Street Thunder
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Street Thunder is the name of the fictional, Los Angeles street gang in the 1976 John Carpenter film Assault on Precinct 13. The gang is based in the Los Angeles ghetto district of Anderson, and it is comprised of a young, multi-racial group of men. We learn that the Street Thunder are very well armed following the massive theft of automatic weapons from the L.A.P.D. armory. During the film, the gang mainly use handguns equipped with a silencer, molotov cocktails and at one point, a silenced M-16 assault rifle complete with a sniper scope.
As with most of Carpenter's antagonists, Street Thunder is portrayed as a force that possesses mysterious origins and almost supernatural qualities. [1] The gang members are not humanized and are instead represented as though they were zombies or ghouls, and Carpenter has acknowledged the influence of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead on his portrayal of the gang.[2]
Despite this, the gang seems well organized and highly intelligent, though their most obvious attribute is their ruthlessness and violent nature.
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[edit] The Cholo
The "Cholo" is the term describing a blood oath ritual/vendetta specific to the Street Thunder gang, the material symbol of the oath, and the subsequent attack. The Cholo is essentially a vow not only to destroy the gang's designated enemies, but also to carry out this vendetta relentlessly and with full force, even at the cost of the gang members' lives. It is initiated when the gang warlords draw their own blood and collect it in a glass bowl, which is then delivered to the gang's intended victims. This blood-filled bowl, which symbolizes the oath and the gang's intent to fight to the death, is also called a Cholo.
Initially, Wells is the only person trapped in the precinct who understands the significance of the Cholo, since he spent time in prison with one of the Street Thunder gang members. He then informs Bishop, Leigh, and Wilson that it means that the gang intends to fight them all "to the death."
[edit] References
- ^ Q & A session with John Carpenter and Austin Stoker at American Cinematheque's 2002 John Carpenter retrospective, in the Assault on Precinct 13 2003 special edition Region 1 DVD.
- ^ Q & A session with John Carpenter and Austin Stoker at American Cinematheque's 2002 John Carpenter retrospective, in the Assault on Precinct 13 2003 special edition Region 1 DVD.
