Assault On Precinct 13 (1976, R)

I had first heard of this film as the 2005 remake with Ethan Hawke (Training Day, Gattaca) and Lawrence Fishburne (The Matrix, Boyz N The Hood) which I still have not seen though I am a fan of both of those actors, so when I saw that there was an original film written and directed by John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing, Escape From New York) I had to add it to my queue as homework.  And I'm so glad I did!  Hollywood tends to remake films not because they think the first one had unfulfilled potential, but because it has a strong following and/or made money and they want to make more money.  That in mind, it will usually be worth your while to watch a movie that was later remade.  When the film began the first thing I noticed was the low-resolution film quality, which I suppose is inherent for any movie of a certain age that has not been transferred to Blu Ray.  The opening music, while unfamiliar to me does have that certain quality that can make it recognizable and a good iconic them to a song (kind of like the theme to Halloween [Tubular Bells, it's called], and interestingly enough John Carpenter also composed the music for both Halloween and Assault On Precinct 13).  The early lines in the movie seemed kind of uninspired as the backdrop for the story was being set up, but the dialogue for the main characters once they were introduced was noticeably sharp.  One of the elements that makes a film a cult classic is to have infinitely quotable lines, and this one delivered.  The dialogue was sparse compared to most other movies, but almost every line tended to be a one-liner that made each character a great character.  The early scenes were sort of whatever, but as the movie progressed I found myself very much invested in the characters.  Though the characters in this movie wore nothing like a tuxedo or a formal suit, I can imagine a damned fun cocktail party with the main characters of this film along with Rick (Humphrey Bogart's character) from Casablanca and Frank Sinatra.

The premise is largely explained by the title of the film.  To say that the precinct house is understaffed or running on a skeleton crew is an understatement.  the precinct has been shut down and moved to another location, and is currently manned by one first-day-on-the-job police Sargent Ethan Bishop (Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Roots), one secretary and one telephone operator.  The electricity and phone service are to be cancelled the next morning.  A prison bus with a driver, two guards, three prisoners, and a partridge in a pear tree (just kidding: a detective, not a bird in a tree) have to make an emergency stop and after a very disoriented civilian enter the building they fall under siege by a gang.  Now, I'm no expert on standard gang membership, but this gang seemed to have way more members (and on sight, I might add) then I would have expected compared to, say, The Outsiders or The Warriors.  Speaking of The Warriors, I found myself making a comparison in my mind between it and this film because they both have a small cast of main characters (with one strong female character, now that I think about it, thought I found Assault's female character far more likable than the woman in Warriors) faced with a very difficult/dangerous task and a horde of human enemies seeking their end.  And they're both 70's movies which will inherently create aesthetic similarities especially when seen with modern eyes.

Having not seen the remake, I can only comment that the races of two of the main characters were switched from a black cop (who grew up in the very rough neighborhood of the precinct in question) and a white criminal/prisoner to a white cop and a black criminal/prisoner.  Some poignant statements were made in the original film about not letting your origin limit or define you though it can certainly influence what you will become, and I imagine some opportunities must have been wasted in the remake.  If you've seen the remake, please comment and let me know your thoughts on the matter (or even if you haven't seen it, let me know what you think).  This is one of the few films I watch that I would say have re-play value and that I think I'll watch a second time (I'll say the same for The Deaths Of Ian Stone) sharing it with others who have not yet seen it.  I'd probably give it 4 stars, maybe 4.5.   If you like 70's movies with police and gangs, if you like siege stories, or tales of a small group against huge odds, and especially if you like memorable lines... then this movie is for you.  However if one-liners just bug you, if you don't like out-dated aesthetics or low-res films, if you like more explosions in your action movies (i.e. Die Hard With A Vengeance, which, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed) then you might want to give this one a pass.