Rating: 
Summary: JOHN CARPENTER'S BEST FILM!!!!
Review: and that's including "Halloween." Great performances by all, wonderful pacing, action, and editing by Mr. Carpenter, under the pseudonym John T. Chance (except for the gang's bulletfest on the police station, which was edited by an uncredited Tommy Lee Wallace, director of "Stephen King's IT"). Great update of Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo." Awesome production values, despite the $100,000 budget. Recommended for film buffs or people who enjoy visceral entertainment. A Must-See!
Rating:
Summary: One of the action genre's best with loads or humor.
Review: A group of Los Angeles gangs attack a police station with only a lone police officer, two secretaries, and two inmates to oppose them. The action comes fast with humor an excellent and atmospheric score by writer/director John(Halloween, The Thing, In the Mouth of Maddness) Carpenter. One of his best films.
Rating: 
Summary: OUTSTANDING CARPENTER FILM. ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVES.
Review: THIS FILM HOLDS UP WELL IN ITS RUTHLESS DEPICTION OF RANDOM GANG TERROR. A GREAT STORY TOLD WELL WITH STYLE AND VISION. IT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE POORLY GIVEN THE PLOT, BUT IT TOOK A CARPENTER TO TAKE A LUMP OF CLAY AND MOLD IT INTO A FINE CERAMIC. THEY SHOULD RE-RELEASE THIS ONE. I THINK IT WOULD DO VERY WELL.
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Summary: Posssibly the best low-budget action picture ever!
Review: Why were there so many boring action pictures in the seventies? Are they just dated? No, "Bullit" and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" came out in the sixties and they are two of the most exciting action pictures ever made. Perhaps it's because the budgets are low? Afraid not, this ultra-low budget, seventies action picture from John Carpenter is one of the most exciting pictures ever made.This picture proves that a low-budget cannot mar the excitement of a great action picture if it's well crafted. This picture takes a little bit of "Rio Bravo" (a small band of unlikely heros stand together to fight it out against seemingly impossible odds.), and a lot of "Night of the Living Dead", (small band of unlikely heros defend themselves against violent killers who are attacking a small building.) This movie is well-written. Has some strong characters,(Especially the black cop, and the "heroic" convicted serial killer, Napoleon Wilson.) This picture also has one of John Carpenter's most effective musical scores. Forget about "Halloween". This is John Carpener's best work as a writer/director.
Rating:
Summary: An outstanding urban western....Brilliant!!!!
Review: A smart, scary and absolutely brilliant version of Rio Bravo with a little Night of the Living Dead thrown in for good measure. One of Carpenter's best pictures, and a movie that preceded countless actioners like Die Hard; Speed and many others. Assault is a true original...like no other movie of its time.
Rating: 
Summary: tense thriller not mant people heard of it
Review: I remember i saw this movie years ago on T.V. and never heard of it.It was advertised as from the director of halloween so i thought i check it out and it was great.Typical carpenter about people from different backgrounds stuck on a diffuclt situation with great action and acting from a bunch of no names.I recommend it highly.
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Summary: An awesome,ludicrous way to show the emptiness of city life
Review: Debilitated through an overtly simple keyboard soundtrack written by Carpenter, this story of a Californian street gang gathering their ruthlessness through diversity speaks to the homicidal freeloader in us all. The Cali slums embody the films theme of hopeless justice very well. The main characters must first let go of their prior strife in order to battle the onslaught of emotionless thugs. This film was Carpenters second try at directing. The attempt was very ample, attracting the attention of director, Quentin Tarantino. He even included the movie through a clever T-shirt plug in" From Dusk Till Dawn". Like Carpenters other films, the audience is bombarded by endless assults on the brain, which keep you glued.
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Summary: Before you see the Remake make sure you see the original 1st
Review: Yes it is being remade for release in 2005! But before you go out and see that you MUST see the original. Carpenter's 1st studio film!
Based on Howard Hawks Rio Bravo, it tells the story of a police precinct under siege, where Police and prisoners have to fight side by side in order to survive. Great acting by Austin Stoker and Darwin Joston. Excellent direction and music by John Carpenter. Not to be missed!
Rating:
Summary: Another Carpenter classic!
Review: John Carpenter's claim to fame rests largely on his contributions to the horror film genre. He's responsible for the hugely influential 1970s slasher flick "Halloween," of course, but he's also made several other noteworthy horror movies. His remake of "The Thing" still impresses over twenty years later thanks to a great cast, incredible special effects, and scads of claustrophobic atmosphere. "The Fog," starring Adrienne Barbeau, is Carpenter's attempt at a good old-fashioned ghost story. I could go on and on, mentioning the killer car film "Christine," the satanic "The Prince of Darkness," and the Lovecraftian horror of "In the Mouth of Madness." Fortunately, Carpenter occasionally made films in other genres, such as the science fiction classics "Dark Star," "Escape From New York," "Starman," and the hilarious "They Live" starring none other than one time pro wrestler Roddy Piper. In his prime Carpenter had the Midas touch, especially when it came to a very low budget action film called "Assault on Precinct 13." A new version of the film will soon appear in the theaters, perhaps it already has, but it's already quite obvious it will never approach the intensity of the original. How could it? Carpenter pulls a few nasty tricks in this movie that no studio would ever touch today.
