The Warriors [1979] [DVD]

What can I say? One of the most inspirational, atmospheric and amusing films I've ever seen. Once you've watched it, you'll find yourself slipping in those quotes. A great watch for some very well choreographed fight scenes, an excellent tale of a gang trying to get back to the big Coney Island and to survive against all odds. A must see.

"Now look what we have here before us ... We've got the Saracens - sitting next to the Jones Street Boys. We've got the Moonrunners - right by the Van Courtland Rangers. Nobody is wasting nobody ... Can you dig it?"

Walter Hill's seminal gang drama, based on Sol Yurick's novel (itself loosely based on Xenophon's 'Anabasis'), and often described as a "sick exploitation movie about urban violence." Could also be an 'urban Western,' as Hill was clearly influenced by Leone's millenial 'Dollar Trilogy' (hard stares, short on dialogue), and Sam Peckinpah's stylized and spectacular slow-motion action scenes. No doubt there were also a nod and a wink to West Side Story ... only without the nancy-boy prancing & dancing ...

Here's a message to all you boppers out there ...

Almost-respectable - certainly politically-correct, by their multi-racial membership - the Warriors (Cleon, Swan, Fox, Ajax, Snow, Cochise, Cowboy, Vermin and Rembrandt) are a Coney Island gang who, along with most other gangs in New York, travel to the Bronx, where Cyrus, leader of the Grammercy Riffs, has A Dream. And ... A Plan: instead of petty gangs pettily bickering over petty little pieces of turf, the combined force of 60,000 gang 'soldiers' outnumber the city's 20,000 cops ... if they get organized.

Who are the Warriors? ... I want all the Warriors ... Send the word ...

For no apparent reason, Luther (David Patrick Kelly) of the Rogues shoots Cyrus dead. The police break up the gathering. The Warriors are accused of the shooting and must leg-it back across the length of New York to Coney Island - without getting japped by all the other FM-tuned boppers out there. The Turnbull ACs, the Orphans, the Basebull Furies, the Lizzies, the Punks (in overalls), and the Rogues are out-run, out-bluffed, out-witted or out-bopped by the Warriors, until sunrise - and the elegiac Truth - dawns on the beach. Oh, and Swan (James Beck) wins The Girl, too.

The Baseball Furies dropped the ball, made an error. Our friends are on second base and trying to make it all the way home ...

New York City's authorities were not best pleased with this film. Both gangs and spray-can graffiti were already A Problem in many parts of the Big Apple, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles, and The Warriors quadrupled this social phenomenon almost overnight - the police had their hands more than full. The notion of these gangs forming a unified front - 'getting organized,' such as the well-drilled para-military discipline of the numerous and all-Black Grammercy Riffs, complete with war-chief and consiglieri - was as genuinely worrying then in 1979 as it is now. And yet the film's notion was pretty close to prophecy - a decade later the 'Grammercy Riffs' became the well-drilled para-military discipline of Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam ...

The most memorable scene is probably actually a sound: Luther's rattling bottles along with the whining and nasal taunt, ... "Warriors ... come out to play-ay ..."

THE WARRIORS was particularly successful in Europe. Displeased as many American municipal authorities were, a spate of similar 'exploitation' films followed: THE WANDERERS , THE BRONX WARRIORS and others that nowadays would be straight-to-video fayre. But thanks to Barry deVorzon, Genya Raven, Mandrill, Johnny Vastano, Arnold McCuller, Kenny Vance & Ismael Miranda, Desmond Child and Joe Walsh ... THE WARRIORS had the best soundtrack!

There is this image that preludes the title credits of 'The Warriors' of the ferris wheel all lit up on Coney Island. It some how just stays with you after the end credits roll up and it reminds you of what a great era the 1970's was for film making, the same era that saw such classics as The Deer Hunter and Alien to name but a few. The Warriors has certainly gone on to become a cult classic and when it was released it received a certain amount of notoriety due to riots that took place in a number of cinemas. The Warriors though i think has remained popular since it has some very snappy cinematograhy, some great set pieces and was stylishly directed by one of Hollywoods great action directors Walter Hill who made other classics such as 'Driver' and 'Southern Comfort'. In The Warriors he managed to take a story of a street gang battling to get home into a drama that doesnt feel dated, more than twenty years after it was released. Indeed the only thing that felt wrong about the film was the end credits song which took it up a shade of lightness from where it did not belong. The Warriors is a very dark film, but it is also a compelling watch and yes!! admittedly there are some very violent moments though which are not gracious in their set up and are merely extensions of unspoken dialogue. What also i think makes this film such great eye candy is the cast of actors that Hill has assembled, notably 'David Patrick Kelly' as a rival gang leader who would also pop up in two of Hill's other films, 48 HRS and Last Man Standing. Just a great film all around and a soundtrack that is also worth purchasing too. Enjoy!!