Get Your Reps In: “Assault on Precinct 13″ Opens With Delicately Choreographed Violence

What to see at Portland’s repertory theaters.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) (IMBD)
By Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Throughout the first firefight of Assault on Precinct 13, we see neither a trigger finger nor a flashing muzzle—just minute after minute of muffled bullets shattering police station glass and sending papers airborne. It’s an eerie, almost delicate scene for a movie premised on a gangland siege. But keeping the assaulters largely invisible produces elongated tension in John Carpenter’s sophomore feature. The film’s ample violence undulates between this strangely disembodied style and one that’s shockingly quick and ruthless—a fitting audition for the director who would forever change horror movies two years later with Halloween. Of course, it’s all set to Carpenter’s inimitable self-styled original score, which sounds alternately like synth dirge and a 100-year-old apartment radiator clattering under pressure. Academy Theater, Sept. 13–19.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Sept. 13–19. Cure (1997), Sept. 13–19. Cinema 21: Paths of Glory (1957), Sept. 14. Paris, Texas (1984), Sept. 14–18. Cinemagic: Ninja Scroll (1993), Sept. 11, 12 and 15. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996), Sept. 13, 15 and 17. Blood Simple (1984), Sept. 13, 14 and 16. Hard Eight (1996), Sept. 14, 15 and 17. In Bruges (2008), Sept. 14 and 16. Clinton: Ghost in the Shell (1995), Sept. 12 with live score. Audition (1999), Sept. 13. Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972), Sept. 13. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Sept. 14. Hollywood: Roadie (1980), Sept. 13. Le Samouraï (1967), Sept. 14. Saw (2004), Sept. 14. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Sept. 14–15. Troop Beverly Hills (1989), Sept. 15. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011), Sept. 15. The Joy Luck Club (1993), Sept. 16. RRR (2022), Sept. 17. Tomorrow: The Untold Tales of Tūteremoana (2022), Sept. 12. Barbarella (1968), Sept. 13. The Big Lebowski (1998), Sept. 14. Clueless (1995), Sept. 14. Daisies (1966), Sept. 15. Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021), Sept. 15.

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