I remember watching this for the first time after the TV’s introduction of John Carpenters classic comedy of... I spent the whole movie waiting for the comedy to kick in. There are funny points in the movie and one in particular had me laughing out loud. Hmm maybe this was funnier than I ever thought it was.
It was released in 1976 and was written just after Carpenters first film of Dark Star it was written in a western style and you can see why Ghosts of Mars and this movie are similar. JC wanted to have a western under his belt just as they fell out of fashion and no one wanted to see them anymore. The story is about a police officer starting a new job and has been assigned to a police station that is being closed down. There will just be him and two secretaries to look after the station and basically point people to the new building whilst all the paperwork and furniture is taken to the new building. All he has to do is sit around and send everything over to the new site.
Should be easy well earlier that day the LA police had had an open gun fight with a gang and ended up shooting dead six gang members. Well the gang leaders are pretty pissed about this and decide to start an all-out war with the police and the public in the city. They kill a young girl at an ice cream van which made me laugh out loud but maybe that says what a sicko I am!! The girl’s dad seeks revenge and kills one of the gang members and runs to the police station for help. Meanwhile a bus taking a load of prisoners is forced to stop at the same police station as one of the prisoners has been taken ill and they wish to use the facilities to be able to call for help finding poor and underprepared station that realise they could be in trouble. As the entire gang has convened here and has decided that this police station will now be there’s. They surround the station preventing anyone else coming in and more so anyone else getting out. And like a scene from Zulu they attack the isolated location is a targeted campaign of pressure of each side of the building. And just like Ghost of Mars the prisoners have to team up with the police to ensure everyone escapes with their lives.
This wasn’t the film I was expecting from the description but it was still watchable far from being my favourite John Carpenter movie but it has grown on me over the years. Give it a try and not the remake either we don’t like them do we.
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