TV Times

TV Times

Remaking Assault on Precinct 13
John Carpenter a name synonymous with the cult movie industry and in 1976 released the most powerful movie ever made by him. The title “Assault on Precinct 13”, inspired by the great 1959 Howard Hawks-John Wayne-Dean Martin jailhouse Western “Rio Bravo”. Now a movie drawn from the same origin has also made its mark in the current movie scene. The difference this time is it is French American collaboration and the director is of French origin.

Working with an excellent cast headed by Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne and Gabriel Byrne, the movie’s gifted young French director, Jean-Francois Richet, shows a surprising affinity for American action films even though he’s a Frenchman making his first U.S. production.

The story line of the movie goes as with only a few hours left in the calendar year, Precinct 13, one of Detroit’s oldest precinct houses, is closing. Amid heavy snowfall and unsafe road conditions, only a few lawmen remain on duty for New Year’s Eve. They are headed by Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), a good cop wrestling with bad memories of a fatal undercover op from the previous spring. Roenick and Precinct 13 have both seen better days. Early on December 31st, deep in the city, formidable crime lord Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), is cornered by an undercover cop.

Their ensuing struggle leaves the cop dead and Bishop captured, by the Organized Crime and Racketeering squad that Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne) runs. Bishop is handcuffed and herded onto a prison bus with several criminals: Junkie Beck (John Leguizamo), hustler Smiley (Jeffrey “Ja Rule” Atkins), and gang member Anna (Aisha Hinds). But the battering snowstorm stops the bus well short of its high-security destination and strands it at the remote Precinct 13 where, as night falls, the prisoners are temporarily incarcerated. This influx of prisoners irks Roenick, almost as much as visiting police psychologist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello) does.

But Precinct 13’s provocative secretary Iris Ferry (Drea de Matteo) and salty veteran cop Jasper “Old School” O’Shea (Brian Dennehy) won’t let the increasing workload deter them from celebrating until two masked gunmen break in and attack the guards from the bus. The gunmen are just barely beaten back, and everyone inside Precinct 13 realizes that more will come to extract crime lord Bishop, but also armed and ready to shoot anyone and everyone else.

The cops, looking to the reluctant Roenick for leadership, and the cons, looking to the steely Bishop for an angle, must join forces to live. Fortifying themselves with minimal weaponry and maximum courage, they will not go gently into the bad night fighting for their survival an uncanny alliance of fugitives and cops fighting to their last breath.

Chief figure in the movie Ethan Hawke admits, “I’d had such a great experience on Training Day that I’d been looking for another good cop movie. Like Training Day, AP13 is about an extraordinary dramatic situation that takes place in one day. When I read this script, I knew this was the one I had to do. It was smart, and it was the best action script I’d ever read.

Facing off against Hawke on-screen is Laurence Fishburne as the imposing Marion Bishop. The producer notes, “In AP13 Bishop is actually the most stalwart character. He doesn’t change. He has a code; it may not be society’s code, but it’s a code that he sticks to. “Laurence is, in reality, a very effusive and warm person.

Laurence Fishburne remarks, “When I first read the script, I liked the take on the original story and I felt that Bishop would be a good part to play. Then I watched Jean-François’ earlier film and was impressed with how much emotion was in it. I sensed that he must be a passionate person. So I met with Jean-François and talked about AP13 and my playing opposite Ethan Hawke whom I had met about 10 years ago, gotten along with, and wanted to work with.

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