The father that arrives at the station in a state of permanent shock never recovers over the film. He is unable to communicate with the others. What is his purpose? Why even build a plot for him other than to have an excuse to execute the brilliantly twisted ice-cream scene.
shareI guess the reason of the the father-daughter plot was to build up emotion for them being innocent then when (*spoiler* you know what happens..) the audience get more anger towards the gang members, thus getting more enjoyment out of seeing them getting shot up!
But your right the father just whimpered and said nothing they could have put him in their a bit more dialog wise..
What do you mean, what's the point of the dad?
He was the reason they were attacking the precinct in the first place!
Uh huh. I have a hard time imagining how the film's story could proceed without the dad.
shareThey might have been able to get away without the dad. Don't forget the reason why they shot the girl and the ice cream man was a retaliation against the police killing their gang mates in the beginning. But I guess throwing the dad in there gave them extra motive to attack the police station.
shareI think it was done to add a layer of confusion as to why the precinct was under attack. It did seem odd that they continued to think that it had something to do with the dad even after receiving the CHOLO. The gang members that were killed were from that area so it would make sense that the fellow members would attack that precinct.
shareLet's give Carpenter some credit here. Read his interviews and listen to his DVD commentary tracks. The man gives serious thought to his characters and he does not introduce his principals randomly. As for the bereaved daddy of Assault on Precinct 13, I see him serving a number of purposes: (1) He is the textbook victim of what was then modern urban violence and helped establish the pitiless cruelty that these LA street gangs personified, (2) He is the bridge between the wide open street violence and the police-station-confined Rio Bravo showdown, and (3) He is the central focus of an interesting moral dilemma that the very different cast of characters trapped in the precinct had to deal with; namely, whether to offer an innocent as a sacrificial lamb in order to save their own hides.
Carpenter crafted these characters with great thought and craft. Many disagree, but in my view John Carpenter, within the realm of film, is a pretty deep thinker about the ills and fears that plague humanity.
The dad is the audiences guide through the unfolding story. Someone we can relate to, he pulls us into the story.
You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!
What I really wanted to know is why they practically abandoned the father character about halfway thru the film. I understand that, for a little while, he would be unable to speak from the shock of everything - but Carpenter was doing a really good job of building up his character in the beginning. A character which I was finding fairly interesting - I wanted to know more about him. And it seems like the rest of the protagonists should've been more inquisitive about him as well. Why didn't they question him more to get information? This is one of the film's weak points, that they didn't explore the father character just a little bit more.
shareDad character was very interesting in the first half of the movie (this is the best part in my opinion)
and that ¨really sick¨ prisioner guy, why not leave him in a hospital?
low-budget, straight-to-video, Cult B-movies,
or nothing
Can you say...Catalyst!!! you people need to stop looking so deep into this flick.
shareJohn Carpenter was paying homage to Night of the Living Dead in this film. The dad's role was the same as Barbra's in Night of the Living Dead. Both characters pull us into the main plot but once we're there, they are too shocked and never really recover.
If that was me, I'd probably behave the same way. What single parent of an only child would find reason to go on after going through what he just did? :-/
It would be hilarious if the dad was named MacGuffin. Because that's what he is, he's the films MacGuffin. It doesn't really matter who he is or what he does, he's the one everybody's fighting about.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin
I honestly felt the character was Carpenter's reaction against vigilante flicks like Death Wish. After all, the dad's own quest for vengeance is what leads the gang of thugs to the police station. In other words, I would say Carpenter would agree that the dad should be shocked and upset, but that his actions really just got a lot of people killed in the end.
And yes, this film really did echo Night of the Living Dead.