The Warriors
The Warriors is perhaps the last movie in the late 70s gang-genre explosion, which is fitting since it’s indisputably the best gang movie ever made. Why this is so is a complex question, but can simply be answered: it’s fucking awesome!
A loose, loose allegory from Xenophon’s Ἀνάβασις (oh you knew I’d be pretentious), the Warriors follows its titular gang through the boroughs of New York as they flee every gang within the city. Some live, some don’t. Some get caught in a rape-trap. The plot is really simple and easy to follow, but more complex than a series of action set-pieces in which the Warriors face-off against this gang and then that.
The Warriors travel to a park to attend a massive gang meeting, which includes representatives from every gang in the city. The meeting is called by Cyrus – the fucking virus – who leads a powerful gang called the Gramercy Riffs. Cyrus has a grand and implausibly vision: if all the gangs can unite, they can rule the city by the simple fact that they outnumber the police. If Portland has taught us anything, it’s that the Cyrus types tend to forget that, underwhelmed the police may be, they are more heavily armed and armored, and have the national guard and ultimately the army, alongside other agencies to join the fight.
The gangs however are really pumped up over the notion. That is, until Luther – leader of the Rogues – caps Cyrus for no otherwise reason discernable than plot necessity. He uses the Warriors as a scapegoat, and a general malaise ensues, complete with karate.
The rest of the movie follows the Warriors as they rush back home, encountering gangs along the way. The multitude of gangs are part of the charm of this movie. They are as unintimidating and fabulous as the eventual prison gang Antifa will become once the fad wears off. There’s a roller-disco gang, a Mime gang – oh don’t you fuck with that mime gang, they got a whole lot of magic! – and so, so many others you could watch this movie a thousand times and not catch them all.
A universal favorite seems to be the Baseball Furies, who dress like the New York Yankees and paint their faces. The Baseball Furies are a little frightening, as they carry baseball bats instead of --- nothing – and can apparently teleport, since the only reason they would want to kill the Warriors would be revenge for Cyrus, which means they were at the meeting. Somehow they are able to ambush the Warriors, who have been hauling butt like mad.
There Warriors encounter a gang of women, who lure them with sex and then get violent. There’s also the Orphans, a lame-ass gang who lose their female companion to the Warriors. Don’t expect a heavy romance plot, since the Warriors is pretty saturated in toxic masculinity and macho nihilism, despite how colorful and disco-filled it is.
Which brings me to the soundtrack. It’s awesome. Lots of great 70s tunes that seem to fit perfectly with the aesthetic and tone of the movie, which you’ll forever remember in association –esp. “In the City”.
I don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it, but I highly recommend the Warriors even if you have. It’s a great movie, pure and simple. Efforts to explain why fumble the way efforts to explain style often do. It’s dated, for sure, and it has its awkward moments, but its charm hasn’t worn off after four decades – and that says a lot for a genre-movie from a genre that wasn’t too good to begin with.
It’s way, way better than the Outsiders.
I give it four and half stars.
The Warriors is perhaps the last movie in the late 70s gang-genre explosion, which is fitting since it’s indisputably the best gang movie ever made. Why this is so is a complex question, but can simply be answered: it’s fucking awesome!
A loose, loose allegory from Xenophon’s Ἀνάβασις (oh you knew I’d be pretentious), the Warriors follows its titular gang through the boroughs of New York as they flee every gang within the city. Some live, some don’t. Some get caught in a rape-trap. The plot is really simple and easy to follow, but more complex than a series of action set-pieces in which the Warriors face-off against this gang and then that.
The Warriors travel to a park to attend a massive gang meeting, which includes representatives from every gang in the city. The meeting is called by Cyrus – the fucking virus – who leads a powerful gang called the Gramercy Riffs. Cyrus has a grand and implausibly vision: if all the gangs can unite, they can rule the city by the simple fact that they outnumber the police. If Portland has taught us anything, it’s that the Cyrus types tend to forget that, underwhelmed the police may be, they are more heavily armed and armored, and have the national guard and ultimately the army, alongside other agencies to join the fight.
The gangs however are really pumped up over the notion. That is, until Luther – leader of the Rogues – caps Cyrus for no otherwise reason discernable than plot necessity. He uses the Warriors as a scapegoat, and a general malaise ensues, complete with karate.
The rest of the movie follows the Warriors as they rush back home, encountering gangs along the way. The multitude of gangs are part of the charm of this movie. They are as unintimidating and fabulous as the eventual prison gang Antifa will become once the fad wears off. There’s a roller-disco gang, a Mime gang – oh don’t you fuck with that mime gang, they got a whole lot of magic! – and so, so many others you could watch this movie a thousand times and not catch them all.
A universal favorite seems to be the Baseball Furies, who dress like the New York Yankees and paint their faces. The Baseball Furies are a little frightening, as they carry baseball bats instead of --- nothing – and can apparently teleport, since the only reason they would want to kill the Warriors would be revenge for Cyrus, which means they were at the meeting. Somehow they are able to ambush the Warriors, who have been hauling butt like mad.
There Warriors encounter a gang of women, who lure them with sex and then get violent. There’s also the Orphans, a lame-ass gang who lose their female companion to the Warriors. Don’t expect a heavy romance plot, since the Warriors is pretty saturated in toxic masculinity and macho nihilism, despite how colorful and disco-filled it is.
Which brings me to the soundtrack. It’s awesome. Lots of great 70s tunes that seem to fit perfectly with the aesthetic and tone of the movie, which you’ll forever remember in association –esp. “In the City”.
I don’t want to spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it, but I highly recommend the Warriors even if you have. It’s a great movie, pure and simple. Efforts to explain why fumble the way efforts to explain style often do. It’s dated, for sure, and it has its awkward moments, but its charm hasn’t worn off after four decades – and that says a lot for a genre-movie from a genre that wasn’t too good to begin with.
It’s way, way better than the Outsiders.
I give it four and half stars.