Assault on Precinct 13 (1976 film)

Assault on Precinct 13
US film poster[1]
Directed by	John Carpenter
Written by	John Carpenter
Produced by	J. S. Kaplan
Starring	Austin Stoker Darwin Joston Laurie Zimmer
Cinematography	Douglas Knapp
Edited by	John T. Chance
Music by	John Carpenter
Production company	The CKK Corporation
Distributed by	Turtle Releasing Organization
Release date	November 3, 1976 (1976-11-03)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$100,000

Assault on Precinct 13 is a 1976 American independent action thriller film written, directed, scored, and edited by John Carpenter.^[2] It features Austin Stoker as a police officer who defends a defunct precinct against a relentless criminal gang, and Darwin Joston as a death row-bound convict who assists him. Laurie Zimmer, Tony Burton, Martin West, and Nancy Kyes co-star as other defenders of the precinct.^[3]

Carpenter was approached by producer J. Stein Kaplan to make a low-budget exploitation film for under $100,000, on the condition that Carpenter would have total creative control. Carpenter's script, originally titled The Anderson Alamo, was inspired by the Howard Hawks Western film Rio Bravo and the George A. Romero horror film Night of the Living Dead.^[3] Despite controversy with the MPAA over a scene involving the violent killing of a young girl, the film received an R rating and opened in the United States on November 5, 1976.

Assault on Precinct 13 was initially met with mixed reviews and unimpressive box-office returns in the United States, but when the film premiered in the 1977 London Film Festival, it received an ecstatic review by festival director Ken Wlaschin that led to critical acclaim first in Britain and then throughout Europe. It has garnered a cult following and reappraisal from critics, with many evaluating the film as one of the best action films of its era and of Carpenter's career. A remake was released in 2005, directed by Jean-François Richet and starring Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.