"Assault on Precinct 13" stars Austin Stoker as Lieutenant Ethan Bishop, heading out for the first day of his new promotion. Headquarters assigns him to drive over to Precinct 13, a station house located in the worst part of town, in order to help the remaining personnel there shut the place down. Meanwhile, a prisoner transfer is taking place somewhere else in the state, a transfer involving Wells (Tony Burton) and a dangerous felon named Napoleon Wilson (Darwin Joston) headed to death row. Yet another incident unfolds simultaneously with the other two, as a father and his young daughter Kathy (Kim Richards) drive into the slums on personal business. Sadly, these two are completely unaware that several gang members involved in a weapons' heist perished in a confrontation with the police hours before. The gang declares a revenge war on the police and the city for the killings, with the prime targets being anyone unlucky enough to run into these guys on the streets. Of course, no one knows anything about this yet until the gang commits a particularly heinous crime that finds Kathy's father stumbling into the nearly closed station house. Gang members show up to terrorize the occupants of the building and reclaim the father.
At roughly the same time Napoleon Wilson, Wells, and the rest of the prison transfer crew show up at Precinct 13 seeking a doctor for a sick inmate. Only Napoleon and Wells survive long enough to make it inside thanks to the gang members, who lay down a withering fire using the arms captured in the heist. The rest of the film from this point forward moves with lightening speed as Bishop, beautiful secretary Leigh (Laurie Zimmer), Wells, Wilson, and a few others must overcome the mutual distrust that exists between criminals and the police if they are to survive. One thing is for certain: the gang members laying siege to the station couldn't care less who is inside the building. They will kill anyone in an effort to get at Kathy's father. With no phones and no way to move around outside the building, Bishop and his cohorts must rely on a few weapons and even fewer rounds of ammunition to stay alive. Any attempt to escape from the station house spells disaster for those who try it, and it isn't too long before the survivors crouch in the basement awaiting the final bloody assault. Will the police discover the occupants of Precinct 13 before the gang members overwhelm them? Who will live and who will perish? What will happen to Napoleon Wilson after the heroics he displays fighting off the gang members? Watch and see.
There isn't much to dislike about Carpenter's action classic. Sure, the acting is a bit wooden, especially in Darwin Joston's portrayal of the laconic Napoleon Wilson. Too, I found the whole "potato" game a bit ridiculous. But aside from those niggling problems, "Assault on Precinct 13" is an assault on the viewers' senses. Lots of shoot 'em action helps propel the narrative in the station house, but the stuff going on in the outside world is just as interesting. If you've seen the film, you know what I'm referring to as "outside stuff," namely the reason Kathy's father arrives at Precinct 13 in a state resembling a nervous breakdown. I won't spoil this shocking scene for you, but it's the sort of sequence that makes the difference between a film and a cult classic. Nothing we see up to that point prepares us for what happens, and it's the sort of thing that never loses its power to shock. I've seen this movie a dozen times and I STILL sit in utter amazement when that part of the film arrives. You can bet your bottom dollar the remake won't attempt to recreate this scene. I've recommended "Assault on Precinct 13" to friends based on this horrific scene alone.
The Special Edition disc comes loaded with extras. The commentary track with John Carpenter is fairly low key but essential to listen to for his explanation of the aforementioned shocking scene as well as learning about the nuts and bolts of low budget filmmaking. Also included is a videotaped interview with Carpenter and Stoker filmed at one of those horror/science fiction conventions, a trailer, a still gallery, and radio spots. I recommend skipping the latest incarnation of "Assault" and going with this one instead.
Rating:
Summary: What $100,000 Could Buy In 1976
Review: In-between his debut with the ultra low budget 1974 cult classic DARK STAR and his breakthrough success in 1978 with HALLOWEEN, John Carpenter, a member of the 1960s film school generation that also gave us Lucas, Spielberg, and Scorsese, achieved a minor miracle by making a taut action/suspense thriller on a budget that wouldn't even cover the catering bill on most big budget Hollywood flicks today. ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is that film, and it is solid proof of what a mere $100,000 could buy in 1976 with the right story and the right people.
In essence an urbanized variation on director Howard Hawks' 1959 western classic RIO BRAVO, ASSAULT stars Austin Stoker as a newly-promoted L.A.P.D. lieutenant whose first assignment is to oversee the closing down of an aging police precinct building in south Los Angeles on a hot summer night. At first, Stoker thinks this is nothing more than a routine matter. But after a young girl (Kim Richards) is killed alongside an ice cream truck by gang members, and her father (Martin West) seeks refuge after killing one of the thugs, Stoker and his skeleton crew, which includes prisoners being transferred from one jail to another, find their building under siege from dozens of multi-ethnic gang members who are willing to kill with extreme prejudice. Stoker and the remaining staff of the precinct must align with the prisoners (including Tony Burton and Darwin Joston) to hold the building and eliminate the gang bangers.
The result, despite some melodramatic dialogue and cliches, is a very provocative crime thriller from an era in which most such films gave audiences credit for having brains. Much has been made about the similarities between this film and RIO BRAVO, as well as NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and they still hold up quite well even now. But equally important, the film's story of people under violent siege also resembles the climaxes of both Hitchcock's THE BIRDS and Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS. Through his own editing (as John T. Chance, the name of the John Wayne character in RIO BRAVO) and music score, Carpenter ups the ante in terms of suspense, and the scene of Richards being killed at the ice cream truck is violent and disturbing without being a gratuitous case of blood and gore. Stoker, a veteran character actor in numerous 1970s action films, does a good turn as the head cop.
Filmed primarily on location in south Los Angeles, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is a textbook example of how tension, suspense, and highly-charged action can be made coherently on a shoestring. It is a very fine cult film that time has been very kind to.
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