Assault On Precinct 13 [DVD]
Assault on Precinct 13, the second feature by John Carpenter (Halloween,Vampires), has a group of cops and convicts joining forces as they're besieged in an all-but-abandoned police station by Street Thunder, a gang armed with automatic weapons and silencers.  The relationships of those holed up in the police station as they try to survive the onslaught form the better part of the movie, borrowing liberally from the films of Howard Hawks, especiallyRio Bravo, to make the point about who's "good enough" and who isn't.  The action is taut and shocking for its time (1976).  Street Thunder is more an irrational force, an embodiment  of pure evil, than a clearly motivated group with a political agenda, drawing comparisons withAssault's other main influence, the zombies in George A. Romero'sNight of the Living Dead.  More than an action-exploitation flick (though it more than holds its own on that level),Assault on Precinct 13is a disguised Western with a horror aspect that Carpenter would later work out more rigorously in such films asHalloweenandThe Thing. The DVD is a true Collector's Edition, preserving the film's original Panavision aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and including a fascinating commentary track by John Carpenter.--Jim Gay