Rating: 
Summary: Intense, Nail Biting Action
Review: One should not watch this movie expecting the highly choreographed gunfight ballets that John Woo initiated & every other action movie has followed ever sense. This movie preceded all of that. The plot focuses on a small group of police officers and convicts fighting off a relentless street gang in an all but abandoned precinct. There are two central heroes of this movie: Bishop, a Black Police Chief who is new to the job & looking for a little adventure at the beginning of the film (a superior officer asks him "Do you want to be a hero your first time out?" "Yes, Sir," Bishop replies); and there is Napolean Wilson, a White man on his way to death row when the prison bus he is riding is forced to make a detour (check out this plot twist: another prisoner starts coughing & wheezing, nearly passing out, and guess what, rather than pulling a shiv on the cop who examines him, it turns out the guy is really sick! How often does that happen in a movie?). Napolean Wilson is a man with a lot of snappy comebacks. He says everything that we wished we'd said in certain situations after we thought about it because we know it would be so cool. More than one character says "You're pretty fancy, Wilson." The details of Wilson's crime is never revealed, but the fact that it was exceptionally savage is clear by the response of everyone else's response to him. These characters could have been lifted from any John Ford movie, but the fact that the movie takes place mostly at night and has a more contemporary time frame gives the movie a sweaty-palmed urgency that the Westerns lack. Even though the movie was made in 1976, the scene where the street gang cruises around & considers who to kill in a random drive-by shooting feels all too contemporary. Director John Carpenter limits the dialogue of the street gang in much the same way that the old Westerns would keep Indians at a distance -- so that the audience would never feel any empathy towards them. This hardly seems necessary as it seems difficult to feel pity for street gangs, but the move only helps to make them seem more fierce & inhumane than they might have otherwise been perceived. John Carpenter's memorable score also helps to accentuate the tension. A brilliant low-budget thriller that tops most of the big-budget ones we are stuck with today.
Rating:
Summary: Great Reworking of Rio Bravo!
Review: Carpenter brings his love for Howard Hawks to the forefront here by basically re-making Rio Bravo in a contemporary urban setting. This movie is great and any fan of Carpenter's should check it out. Looks great on dvd and has one of his enjoyable commentaries. Very violent gang movie with Hawksian characters. This is a cult classic and it's easy to see why.
Rating:
Summary: ASSAULT AND BATTERY EQUALS ENTERTAINMENT
Review: Imagine a abondened police station, with only a few oxxupants, and little ammunition, taking on a youth gang. It's an explosive, edge of your seat horror movie, a guarenteed good time for all.
Rating:
Summary: Hip-hop on Precinct 13
Review: After 'Dark Star', this was Carpenter's first proper mainstream motion picture. It wasn't a hit in America (people complained that the thought of a street gang being armed with sniper rifles was unrealistic) although it was extremely popular in the punk-gripped UK. Looking at Carpenter's later work, this is possibly his best film. It has a minimalist purity - everything about the film is pared down to the absolute minimum, in exactly the way that 'Star Trek : The Motion Picture' is not. With a tiny budget there was no room for lengthy special effects sequences, and Carpenter himself directed, edited, and wrote the hip-hop, Bomb the Bass-influencing electronic soundtrack. Most of the budget went into the hiring of Panavision cameras, as Carpenter realised that you could cut much faster if you had a wider screen. And after a long build-up, Carpenter does just that, in a series of short, intense action sequences which take place mostly in the dark. Despite the cars and haircuts it hasn't dated all that badly, and it's still worth a look nowadays.Note that both the video and DVD boxes are awful, one giving the impression that the film is 'Maniac Cop', and the other giving the impression that the film is 'Big Trouble in Little China'.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent action film.
Review: Director John Carpenter(Ghosts of Mars) also wrote and did the music for the film. Filmed in a Panavision 2.35.1 format, this film is well filmed, strong story line about a cult member are to destory a deserted police station only a few police offices, personers and two secretary. After a cult gang witness one of thier man get kill by a ordinary person after the cult member murdering a little girl from the ordinary man. Fast supenseful action pact from John Carpenter, don`t miss it. Grade:A. Panavision.
Rating:
Summary: A John Carpenter Classic
Review: Assault On Precint 13 is a great remake of Rio Bravo. Carpenter creates a suspenseful work of art about an L.A. gang attacking a run down precint in the hood. Great performances, good soundtrack and Carpenter's great direction add up to make this an action classic. I rank this up there with The Thing, Halloween and Escape From New York as Carpenter's best films. A must have.
Rating: 
Summary: extremely suspensful
Review: A pretty scary film really.No monsters or knife wielding psychopaths, but the sound of those bullets hitting everything around the characters ( the gang surrounding the police station are using silencers, you cant hear the gunshots themselves}will freak you out and really adds to the whole atmosphere...which is pretty dark through most of the film.John C's very cool music is also present and just as creepy as the film.Buy it.
Rating:
Summary: True John Carpenter
Review: Lesser known Carpenter (at least to most modern-day filmgoers) that begins with its eerie, awesome Carpenter-composed music and moves to a movie that keeps you glued to the screen. It's been said in many reviews that this is Carpenter's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-style flick, and it does resemble it. The good guys have triggered something in the bad that triggers them to take revenge. Simple plot, but with Carpenter, ANYTHING is worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Worth a place in a good video collection
Review: When this came out in 1976, it was regarded as one of the most shocking depictions of nihilistic violence ever made. Of course, it doesn't seem like that now, and the convicts who help the isolated cop fight off the youth gang actually seem like heart-of-gold softies rather than dangerous killers. The interracial youth gang's blood pact, the shooting of the girl with the ice-cream and the attack with silenced weapons are still pretty scary, and the movie holds your attention to the end. The music is rather effective, if very 1970s.
Rating:
Summary: No-Name Actors allow for suspense and intriguing characters
Review: John Carpenter's greatest movie, in my opinion, tells the story of a precinct under siege by an L.A. street gang willing to fight to the death. The group being attacked is composed of one police officer, a pair of secrataries, a pair of inmates, and the man that caused the gang to concentrate their rage on this run-down precinct. You find yourself on the edge of your seat, forgetting that these people are actors. Especially great performance by Darwin Joston as Napolean Wilson, the wise-cracking serial killer. Whether you prefer action, westerns, horror, or suspense, you are guaranteed to love this movie.
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