The Warriors Review- By Michael Carlisle

Title: The Warriors
Year: 1979
Director: Walter Hill 
Country: US
Language: English

"Warriors! Come out to play-ay!" The Warriors is a late 70's flick which is known as a cult classic, but I'd consider it fairly mainstream. I mean, How many "cult" film have their own video game produced by Rockstar Games (the same company who produces the Grand Theft Auto series)? Very few if any. It is also constantly satirized in various television programs, most recently on Matt Groening's The Simpsons. Regardless of which category Warriors falls into, Director and writer Walter Hill has created a picture that has enticed generations.

The film begins with Cyrus (Roger Hill), the leader of the most powerful gang in New York City, the Gramercy Riffs, calling for a midnight summit for all the area gangs. He is murdered and a gang called The Warriors are blamed for killing Cyrus as he gives his charismatic speech. Everybody in the city is on the lookout for them, which is unfortunate because they now have to cross the territory of rivals in order to get to their own 'hood

"Can you dig it?" Most of The Warriors' popularity stems from the crucial first fifteen minutes, in which Cyrus speaks and is murdered. The character is written like a Greek God; his words are so powerful that he can contain hundreds of violent street gang members in the palm of his hands, motivating each and every one of them. Though it is often advertised as a "realistic" action picture about New York street gangs, Warriors feels more like a deranged fantasy gone array. What we see is far from realism and closer to Greek Fable mixed with science fiction.

Despite its absurdity, The Warriors was incredibly popular with gang members. Rival gangs would often accidently show up to the same theater and cause quite a ruckus. That being said, it's not exactly a very intelligent movie and seems more like it would be a good video game (it wasn't). Essentially our protagonists go through various stages of choreographed violence with different looking gang members who have different kinds of weapons. As a ballet of ritualized male violence for the sake of violence it does it's job decently despite being too long and a bit repetitive. However, we should expect more from film considering it is a legitimate art form.

In conclusion, The Warriors is a one-trick pony; it shows violence in a very entertaining way, but doesn't tell us much about it and its effects on society. We also don't have much connection with the protagonists, other than the fact that they're in big trouble if they get caught by the police. This is a flick you should see once because otherwise you may not understand the pop culture jokes about it, but I can't guarantee that it will be a film that will stick with you. 2.5/5