Twenty-nine years later, Carpenter\u2019s reimagining of Rio Bravo <\/em>was, in turn, remade in the form of Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Richet\u2019s Assault on Precinct 13. <\/em>The 2005 remake oozes with the worst clich\u00e9s of the period\u2019s action movies: violence without style, unimaginative dialogue on sex, and the uninventive absence of light, seemingly an attempt to remind the viewer of grim the situation endured by the characters, played by a who\u2019s who cast that includes Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what the 2005 version of Assault on Precinct 13 <\/em>lacks as an action film, it makes up for as a fascinating study in the art of the remake.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Rio Bravo<\/em>, John Wayne plays Sheriff John T. Chance. At the outset of the film, he arrests Joe Burdette, who has just committed a murder in cold blood. Joe is lucky, as he happens to be the brother of wealthy landowner, Nathan, who has committed his resources to breaking Joe out of jail before the federal marshall arrives. Assisting Chance are two deputies: the alcoholic Dude (Dean Martin) and the aging Stumpy (Walter Brennan). To outside eyes, the situation is dire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The heart of the Rio Bravo <\/em>story can be summed up in two exchanges. Chance\u2019s incredulous friend Pat Wheeler (Ward Bond) asks the sheriff, \u201cA game-legged old man and a drunk. That’s all you got?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat’s what<\/em> I’ve got,\u201d Chance replies. The other comes not too long after, when Chance and Dude must follow a man suspected of killing Wheeler into a saloon. Dude insists on going in the front door. \u201cThink you\u2019re good enough?\u201d Chance asks. \u201cI can find out,\u201d Dude replies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At its core, the Rio Bravo <\/em>story is one of redemption. Though Wayne is undoubtedly the star, the story belongs to Martin\u2019s Dude, who overcomes his alcoholism (a byproduct of a broken heart) and proves to his friends and himself that he is, in fact, \u201cgood enough.\u201d It\u2019s a refrain that echoes throughout the remakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Carpenter\u2019s film, Napoleon Wilson, a convicted murder, is the one seeking redemption. He finds himself fighting alongside the police to defend the precinct after a street gang murders a young girl in cold blood, and her father kills their leader in revenge and seeks refuge in the precinct. Lieutenant Ethan Bishop (Austin Stoker) pledges, as a public servant, to protect the man at all costs. Wilson and the police secretary, Leigh (Laurie Zimmer) agree, taking up the task with the kind of professionalism John T. Chance espoused. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou were good,\u201d Wilson says to Leigh, trying to pay her a compliment after one shootout. \u201cIf I’d been any good in here,\u201d she says, pointing to the dead body of a co-worker killed in the crossfire, \u201cmaybe she’d still be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a story with familiar rhythms. A group finds themselves with their backs against the wall, facing down a clear choice between right and wrong. They opt for the right thing, the hard thing, and, in doing so, become all the better for it. And whatever their original reason for fighting becomes second to the commitment they feel to one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In both Rio Bravo <\/em>and the original Assault on Precinct 13, <\/em>plot is secondary to emotion. The difference, though, is that Hawks\u2019s film is driven more by character. Carpenter is more concerned with style, in capturing a certain urban mania, achieved by placing his story in Los Angeles, and shooting the ruthless villains in the style of Night of the Living Dead <\/em>(another direct influence) and bringing to the screen a shocking violence to match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2005 Assault on Precinct 13 <\/em>blends elements of both films in its retelling. The ghost of Dude clings to the air. Dean Martin songs play throughout the radio of the precinct. Sergeant Jake Roenick, the character played by Ethan Hawke, suffers from PTSD after losing two colleagues in the field. He turns to the bottle for support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But unlike Rio Bravo, <\/em>the seeds of this trauma, of character, are never given room to develop. Instead, the priority is action, sprinkling in bits of information about the characters into a convoluted plot. Fishburne plays Marion Bishop, an organized crime figure and the Burdette equivalent. Yet the group trying to break into Precinct 13 are not his allies, but corrupt cops who want to kill him so as to avoid exposure. As the film progresses, Bishop also becomes a kind of Chance figure, urging Roenick to carry on and leave behind \u201cself-pity.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Rio Bravo, <\/em>the man they are trying to keep safe in jail is the criminal, Joe Burdette. In Carpenter\u2019s film, it is the shell-shocked father, incapable of movement after the senseless murder of his daughter. But as the films progress, both men drift outside the frame. Burdette is hardly seen. We only catch an occasional glimpse of the father as he lays on the floor. Both films inevitably move away from the reason that brought the gang together, and towards the shared fight they now must survive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fishburne as Bishop, by contrast, is a central force in the remake. Powerful. In command. And therein lies a certain problem: the story of Rio Bravo <\/em>is one of mutual trust, of a shared bond to the single goal in the face of a clear moral question. Never do the defenders of Precinct 13 truly gel together. Never do they come to fully trust one another. Even as the corrupt cops are closing in, the group remains unsure of the others\u2019 allegiances. If they are not invested in one another, why should we be invested in them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even by the story\u2019s end, redemption arcs remain woefully incomplete. \u201cI\u2019ll never change,\u201d Bishop says as he flees into the woods, escaping the \u201cgood\u201d cops who have come to their rescue. And then comes the line summing up Roenick\u2019s overcoming of trauma. \u201cI didn\u2019t even recognize you tonight,\u201d says precinct secretary Iris (Drea de Matteo). \u201cYou were like a whole different badass motherfucker back there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou think so?\u201d Roenick replies. \u201cWell, get used to it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A far cry from the gentle endings of Rio Bravo <\/em>and Carpenter\u2019s film, both of which realize that everyone changes, and that violence is the real condition to overcome. On that last point, I am actually not so sure. But it was while watching the remake of Assault on Precinct 13 <\/em>that I began to wonder. And so the films began to talk to one another once more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Assault on Precinct 13” is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/assault2-1024x576.jpg\")
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