Posted on 04/21/2006 5:43:20 PM PDT by lowbridge
Stylish cult classic, June 20, 2004 Reviewer: Jeffrey Leach (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews
It is difficult to take Walter Hill's 1979 classic "The Warriors" seriously today. Ostensibly a picture about various street gangs in New York City, the movie paints a rather quaint, almost cartoonish portrait of crime in the Big Apple. I knew from the start the movie wasn't going to give us a gritty interpretation of the thug lifestyle. Why? A gang traveling to a big summit in the Bronx takes time out of their busy schedule to purchase and then feed subway tokens into the turnstile so all the members can board the train. How's that for a big, bad group of street goons? I imagine now that a gang doing this would be marked for extermination just on the principle of the thing. Still, that doesn't mean "The Warriors" isn't entertaining; it is, massively so. It's so entertaining, and made such a big splash at the time, that Italian filmmakers began ripping it off in their low budget films. "The Bronx Warriors," for example, contains several scenes obviously lifted from this movie. The only difference is that Hill's movie manages to work despite its flaws while the Italian effort looks unconvincingly cheesy. Whatever your take on this movie, we must admit it has been influential. The plot is simplicity itself. A gang from Coney Island called the Warriors gets an invite to attend a massive rally twenty-seven miles away. All the big gangs in the city will be there, including the Riffs, the most powerful band of street thugs in New York. The leader of the Riffs, Cyrus, plans to consolidate the various crews of street criminals under his benevolent rule. Through a mix of charisma and charged oratory-lots of "can you dig it" thrown around for the benefit of the goons-Cyrus brings the crowd to its feet. Unfortunately for him and for the Warriors, Luther (David Patrick Kelly), with his gang called the Rogues, assassinates Cyrus in the middle of his speech. In the resulting chaos the Warriors take the blame for the murder. Even worse, the leader of the Warriors, Cleon (Dorsey Wright) falls in the resulting melee. The rest of the Warriors make a run for it, now with Swan (Michael Beck) leading the gang. Every street thug in the city wants a piece of the Warriors, especially the Riffs. Swan and his crew must make it back to Coney Island before falling prey to the Turnbull AC's, the Lizzies, the Orphans, the Baseball Furies, the Boppers, the Rogues, and a hundred other gangs big and small. Too, the men in blue wish to ask the Warriors a few questions about Cyrus's sudden demise.
The rest of the film recounts the Warriors' journey home. Their efforts center on the subway, but everyone else knows this is the method the hunted crew will take. Every time the Warriors finally get on a train, some incident arises that stops them cold. A fire on the track forces the crew to make their way to the next train on foot, opening them up to the murderous retribution of the other gangs. In one neighborhood, our heroes run up against a "minor league" gang called the Orphans and a mouthy harridan named Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), and must battle their way free. An encounter with the cops at the subway forces the Warriors to split up. Eventually, a few of the members fall prey to other gangs, to the police, or narrowly escape doom at the hands of knife and gun wielding women. As if things couldn't get worse, a radio disc jockey (Lynne Thigpen) sends out artfully coded messages about the location of the Warriors, thereby urging other thugs to join in the free for all. Will the surviving members of the Warriors get home in the end? And will it really matter if they do?
Xenophon's "Anabasis," the tale of a band of Greeks caught behind Persian lines that had to battle their way back home, forms the basis of Hill's "The Warriors." Everything from naming the king of the gangs Cyrus to the final showdown on the beach comes right out of this ancient Greek text. Most viewers won't know this of course (I didn't at first; I read it somewhere), but would be content to merely sit back and watch the antics unfold. You've got gang members dressed like baseball players with painted faces swinging bats in a park, the leader of the Orphans looks like Eric Bogosian with a hangover, and plot holes run through this movie like subway tunnels. The flaws in "The Warriors" are epic in scope. Why, for instance, doesn't the gang simply take a cab or steal a car and get home in a hurry? Are we to assume that a street gang has no money to hire a driver or the ability to hotwire an automobile? Some hoods these guys are! Too, I always thought New York City is the town that never sleeps. Well, the denizens of the Big Apple snoozed the night away when this film was made. No one appears on the streets, no cars drive by, and no one comes out of their apartment buildings to see what's going on. And if the police are so interested in stopping the Warriors, why not just stop the trains from running? It's to the film's credit that despite myriad plot problems, "The Warriors" still works.
The DVD's picture transfer looks great. Unfortunately, it is a Paramount release with only a trailer as an extra. That's right; no commentary, interviews, behind the scenes fun, or anything else diehard fans would like to see. While I can't say this is my favorite movie, many people swear by it. It's another example of the larger problem with Paramount's DVD department. "The Warriors," despite Paramount's lack of attention, is a must have for fans of cult classics.
Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)
67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
Who are the Warriors ? I want all the Warriors !!, October 17, 2000 Reviewer: P. Ferrigno "firehouse444" (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
Walter Hill ( "48 Hrs", "Hard Times", "Extreme Prejudice" ) shows his directing flair for action, drama and style in this crackling 1979 movie about a Coney Island gang falsely accused of murder and fleeing from their accusers....including the other NYC gangs and the New York City Police Department.
Hill successfully adapted the moderately popular novel by author Sol Yurick who worked with the NYC Dept of Welfare in the 1950's. Yurick used the basis of ancient Greek history and the torturous trek home by Greek soldiers after their leader , Cyrus the Younger, was killed in the Persian Wars...and simply updated the setting to modern day NY and it's raging gang warfare embracing the five boroughs !
