8mm Forum: Assault on Precinct 13 1976 PM Films Release

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Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 13, 2018, 04:10 PM:

This was s PM Films release on a 600ft spool, this is a very well edited edition of this John Carpenter cult movie from 1976. This is one movie i would love in scope on 16mm. I saw this one upon its release in the cinema. The quality of the print is good, not as pin sharpe as later releases but i think this would be due to the change from widescreen to this 4:3 version. The sound is good if the esses are a little ssssss during the speech but it is more than acceptable. It is clear and not like those old muffled prints of the 70s from mountain. (sometimes). As many of our films these days, this one has the early signs of fade. We noted this in 2016 when we last viewed it and it hasnt got any worse. As you will see from the images it is still very good.

Here is the plot edited for this version,

During the day, three sequences of events occur parallel to one another: First, Lieutenant Ethan Bishop, a newly promoted CHP officer, is assigned to take charge of the decommissioned Anderson police precinct during the last few hours before it is permanently closed. The station is manned by a skeleton staff composed of Sergeant Chaney and the station's two secretaries, Leigh and Julie.
Across town, two of the Street Thunder warlords, along with two other gang members, drive around the neighbourhood looking for people to kill. One of the warlords shoots and kills a little girl, Kathy, and the driver of an ice-cream truck. This scene was requested to be cut by the distributor but Carpenter refused and would not allow the film to be released without it. Kathy's father is chased into the Anderson precinct. In shock, Lawson is unable to communicate to Bishop or Chaney what has happened to him.
Just before this, a prison bus commanded by starker stops at the station to find medical help for one of three prisoners being transported to the state prison. The prisoners are Napoleon Wilson, Wells, and Caudell, who is sick. As the prisoners are put into cells, the telephone lines go dead, and when Starker prepares to put the prisoners back on the bus, the gang opens fire on the precinct, using weapons fitted with silencers. In seconds, they kill Chaney, the bus driver, Caudell, Starker, and the two officers accompanying Starker. Bishop unchains Wilson from Starker's body and puts Wilson and Wells back into the cells. When the gang members cut the station's electricity and begin a second wave of shooting, Bishop sends Leigh to release Wells and Wilson, and they help Bishop and Leigh repel an attempted invasion, though Julie is killed in the firefight.
Bishop hopes that someone has heard the police weapons firing, but the neighbourhood is too sparsely populated for nearby residents to pinpoint the location of the noise. Wells is chosen to sneak out of the precinct through the sewer line and hot-wire a car, but is killed by a gang member hiding in the backseat. (in the feature this is seen by the viewer, in this 600 foot version the sound is used over the others waiting in the station, a clever little edit, However, two police officers responding to reports of gunfire find the dead body of a telephone repairman hanging from a pole near the police station, and call for backup.
As the gang rallies for an all-out final assault, Wilson, Leigh, and Bishop retreat to the basement, taking the still-catatonic Lawson with them. Protected by a large durable sign, the gang then storms the building and rush the survivors. Bishop shoots a tank full of acetylene gas, which explodes and kills all the gang members in the basement. The remaining gang members retreat as more police support arrives to secure the station. Venturing down into the basement, the police officers find dozens of dead and badly burned gang members strewn about the hallway; the only survivors are Bishop, Leigh, Wilson, and Lawson. Bishop asks Wilson to walk out of the station with him.

[ July 14, 2018, 02:01 AM: Message edited by: Tom Photiou ]

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 14, 2018, 03:15 AM:

I have this from PM Films on Fuji stock. I did question the high contrast but was told they thought the lab (Buck, I think) did a good job from the master they were working on.

Derann re-released it much later when they were using Agfa stock. I often wonder what their prints looked like.

A good cut down, but unfortunately there wasn't time to show why the gang had a grudge and tontine against the police.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 14, 2018, 04:23 AM:

I agree Brian, perhaps a 3 x 400 would have been so much better, also, one of the girls in the police station is killed but this isn't shown, and the Father shoots one of the gang which is why they went after him, again,not shown in this print, however, the edit is still very good and it is a good action movie. [Wink]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on July 14, 2018, 11:15 AM:

Thanks for the review!

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on July 15, 2018, 03:02 PM:

You've just done an excellent write up on this film...... and you are now flogging it?

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on July 15, 2018, 04:20 PM:

Hello Melvin, unfortunately for me this was one of my Brothers titles and he has asked me to sell it as there is a hint of red in there. He's made a decision, (as he is a fair bit older than me), to begin to downsize. It was a hard decision as i do love this edit but i understand where he is coming from. Belive it or not, he was never entirely happy with this edit.
i asked him to explain, this is what he concluded,
He didn't like the fact the opening doesn't show why the gang are out there,
he didn't like the fact it doesn't show the girls Father shoot one of the gang after his Daughter is killed, hence why there after him and he runs into the precinct, causing all the troubles for the station,
Lastly, he didn't like the fact that the other girl in the station was killed but it wasn't shown, so he thinks there are too many loose ends, While he has a point i did stick up for the film in that the editors only had 600ft to play with, but he thinks it is an inadequate edit. We agreed to disagree [Big Grin]

We do have this title on DVD now.We will see how this projects up on the Epson.

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