Assault on Precinct 13 [1976]

I first saw this movie in a cinema double-bill as a teenager during the mid-1980s. It was an art-house flea-pit. The underground tube train thundered by beneath the building every half-hour, given the impression of an earthquake, the seats were battered and uncomfortable. Hit the padding and you could see the dust cloud rise against the screen, but that didn’t matter to me because art-house cinemas show great movies. They always have. I remember being only one of four people in the entire auditorium. I prefer to sit at the highest row as near to the center as I can get. To my left, one row down, was a couple who chatted as the pre-movie on-screen advertisement cards scrolled and soft music played. I couldn’t make out what they were discussing, but every time she paused to take a breath, he would tut loudly and exclaim: “God!” The fourth was a man sitting alone on the same row as the couple, at the far right, tucked next to the wall. I took him to be in his late-50s. All the way through the movies he scribbled furiously and turned pages on a clipboard. I guessed he was a journalist, there to watch and scribble his opinion.

The first movie was Android [1982]...

... an unremarkable sci-fi starring Klaus Kinski. It didn’t impress me, I’ve never seen it since, and yet I’ve never forgotten it. Maybe the reason I’ve always remembered Android is because the following movie, Assault on Precinct 13 did impress me. I was captured by it, right from the opening credits with its distinctive and atmospheric synthesized theme music, one of John Carpenter’s movie trademarks. I’ve always loved nihilistic urban thrillers and this stands as one of the best. If it has the feel of a western, it’s probably because it is in fact an updated retelling of Howard Hawks’ 1959 western: Rio Bravo ...

... starring John Wayne, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ward Bond and Walter Brennan. Assault on Precinct 13 has since gained cult-status and was remade in 2005.

Set in Anderson, Los Angeles, the movie opens with the killing by police of several members of a gang called Street Thunder, gunned down in an alley as they were on their way somewhere to raise hell.

The gang has stolen a huge amount of weapons and their four warlords, in reprisal, prowl the streets with murder in mind.

The gang seems intent on gunning down anyone who crosses their path, regardless of whether or not they are police. At the same time the gang are cruising, a father [Martin West] drives with his young daughter [Kim Richards], on their way to pick up grandma and talk her into moving in with them – rescuing her from the area. Police Lieutenant, Ethan Bishop [Austin Stoker], drives to his first assignment: baby sit a decommissioned and almost completely closed down precinct until it’s shut down for good.

There are only three people left on duty until he arrives: two secretaries: Leigh [Laurie Zimmer] and Julie [Nancy Loomis].

 

The jaded Captain Chaney [Henry Brandon] is less than welcoming. At the same time that this is happening, a prisoner transport bus has set off with three prisoners aboard: the most notorious is Napoleon Wilson [Darwin Joston], a murderer on his way to death row.

The others are Wells [Tony Burton], and a third prisoner who is feverish with an unknown illness, causing them to divert to the Anderson Precinct to quarantine the prisoner until they can get a doctor to diagnose what is wrong him. Bishop grants permission and the prisoners are transferred to the holding cells. The four gang members start their killing spree by killing the little girl as she is getting an ice cream, along with the owner of the ice cream van. Her father takes the ice cream van owners gun and sets off in a high-speed car chase after the gang. He manages to kill one of the warlords [Frank Doubleday], and flees when the rest of the gang chase after him. He arrives at the station, crumbling into shock-induced catatonia, unable to convey what has happened to the staff on duty.

The phone lines and the electricity to the station are cut and the assault begins, the gang using silencers on their weapons, so all is heard are the sounds of breaking glass and bullets impacting walls and other objects. As the attack intensifies, Bishop is then forced to arm the prisoners to help fend off the gang.

There are some inspired moments of humor with Wells and Wilson settling their dispute with a round of “Potatoes”:

WELLS & WILSON [in unison]: "One potato, two potato, three potato, four! Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more! Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato, eleven! Kiss my ass and go to heaven! Y-O-U spells YOU!"

[Wilson beats Wells]. 

The survivors holding the “SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POLICE” sign as a shield during the last stand: 

Darwin Joston undeniably steals the show with his laconic, nonchalant portrayal of Napoleon Wilson ...

... a man born out of time and for who chains is all he has to look forward to. He gets all the memorable lines.
While observing the sun setting through the bus window: “Another one gone. When you’re in my position, days are like women; each one is so goddam precious. They always end up leaving you.”
Approach him and his first question will always be: “Got a smoke?”

Throw him a compliment and he’ll always answer: “I have moments.”
While waiting for you to make a move, he’ll remark: “Can’t argue with a confident man.”
Ask him how he got his name and he’ll shrug you off with: “I’ll tell you some time.”
Press him on when that time will be and he’ll answer: “At the moment of truth.”

