History Film / AssaultOnPrecinct131976

* BottomlessMagazines: Subverted. After all the buildup, the first proper shootout with the gangbangers is both awesome and cathartic. It also leaves our heroes with eight bullets between them.

The story is essentially ''Film/RioBravo'' transported to TheSeventies (Carpenter being a massive fan of classic [[TheWestern Westerns]] and having always wanted to make a film reminiscent of the genre). When a decommissioned police station in a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles ghetto finds itself under siege from a violent [[GangBangers street gang]], a cop must enlist the aid of a secretary and two convicts to hold off the attackers until help arrives.

** It's the gang's revenge on the city (for their successful ambush at the beginning). They're murdering at random based on the first "Cholo" they swear.

* RealityEnsues: After all the buildup, the first proper shootout with the gangbangers is both awesome and cathartic. It also leaves our heroes with eight bullets between them.

* FamousLastWords: See BadHumorTruck.

** Speaking of ''Rio Bravo'', Leigh's name is an in-joke reference to writer Leigh Brackett. And Wilson always asking for a smoke is a running gag inspired by the cigarette gags in Creator/HowardHawks Westerns.

* InfantImmortality: Infamously averted.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Many critics have noted how the gang members are depicted not as characters, or even as human beings, but as zombie-like monsters: they rarely speak, show no emotion, and move with slow, relentless purpose. In addition, they pay little attention to their own survival or safety, and just keep relentlessly attacking [[ZergRush with sheer force of numbers on their side]], regardless of how many the main characters kill. Carpenter acknowledged that the original ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' was an influence on how he portrayed the gang members.

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* PhoneBooth: Plays a plot role twice — first when Lawson stops to call his daughter's nanny, then later when one of the prisoners tries to make a run to it.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Most of the cast are dead and Wilson is still facing the death penalty, but considering other John Carpenter films that's downright saccharine.]]

The story is essentially ''Film/RioBravo'' transported to TheSeventies (Carpenter being a massive fan of [[TheWestern classic westerns]] and having always wanted to make a film reminiscent of the genre). When a soon-to-be-decommissioned police station in a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles ghetto finds itself under siege from a violent [[GangBangers street gang]], a cop must enlist the aid of a secretary and two convicts to hold off the attackers until help arrives.

The story is essentially ''Film/RioBravo'' transported to TheSeventies (Carpenter being a massive fan of [[TheWestern classic westerns]] and having always wanted to make a film reminiscent of the genre). When a soon-to-be-abandoned police station in a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles ghetto finds itself under siege from a violent [[GangBangers street gang]], a cop must enlist the aid of a secretary and two convicts to hold off the attackers until help arrives.

* [[spoiler: RainOfBlood]]: As a ShoutOut to the scene [[spoiler: with the wounded gunman]] in ''Film/RioBravo''.

* DangerInTheBackseat: [[spoiler:Wells is killed by a gangster hiding in the backseat of the car he was hiding in.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Most of the cast are dead and Wilson is still facing the death penalty, but considering other John Carpenter films that's downright saccharine.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Most of the cast are dead and Wilson is still facing the death penalty, but considering other John Carpenter films that's downright saccharine.

* ForTheEvulz: There doesn't seem to be any other reason for murdering an ice cream truck driver in broad daylight. Just to drive the point home, one of the gangbangers nabs the truck driver's money. Waves it in his face...and ''throws it away,'' meaning that it's not even about money.

The story is essentially ''Film/RioBravo'' transported to TheSeventies. When a soon-to-be-abandoned police station in a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles ghetto finds itself under siege from a violent [[GangBangers street gang]], a cop must enlist the aid of a secretary and two convicts to hold off the attackers until help arrives.

* ForTheEvulz: There doesn't seem to be any other reason for murdering an ice cream truck driver in broad daylight.

* OffhandBackhand: "I wanted vanilla twist!"

* InfantImmortality: [[AvertedTrope Blown away with a vengeance.]]

* DeusExMachina: [[spoiler:The patrol cops, searching for something completely unrelated (a missing phone company van dispatched to investigate cut phone wires), are the ones who call in backup before the station is completely overrun.]]
** Actually, the cops were searching for the source of the gunfire reports, so not so much.

* ChekhovsGun: Subverted, a lot.
** It looks as if Napoleon will reveal why he killed his victims to the overzealous cop accompanying him, but as the siege starts, the cop is killed quickly. Napoleon actually laments not getting the opportunity to do so.
** The phone booth in which Lawson takes cover in at first, and which [[spoiler:Wells tries to run to before getting blown away.]]
** [[spoiler:Finally played straight with the magnesium flares, but not used until the very second. Justified in that there's no flare gun for them to be useful... yet.]]
** Played straight when Lawson and his daughter are lost and Kathy suggests they ask some nearby cops. When her father baulks and continues driving, she tells him that her teacher said you can always go to the police when you're in trouble. Lawson remembers this in his panic-induced state after he shoots [[spoiler: her killer]], thus bringing the conflict to the precinct.
* CutPhoneLines: Besides the silencers, the other reason why the Precinct cannot call for backup.
** [[spoiler: Ironically, the fact that the lines were cut ends up being the reason why they receive back up, as two cops investigating the reports of gunfire discover the body of the repairman who had been sent to repair the lines]].