Set amongst a hostile, nocturnal world of neon lit train stations, baseball bat wielding gang members and lethal, gun toting women "The Warriors" moves along at a frenetic pace with a fine selection of young actors taking the lead. Michael Beck plays the cool headed, "war chief" Swan, seeking to get the other members back home to Coney Island alive and in one piece. James Remar is unforgettable as the woman chasing, hot headed Ajax...always out to prove his manhood with his fists. And David Patrick Kelly is perfect as the murderous, but ultimately cowardly leader of the Rogues.
Attending a combined gangs meeting deep in the South Bronx to hear the Gramercy Riffs plans to control the streets of New York, the Warriors are wrongly accused of the shooting death of their charismatic leader, Cyrus. The finger of blame pointed their way, they flee via any means they can and upon their way back to home base encounter violent opposition from the low life Orphans, the shaven headed Turnbull AC's, the face painted Baseball Furies, the seductive all female gang, the Lizzies and even rifts within their own ranks lead to trouble.
The film was roundly savaged by several sections of the community (mainly law enforcement & welfare groups) upon it's release for apparently inciting gang violence and it's poor depiction of inner city street kids, and yes, there were several nasty incidents at theatre's upon the film's release, but these have been blown well out of all proportion. Although, I must say when the film was released in my country (Australia) it was already riding a wave of notoriety, and attracted "bad boys" in their droves to watch this "infamous" gang flick. When viewed in the cold light of day, the film is actually fairly cartoon like in it's depiction of urban violence and most anyone who cop's a beating seems to be left just rubbing his head and moaning ( think Sylvester the Cat ) in discomfort !
Actor Thomas G. Waites who played the gang member "Fox", disagreed with the script and effectively walked out in mid-production, so a grip doubled for Waites in several scenes and Waites' name was removed from the final credits. Additionally, the "Fox" character's fate was re-written to have him die in the film after being hurled in front of a subway train.
Interestingly, out of a on screen line up of promising young talent, very few of the cast went on to any sort of fame & fortune in Hollywood. Lead actor Michael Beck (Swan) then made "Xanadu" with Olivia Newton-John, and by his own admission, it was not a great career move and his film career never really flourished. James Remar (Ajax) has had the most success (with about 70 feature film's under his belt ) and he has continued his motif of tough, aggressive leads in films like "48 Hrs", and plenty of "straight to video" action fare...plus Remar even crops up regularly on "Sex and the City" & "Third Watch" re-runs ! It's good to see that hard hitting Ajax never left New York. Young actor Marcellino Sanchez who played graffiti artist "Rembrandt" died from cancer only a few years after the films release, and David Patrick Kelly has continued in roles as evil, criminal types...see him in "Commando", "The Crow" & "Wild at Heart" !
The recently released "Ultimate Directors Cut" of this cult classic has several superb extras. Apart from an introduction from director Walter Hill, and some interconnecting comic panel art between sequences in the feature, the DVD has four mini featurettes chock full of interviews with key cast members and production staff discussing key sequences in the film, plus the phenomenal cult following that has developed for "The Warriors".
A colorful, exciting and fast paced film...albeit corny in places with that silly love story sub plot with bee stung lipped, Deborah Van Valkenbergh..."The Warriors" is one of the better made and well remembered teen gang movies !
it seemed extremely cheesy when I saw it on cable.
"Warriors...come out to play-yay!"
Can you dig it?
ONE HELL OF A MOVIE..CHEESY BUT DAMN GOOD
David Patrick Kelly has continued in roles as evil, criminal types...see him in "Commando",
You're a funny man ,Sully,thats why im going to kill you last
Sully,remember when i promised to kill you last? I LIED!!
Ah, yes. Luther, leader of the Rogues.
And in the movie 48 Hours he plays a bad guy named...Luther. :-) Of course, Walter Hill directed both 48 Hours and The Warriors.
"I'm tired of runnin' from these wimps."
Admit it....at least once in your life you put empty beer bottles on your fingers and did the "clinkety-clinkety-clinkety" thing.....:)
I remember the woman who played the undercover cop that busted Ajax, and how hot I thought she was.
Turns out that was a young Mercedes Ruehl.
Close. Very close. :-) I actually tried to do that (not long after I saw the movie for the first time well over 20 years ago), but couldnt get the beer bottles to fit on my fingers. I didn't force my fingers into the bottles because I was afraid of them getting stuck.
I have skinny fingers and Rolling Rock ponies work wonderfully well and possess a remarkably clear but exceedingly obnoxious tone.
[and yes, I annoyed my drinking pals no end]
Argh.
I miss my misspent youth......:)
Think I'm gonna pop The Warriors DVD in as soon as King of the Hill is over.....LOL!
The thing about that scene that amazed me was when Ajax, after being handcuffed to the park bench, tries to free himself and in the process actually MOVED the bench. Now, some people might think: "What's so amazing about moving a park bench?". The thing is that park benches in the parks of New York City, they're made out of cement and hard wood...a VERY heavy bench. PLUS they're all bolted and cemented to the ground!
By the way, when I saw the movie (1979, in a movie theater in Brooklyn, NY), the audience laughed at the sight of Ajax actually moving that bench!
( Cue the voices of my teenage nieces...
"Gee, Uncle John, did they have telephones back then?"
"Yep, you stuck yer finger in a hole and dialed the number..." )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.