There is also a nicely underplayed element of chemistry between Leigh and Wilson:

I’ve enjoyed many of John Carpenter’s movies and this remains one of my favorites. With Assault on Precinct 13 he proved that, even with a low-budget, he can make a little go a long way, and still turn out an assured, suspenseful and entertaining work. Many argue that much of the acting is wooden, and the dialogue is stilted and clichéd. Maybe. But, for all its faults, this is a stripped-to-the-bones thriller without pretentions and a siege-theme story with the same intense and claustrophobic menace of Night of the Living Dead [1968] thrown in for good measure, a talent he would show again with The Thing [1982]. I would choose this classic over the glossy, over-hyped rehashes we see released year after year.

Whether or not it really has anything to say about gang crime, urban violence, and the rot at the center of society is another moot point, but credit has to be given to stories like Assault on Precinct 13 for making us sit up and take notice of the problem.

Personally, I think Bishop is onto something: it could have something to do with the sun spots.

Plunkett & Macleane (1999):

Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle, as Will Plunkett and Captain James Macleane, who find their calling as highwaymen in the 18th century England.

With strong support from a great cast including Liv Tyler, Michael Gambon and Ken Stott.
Those looking for deep, historical drama will not find it here.

Instead, this is just a thoroughly enjoyable, laugh-a-minute, adventure.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

My favorite part, when Jonny Lee Miller brandishes his guns, still riding high on the thrill of their last robbery, and exalts:

“Still, I was fabulous, and it was a bloody good laugh!”

Lambs of Men, by Charles Dodd White:

Hiram Tobit is a complex and unsympathetic character: a Marine Sergeant, damaged by war, working as a District Recruiter for the Marine Corp, plagued by nightmares of war-time horrors, haunted by the shameful circumstances of his brother’s untimely death, his mother’s suicide, and unresolved conflict with his father.
Returning to his childhood home he finds that time has moved on, but old pain and resentments are still present. A crime rocks the community, forcing Hiram to reluctantly set out on horseback with his father to hunt down the perpetrator. Violence simmers below the surface all the way through.
This is a compelling, well-crafted mix of murder, manhunt and love story, in the style of a modern-day western, with a military backdrop, effectively set in the mountain ranges of North Carolina.
Lambs Of Men is a subtle story of war and the effect that it has on men.
A state of war can exist within families and communities, just as it does on the battlefield.

Eleven Days, by Donald Harstad:

The author is a former sheriff and it shows in the writing.
I loved the dry, cynical wit that ran through the narrative and snappy dialogue.

You get a real sense of the cops going through the routine of their job as they uncover evidence, chase up leads and question witnesses/suspects.

The Girl Next Door, by Jack Ketchum:

This is one story you will never forget. I include Jack Ketchum’s book and the 2007 movie adaptation here. Inspired by the true murder case of Sylvia Likens, sadistically tortured by her guardian, Gertrude Baniszewski, her sons and a group of the neighbourhood kids. Sylvia Likens finally died of brain swelling and shock, aged just 16, in 1965. It’s a heart-breaking read. Not a book to be enjoyed, but one that I hope provokes discussion on the root causes of bullying, “pack behavior” among people who target an individual for persecution, and the problem of psychopaths and sociopaths in society who act with no sense of conscience for the suffering they cause others. In this case, these factors ran to the extreme. There are no happy endings. No “white knight” saving the day. Only insanity, cruelty, tragedy and death.

Serranto's Redemption (Breaking Out Series, Book Two), by Carol Gambill:

This powerful sequel to Once Wild has Nick Serranto attending his beloved wife’s funeral under heavy police guard. Two years later, Nick is an emotionally burned-out, chain-smoking, hard-drinking shell of a man, working as an enforcer and hit-man for his vicious older brother, Cal.
The uneasy balance and fragile structure in the top echelons of this crime family are a time-bomb waiting to explode.
This story has a sharp narrative and biting dialogue between the amoral characters. Gangster crime thrillers are thick on the ground, but Carol Gambill’s Breaking Out Series are among the best of the new wave, a compelling study of how crime can become a way of life and the corrosive effect it has on loyalty, even loyalty to family, breeding paranoia.
Being exploited as little more than hired muscle and an exterminator, Nick Serranto leads a shadowy existence of rage, violence, intimidation, self-loathing and regret, evident in his dealings with criminals, corrupt cops and women he uses and discards.
How do you break from a particular way of life if it’s all that you know, especially when the peer pressure comes from your own family?
It’s easy to imagine Nick in his twilight years, much like the embittered character Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino in The Godfather Part 3, as he says: “Just when I thought I was out … they pull me back in!”
However, as Nick discovers, no matter how dark the present, the future always holds hope of love and redemption. Life is full of surprises, twists and turns, and our saviors can come from the mostly unlikely places.

