Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
89%RT Audience Score: 80%
Awards & Nominations: 1 nomination
Lean, taut and compellingly gritty, John Carpenter’s loose update of Rio Bravo ranks as a cult action classic and one of the filmmaker’s best
Assault on Precinct 13 is a classic action movie that’s so violent, it’ll make your grandma faint. But don’t worry, at least the director had the decency not to gun down any old ladies. With a gang swearing a blood oath to destroy a precinct station and all inside, this movie is a taut, aesthetic blast of violence that’ll grab you by the scruff of your neck and drag you through its 90-minute run time. It may not capture the street-tough magic of the genre, but it’s still a seriously entertaining early effort from an otherwise masterful filmmaker. So grab some popcorn, buckle up, and get ready for a wild ride!
Production Company(ies)
K&SFilms, El Deseo Televisión Federal
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Former Venice Police and Fire Station – 685 North Venice Boulevard, Venice, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1976
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 5, 1976 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2003
Genre(s)
Action
Keyword(s)
Assault on Precinct 13, starring Austin Stoker, directed by John Carpenter, written by John Carpenter, action, cult classic, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Dave Kehr, Variety Staff, Vincent Canby, Ed Gonzalez, Ian Nathan, Rudy Ralph Martinez, Eddie Harrison, Mike Massie, Andrew Pollard, R rating, police, gang, siege, last stand, violence, suspense, thriller, low budget, exploitation, Rio Bravo, western, gritty, taut, lean, compelling, gritty, producer J Stein Kaplan
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Darwin Joston – Napoleon Wilson
Laurie Zimmer – Leigh
Martin West – Lawson
Tony Burton – Wells
Charles Cyphers – Starker
Director(s)
John Carpenter
Writer(s)
John Carpenter
Producer(s)
J. Stein Kaplan
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 nomination
Academy Awards
All Critics (44) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (42) | Rotten (2)
Hopelessly violent but exceedingly well made.
May 25, 2011
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Novelty of a gang swearing a blood oath to destroy a precinct station and all inside is sufficiently compelling for the gory-minded to assure acceptance.
July 6, 2010
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
As formally compact and rigorously efficient as anything the genre filmmaker ever made.
June 22, 2005 | Rating: A-
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
TOP CRITIC
Mr. Carpenter is an extremely resourceful director whose ability to construct films entirely out of action and movement suggests that he may one day be a director to rank with Don Siegel.
May 9, 2005 | Rating: 3/5
Vincent Canby
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
…there’s no mistaking the modern racial and sexual politics encoded in the distinctly western elements of Carpenter’s lean, mean, genre-defying masterpiece.
August 7, 2003 | Rating: 4/4
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
A joy to behold: a taut, aesthetic blast of violence.
June 5, 2001 | Rating: 4/5
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Without the proper societal context of economic disparity, racism, classism, and gun culture in America – the forces that give rise to real gangs – this film furthers the notion of inner-city crime as an illness, a disease, a cancer…
October 8, 2021
Rudy Ralph Martinez
PopMatters
…there’s no chance of capturing the street-tough magic of this hard-as-nails genre classic…
July 22, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Eddie Harrison
film-authority.com
At least Carpenter has the sense not to gun down any old ladies.
August 27, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
A film that is unrelenting, grabbing you by the scruff of your neck and dragging you through its 90-minute run time.
April 11, 2018 | Rating: 8/10
Andrew Pollard
Starburst
…a seriously erratic early effort from an otherwise masterful filmmaker.
March 19, 2018 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
For all the exposition dealt out in the opening half hour, it’s become an almost abstract act of violence by the end, motivations long forgotten by the attackers and survival the only thought on the minds of the dwindling survivors.
January 5, 2018
Sean Axmaker
Stream on Demand…
Plot
Police ambush and kill several gang members in Los Angeles. Gang members make a pact of blood to strike back at police, and conduct a siege on the police station which is almost abandoned and due to be closed. Staff of the closing precinct and the criminals being held there while in transit must work together to fight off the attacking gang members.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
There is no goofy or funny or odd comment about the film Assault on Precinct 13 on Fresh Kernels.
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