenter's Halloween because his daughters were big fans of Assault.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200013_58-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[54]  Debra Hill, the film's script supervisor, would go on to produce Carpenter's future features and become his girlfriend.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200010_6-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[6]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2002, the film inspired Florent Emilio Siri's 2002 quasi-remake The Nest,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-59" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[55]  and three years later Assault was remade by director Jean-François Richet and starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-60" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[56]  The Richet remake has been praised by some as an expertly made B-movie, and dismissed by others as formulaic,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-61" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[57]  with many critics preferring the original Assault to the remake.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Time-2005_62-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[58] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-63" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 5] ==Analysis<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == ===Inspirations for Assault<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Critics and commentators have often described Assault as a cross between Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EC_42-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Time-2005_62-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[58] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-64" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[59]  Carpenter acknowledges the influence of both films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In his 2000 book The Films of John Carpenter, John Kenneth Muir deconstructs Carpenter's use of Rio Bravo as a template for Assault: "Although [the film's] premise may sound like typical 1970s picture, it was quintessential Carpenter in execution — which meant it was really quintessential Howard Hawks. Of primary importance was not the bloodshed or action, but rather the developing friendship and respect in evidence between the white convict Napoleon Wilson and black cop Lt. Bishop … also important in [Assault]'s homage to director Hawks was the unforgettable presence of actress Laurie Zimmer as a prototypical 'Hawksian Woman,' i.e., a female who gives as good as she gets and is both tough and feminine at the same time."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200011_9-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9] ===Carpenter's directorial trademarks<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] === <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">As with most of Carpenter's antagonists, Street Thunder is portrayed as a force that possesses mysterious origins and almost supernatural qualities. "Rather than going for any particular type of gang," replied Carpenter, "I decided to include everybody."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2]  The gang members are not humanized and are instead represented as though they were zombies or ghouls—they are given almost no dialogue, and their movements are stylized, with a slow, deliberate, relentless quality. Carpenter has acknowledged the influence of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead on his portrayal of the gang.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-13" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-7" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault was shot in 2.35:1 anamorphic Panavision widescreen, Carpenter's first use of the format which he would use on all of his feature films.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-65" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[60] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-66" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[a 6]  "I just love Panavision," replied Carpenter. "It's a cinematic ratio."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-67" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[61]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault also marks the first time Carpenter's name would precede the title, e.g., John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, which he would do on every subsequent feature film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTELe_BlancOdell201113_68-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[62] ==Soundtrack<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">One of the film's distinctive features is its score, written in three days by John Carpenter<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-8" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  and performed by Carpenter and Tommy Lee Wallace.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-18" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:192  Carpenter, assisted by Dan Wyman, had several banks of synthesizers that would each have to be reset when another sound had to be created, taking a great deal of time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Carpenter_2-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200011_9-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]  "When I did my original themes for [Assault] … it was done with very old technology," replied Carpenter. "It was very difficult to get the sounds, and it took very long to get something simple."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEBoulenger200356_69-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[63]  Carpenter made roughly three to five separate pieces of music and edited them to the film as appropriate.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Q.26A_8-9" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The main title theme, partially inspired by both Lalo Schifrin's score to Dirty Harry and Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NME_70-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[64]  is composed of a pop synthesizer riff with a drum machine underneath that "builds only in texture, but not thematically," according to David Burnand and Miguel Mera. A held, high synthesizer note, with no other changes except inner frequency modulations, becomes the musical motif of the gang members, and reoccurs during certain violent acts in the film. In the film, synthesizers and drum machines represent the city and the gang.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CW-56_71-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[65] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CW-57_72-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[66]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Carpenter also uses a plaintive electric piano theme when Lt. Bishop first enters the abandoned precinct. It reoccurs in the film during the quiet moments of the siege, becoming in effect a musical articulation of rhythm of the siege itself.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CW-55_73-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[67]  Bishop is heard whistling the tune of this particular theme at the beginning and end of the film, making the electric piano theme "a non-diegetic realization of a diegetic source."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CW-56_71-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[65]  Burnand and Mera have noted that "there is some attempt to show the common denominators of human behavior regardless of 'tribal' affiliations, and there is a clear attempt to represent this through simple musical devices."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-CW-58_74-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[68]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Many film critics who praised the film also praised the musical score by Carpenter. As John Kenneth Muir noted, "Carpenter wrote the riveting musical score for Assault... The final result was a unique, synthetic sound that is still quite catchy, even after 20 years … Delightfully, it even serves as a counterpoint in one important scene."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200011_9-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEMuir200070_75-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[69]  Dave Goldner of SFX wrote that Assaulthad "one of the most catchy theme tunes in film history."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Goldner-1996_36-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[32]  In early 2004, Piers Martin of NME wrote that Carpenter's minimalist synthesizer score accounted for much of the film's tense and menacing atmosphere and its "impact, 27 years on, is still being felt."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-NME_70-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[64]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Beyond its use in the film, the score is often cited as an influence on various electronic and hip hop artists with its main title theme being sampled by artists including Afrika Bambaataa,Tricky, Dead Prez and Bomb the Bass.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:192 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RM_55-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[51] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-76" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[70]  The main theme was reworked in 1986 as an Italo-disco 12"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-77" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[71]  and more famously as the 1990 UK-charting rave-song Hardcore Uproar.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-78" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[72] Carpenter's soundtrack has also been a lasting influence on John Several's Tactile project (Tactile's latest release on the Sentrax label is entitled "Assault on M19", and Several's brand of abrasive electronics certainly shows the influence of Carpenter.)www.sentrax.co.uk

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Despite this influence, except for a few compilation appearances,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-stills_5-20" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[5] <sup class="reference" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;white-space:nowrap;">:193-195  the film's score remained available only in bootleg form until 2003 when it was given an official release through the French label, Record Makers.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-RM_55-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[51] ==Home video releases<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Assault was released on VHS by Media Home Entertainment in 1978<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-79" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[73]  and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment on March 12, 1997.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Laserdisc-1997_80-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[74]  The '97 laserdisc came with commentary by John Carpenter, an isolated music score track and the original theatrical trailer.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Laserdisc-1997_80-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[74]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The film was one of the first films to be released on the DVD medium on November 25, 1997, also by Image Entertainment.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DVD-Journal_81-0" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-82" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[76]  On March 11, 2003, Image Entertainment released in new widescreen "Special Edition" DVD of the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-83" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[77]  Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly gave this 2003 DVD release a B+.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Assault-EW_39-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[35]  Brian Lindsay of Eccentric Cinema gave the film's 2003 DVD release a 10 out of 10, the website's highest rating.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EC_42-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38]  Special features of the 2003 DVD release<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EC_42-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DVD-Journal_81-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75]  include:

<p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">The film was later released on UMD video for the PlayStation Portable in July 26, 2005<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-84" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[78]  and in a "Restored Collector's Edition" for both DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Both releases have all of the special features found on the 2003 "Special Edition" DVD.
 * Film shown in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) with monaural Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.
 * Q & A interview session with writer/director John Carpenter and actor Austin Stoker at American Cinematheque's 2002 John Carpenter retrospective (23 minutes)
 * Original theatrical trailer
 * 2 radio spots
 * Behind-the-scenes and lobby card stills gallery (16 minutes)
 * Full-length audio commentary by writer/director Carpenter taken from a 1997 laserdisc release<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-EC_42-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[38] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Laserdisc-1997_80-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[74] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DVD-Journal_81-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[75]
 * Isolated music score, also taken from the 1997 laserdisc release<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Laserdisc-1997_80-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[74]