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Assault on Precinct 13
(1976)
Review
A harrowing music
theme and ominous, non-verbal scenes of deserted streets, gathering
passive-aggressive gangs and a police force caught in the middle of a transition from
old-fashioned to modern set the stage for this intense and tight
chiller from writer/director/editor/composer John Carpenter. The
talented filmmaker had just made his first feature, Dark Star, and
was given full artistic freedom by producer J. S. Kaplan. Carpenter
has said that he
drew inspiration from both Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo and George
Romero's Night of the Living Dead when writing the script,
and while that's an interesting combo, it's
not really the script in itself that makes Assault on Precinct 13 so
effective, even if it's clever enough. The secret is Carpenter's craftsmanship
behind the camera and the rather unique mood which is created by the
combination of his camerawork, his musical score and the somewhat
stylized performances he gets out of his actors. There's little
doubt that Michael Jackson drew inspiration from Assault on
Precinct 13 for his many successful music videos of the 1980s.
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