Assault on Precinct 13 [Collector's Edition] [Blu-ray]

Overview

Cops, secretaries, and prisoners stuck in a soon-to-be-shuttered L.A. police station fight off a horde of murderous gang members in director John Carpenter's homage to Howard Hawks. When police officer Bishop (Austin Stoker) is left in charge of Precinct 13 on the last day it's open, he isn't prepared for the onslaught of a murderous street gang who have come into the possession of an enormous arsenal of guns. Finding himself trapped in the precinct with a pair of secretaries (Laurie Zimmer and Nancy Loomis), a few civilians and a handful of prisoners, Bishop is unable to call for help because the phones have already been disconnected and the precinct is in a run-down, out-of-the-way neighborhood. Holding out for a rescue, he and his fellow prisoners band together to barricade themselves in and hold the bandits at bay. But as the casualties mount and the supplies run low, they must choose between a daring escape attempt, a fiery offensive, or certain death. The sophomore feature from auteur-in-the-making John Carpenter, Assault on Precinct 13 reunited the director with Douglas H. Knapp, his cinematographer on 1974's Dark Star.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/19/2013
UPC:	0826663144352
Original Release:	1976
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	14,263

Special Features

New interviews with actress Nancy Loomis Kyes and Art Director/Sound Effects Designer Tommy Lee Wallace; Audio Commentary by Writer/Director John Carpenter; Interview with John Carpenter and actor Austin Stoker; Theatrical trailer; Radio spots

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Austin Stoker	Ethan Bishop
Darwin Joston	Napoleon Wilson
Laurie Zimmer	Leigh
Martin West	Lawson
Tony Burton	Wells
Charles Cyphers	Starker
Nancy Loomis	Julie
Peter Bruni	Ice Cream Man
John J. Fox	Warden,Warden
Kim Richards	Kathy
Henry Brandon	Chaney
Ethan Hawke	Actor
Laurence Fishburne	Actor
John Leguizamo	Actor
Maria Bello	Actor
Ja Rule	Actor
Drea de Matteo	Actor
Brian Dennehy	Actor
Gabriel Byrne	Actor
Gilbert De la Pena	Chicano Warlord
Al Nakauchi	Oriental Warlord
Gil Rankin	Bus Driver
Cliff Battuello	First Bus Guard
Horace Johnson	Second Bus Guard
Valentine Villareal	Chicano Tough
Kenny Miyamoto	Oriental Tough
Jerry Viramontes	Chicano Hood
Len Whitaker	Black Hood
Kris Young	Gang Member
Warren Bradley III	Gang Member
Joe Woo Jr.	Gang Member
Brent Keast	Radio Announcer
Maynard Smith	Police Commissioner
Peter Frankland	Candell
Randy Moore	Gang Member
Alan Koss	Patrolman Baxter
Frank Doubleday	White Warlord
James Johnson	Black Warlord
William Taylor	Gang Member
John Carpenter	Composer

Technical Credits

John Carpenter

John Carpenter	Director,Screenwriter
Joseph Kaufman	Executive Producer,Producer
J.S. Kaplan	Producer
Richard Albain	Special Effects
J. Stein Kaplan	Producer
Rueben Joe Melendez	Stunts
Kurt Young	Key Grip
John Roy Rogers	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Although its production values are a solid step up from the audaciously pieced-together Dark Star, John Carpenter's sophomore features remains another example of the director's ability to do more with less. Lean, frill-free, and focused on action, the film earns constant comparisons to Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo and George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. The differences are as illuminating as the similarities, however, for Assault on Precinct 13 lacks the socially conscious overtones of the Romero film and the tough-guy heroics of the Hawks one. That leaves tight plotting, tight-lipped dialogue, and a beautiful tableaux of breaking windows and bouncing bullets. The cast is supremely functional, for they aren't characters so much as pieces on a chess board, but with a minimum of fuss they embody the coiled fear and languorous boredom of life under intermittent siege -- especially Laurie Zimmer and Nancy Loomis as a pair of police secretaries. Though a few chuckles come during an early sequence in which the world's most annoyingly precious little girl gets her comeuppance, there's little explicit humor to leaven the proceedings. But the legion of B-movie biker villains and the sheer glee with which Carpenter choreographs his mayhem help make Assault on Precinct 13 first and foremost a popular entertainment. Considering that it was filmed for a fraction of what it costs to shoot a high-concept Hollywood action flick 25 years later, this one really should be a film-school staple.

All Movie Guide - Brian J. Dillard