Napoleon Wilson

Napoleon Wilson is a fictional character created by John Carpenter and played by Darwin Joston in Carpenter's 1976 film, Assault on Precinct 13.

In the film, Wilson is a convicted killer who has been sentenced to death for his crime. Due to a series of unexpected events that transpire while he is being transported to Death Row, he winds up in the holding cell of Precinct 9, Division 13, a decommissioned police station that is being besieged by a murderous street gang. Wilson then joins forces with police lieutenant Ethan Bishop (played by Austin Stoker), the station's secretary Leigh (Laurie Zimmer), and his fellow prisoner Wells (Tony Burton), in order to defend the station and those trapped inside.

In the 2005 remake, the character Marion Bishop (portrayed by Lawrence Fishburne) is based on Wilson.

Wilson's crime

The details and circumstances of Wilson's killings are never revealed. The only fact the audience ever learns about Wilson's crime, namely, that he killed at least two men, is established early in the film (when a police officer asks Wilson, "Why did you kill those men?").

Wilson's guilt is never disputed. That he was fully capable of having committed the killings is demonstrated later in the film, when Wilson, in self-defense, displays his lethal skills by dispatching one gang member with his bare hands and expertly gunning down numerous others with a shotgun. However, in an exchange between Wilson and Leigh, Wilson reveals his personal code of ethics, and this subtly suggests that he may have had valid reasons for committing the original killings.

Wilson as anti-hero

Napoleon Wilson is a classic anti-hero, because he is described as an irredeemable, cold-blooded murderer at the beginning of the film, but he later performs heroic acts. Because no substantial details are ever revealed about his background or any other aspect of his life before the killings (there is only one brief reference to an incident from his childhood), he is, initially, defined solely by his violent crime. For this reason, the other characters either revile him or regard him with morbid curiosity.

Wilson is then placed in circumstances that allow him to demonstrate his unambiguously heroic qualities and to reveal his humanity, including admirable personal characteristics such as courage, compassion, humor, and loyalty. When these characteristics are revealed during the siege, mutual respect and emotional bonds form between Wilson and the film's other main characters. Wilson and Bishop forge a strong camaraderie, romantic feelings develop between Wilson and Leigh, and the mild animosity that had characterized Wilson's relationship with Wells since the beginning of the film begins to subside.

Wilson is also highly pragmatic and demonstrates unflagging resolve. For example, after an attempt to get help fails miserably (resulting in one character's death) and Bishop and Leigh are temporarily bogged down by despair, Wilson encourages them and offers an alternative plan that ultimately proves successful. Later, towards the end of the siege, Leigh tells Wilson that she has only two rounds of ammunition left and asks, "Do I save them for the two of us?" Wilson replies, "You save them for the first two assholes who come out of that vent."

Wilson's quirks

One of Wilson's quirky characteristics is his selective evasiveness. There are some questions that he never answers directly. When he is asked why he committed the killings, he evades the question by recounting how, when he was a young boy, a preacher told him that he would have something to do with death, thereby implying that the preacher's pronouncement turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy (this digression is also the only reference to Wilson's life before he became a killer).

When Wilson is asked how he got the name Napoleon, he refuses to give an answer right away. Instead, he either directly promises or strongly implies that he will tell his questioner later, at the moment of his (Wilson's) death.

Wilson is also characterized by his frequent (and usually unsuccessful) requests for a cigarette ("Got a smoke?"). Wilson makes these requests not just to obtain a cigarette, but also to assess the character of the person he is asking. When Wilson gets a polite refusal from Bishop (who is the first character in the film to treat Wilson with unqualified civility), for example, it indicates to Wilson that Bishop is a fair-minded person who behaves in a professional manner (in contrast to the sadistic warden he encountered in his previous jail). In other situations, Wilson uses the request to break the tension.

Wilson's fate

Wilson's fate is left open at the end of the film. Although he has behaved heroically, he may still be sent to Death Row, or, at the very least, imprisonment. In some ways, Wilson demonstrates characteristics of a modern tragic hero, because he is doomed from the start despite his courage, he proves himself (at least in certain circumstances) to be a noble and ethical person, and his story arouses sympathy. He also possesses self-awareness and acknowledges the possibility of his dire fate when he tells Leigh, "I was born out of time."

Interesting notes

John Carpenter said in a TV interview that characters such as Napoleon Wilson inspired him to create a similar character, "Snake" Plissken (Kurt Russell) for the film Escape from New York, which he wrote and directed years later in 1981.

External links

Wilson, Napoleon