Once Wild, by Carol Gambill:

The sins of Shaun MacGregor’s youth are far from forgotten when he is released from prison and returns to his home town in Ashland, Pennsylvania. We learn that he went wild in his youth for a reason: rebellion sparked by years of physical abuse. When he wasn’t being bullied by his father, he was being victimized by others. He’s already served eight years for killing his friend, but there are some in the town who still won’t forget – or forgive. Shaun is a marked man from the moment news is out that he’s back in town. When Maria Bellicia literally runs into him, their status couldn’t be more different, poles apart in the eyes of society. However, it’s a case of opposites attracting; they can’t help falling in love with each other. What follows is a steamy mix of guilt, passion, sex, hatred and violence. This is the first book in the Breaking Out series, and it’s a great read that reminded me of classic noir, steamy, pot-boiler thrillers like James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. I liked the setting and the characters. The pace is steady and the tension builds very well. I believed in Shaun’s struggle to find acceptance and redemption, along with Shaun and Maria’s struggle to stay together in the face of adversity. A love story with a hard edge.

Plain Jane, by Cristyn West:

Gritty and effective page-turner of a thriller with the serial killer being triggered by a “type”; in this case, the “plain Jane” brunettes of the title. I was hooked from chapter one, as the killer stalks a potential victim through the city at night, and they pass a crowd gathering outside a cinema showing a rerun of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the fans of the movie, dressed in-costume for the event, unaware of the real horror in their midst.
There is an added dynamic with the sub-plot of the romance between criminal profiler and his ex, Nicole, a cop working on the case with him. The characters are well written and the story speeds along nicely with chapters and narrative passages that come as swift and sharp as a punch. This is a nice mix of tough cop thriller, drama, love story, gory scenes of murder, that come together in a hard-hitting, intelligently written story, with a current of dark humor flowing throughout.

The Choirboys, by Joseph Wambaugh:

In 1975, a police unit working the night watch in Los Angeles indulges in off-duty drunken hedonistic orgies. For them, the ‘choir practice’ sessions are a coping mechanism, a way to vent and let off steam to keep from exploding from the pressures of their job and the world around them. They work hard and play even harder, until caution is thrown to the wind one time too many, resulting in a tragedy that brings them all down.
These cops are not the ‘white nights in blue’ of so many clichéd TV shows. These are all-too human, with all the faults, weaknesses and character flaws they have to contend with as they fight both the criminals on the street and the bureaucratic hierarchy they work for and gripe about in private. This is one of the best police-themed novels in that it describes the effect police work has on the officers. Maybe once idealistic, these officers are now embittered and disillusioned and just struggle to make it through the day like everyone else.
Written by a seasoned former police officer, the characters and situations described throughout this novel have an authentic feel about them. By turns harrowing and hilarious, with characters you can both laugh with and loathe in equal measure, this remains one of the author’s best works.

Black Shadows by Simon Swift:

Just when you might think: they don’t write ‘em like they used to … an author comes along with a true passion for classic rat-a-tat-tat, shoot ‘em full o’ holes, gumshoe crime fiction.
The prologue opens on October 23, 1935, in Newark, New Jersey, and grabs the reader’s attention right from the start.
Four men, operatives of The Shadow Man Detective Agency, sit around a table in a restaurant. Their work comes predominantly from the mob. The intended peace of their meal is shattered by a volley of gunfire. It’s a gangland hit, but the quartet are bystanders, not the targets, until one of the detectives returns fire and turns the hit into a free for all. In the moments of calm that follow the chaos, after seeing two of his colleagues killed, Errol Black decides to get out of that line of risky business and stick to good, honest, morally ambiguous P.I. work. However, his partner in sleuthing, Dyke Spanner, can’t resist the big bucks and stays with the mob, a decision which ends his association with Errol.
The story then jumps forward a decade to Manhattan. Errol now runs a new detective agency with another partner, Hermeez Wentz, but the business has fallen on hard times.
Errol is demoralized and the future looks bleak. Then a beautiful femme fatale walks into his office and provides him with a fresh and sordid case to work on.
Will her arrival bring prosperous good fortune, or is she there to make matters worse?
The case should have been easy money, but what starts off as a by-the-numbers surveillance job turns deadly.
Factual elements of the plot are skilfully weaved together with fiction to create an entertaining and wonderfully nostalgic detective story in the tradition of the hard-boiled noir classics.
When considering a career path in life, follow the advice of Arthur Flegenheimer in the prologue: “Steer clear of wise guys, they’ll kill you!”