Yojimbo's Movie Reviews (2058)

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Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 
"Assault On Precinct 13" by Yojimbo
3.5/4 stars

In his heyday, John Carpenter was the master of cinematic suspense, and this story of urban violence was one of his best. A deserted police station is laid siege to by a fanatical gang out for blood when one of their number is killed by a man hysterical with grief when they casually murder his young daughter. In fact there isn't much more to the plot than that; this film is all about attitude and atmosphere. There are loads of great one liners, particularly from Darwin Joston as the laconic anti-hero who joins forces with his captors, and the characters are all very memorable. Laurie Zimmer, despite the virtually complete absence of romance in the situation has a sultry charisma that reminded me of a young Lauren Bacall, and the plot has a very strong message; namely that violence begets violence. It's also very obvious that Carpenter was not the biggest fan of the LAPD when you consider that the whole incident is sparked by a combination of the fact that six gang members are callously gunned down in cold blood by faceless police officers, and the fact that the grief stricken father was only in that certain place at that time because he had little or no trust in the police. A fine example of economical and suspenseful storytelling with no unnecessarily overblown set pieces or frills that is far better than the (admittedly decent) remake.

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