of humor, Carpenter felt that his neighbor would make an interesting anti-hero. This was Joston's largest role, and it is considered to have been his best. Joston's singular performance not only conveys Wilson's stoic toughness, but also emphasizes his irreverent, ironic sense of humor and slowly reveals the character's unexpected capacities for loyalty and tenderness, thereby adding emotional depth and humanity to what otherwise could have been a stereotypical action-hero role. Moreover, Joston's performance has been repeatedly singled out as the film's best and is often cited as one of the primary reasons for Assault on Precinct 13s continued audience appeal. Eraserhead, The Fog, Gunmen's Blues During the five years following the release of Assault on Precinct 13, Joston appeared in three more independent films. He played Paul, the beleaguered pencil-factory clerk, in David Lynch's classic 1977 cult film, Eraserhead. According to Joston, Lynch wanted to cast him in the part after seeing one of his previous performances (though Joston did not know which one), and he contacted Joston about playing the role through a mutual friend. He worked with Carpenter again in the 1980 horror film, The Fog, playing the coroner, Dr. Phibes. Shortly afterward, Eric Red, then a young filmmaker and a fan of Joston's performance in Assault on Precinct 13, cast Joston in the lead role of the world-weary hitman in Red's 1981 short film, Gunmen's Blues. Joston also worked on the transportation crews of two 1978 movies, The Buddy Holly Story and Ruby and Oswald. Later career In the 1980s, Joston's acting career became more sporadic, and he made a gradual transition from acting to working full-time as a teamster on film and television transportation crews. He had begun working as a teamster when he was between acting jobs, which, according to Joston, was much of the time; eventually, he became so busy working on film crews that he rarely had time to look for roles. After 1986, he worked primarily in transportation until his retirement in 1994. In 1982, when Carpenter was scheduled to direct the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel Firestarter, Joston was considered for the role of John Rainbird, the Native-American assassin; but after Universal Pictures executives fired Carpenter from the project (following the commercial failure of The Thing) and replaced him with Mark L. Lester, the role of Rainbird was given to George C. Scott. Joston's last film role was in