Warriors

The Warriors (1979)

The Warriors is a movie about a gang, called the Warriors (go figure), that gets framed for shooting the man that is trying to unite all the gangs in New York City. But they don’t initially know that. All they know is that they are far from home and it appears that the truce that was called is off. This means they need to try and get back to Coney Island while crossing several other gangs territories. What they don’t know is that the truce is still on and every gang in the city is looking for them. The rest of the movie is the continuous chasing of the gang across the city by not only the other gangs that are out for blood, but the police as well.

Okay first of al this movie isn’t a realistic portrayal of gang life in the 70s. In fact the movie is based on a book that itself borrows from a classical story from Greek history. Add in the decision of director Walter Hill to add what he calls a “comic book” sensibility to the movie and what you get is a very stylized and entertaining experience. The gangs all have unique looks from the all girl gang the Lizzies, to the Baseball Furies (that have been referenced so many times since this movie was made) with their uniforms and painted faces. This again works to create a very surreal environment for the story to unfold. The story is very tight and balances several different character arcs nicely enough. I can honestly say that there isn’t a single wasted scene or second of film that doesn’t do something to move the story along. I watch a ton of movies for the site and The Warriors is one of the few movies that held my attention from start to finish and is one of the best movies that I’ve watched in quite a while.

The performances are quite good from the entire cast. This is really amazing considering that director Hill decided to cast the movie with unknowns, that later went on to be familiar faces. Michael Beck is excellent as Swan and Deborah Van Valkenburgh does equally well as his love interest Mercy. As a side note here I thought that it was pretty awesome that the director and writer changed the script as they saw what was developing on screen. Initially the Mercy character was supposed to end up with someone else, but because of the chemistry between Beck and Van Valkenburgh they changed up the fates of the characters (and killed off who she was supposed to hook up with!). This had to help the performances of the young cast and is a brilliant bit of filmmaking on the part of the director, Walter Hill. Of course no discussion of the cast would be complete without discussing the great James Remar who plays my favorite Warrior, Ajax. He is great in the role and has a sudden, but memorable exit from the movie.

Considering that the movie was shot on location in New York City under less than ideal circumstances it turned out pretty well from a technical standpoint. In fact after watching the special features (more on those later) it seems like the difficulties shooting actually helped give the movie the visual look that it needed to go along with the story. There is a very surreal and vibrant look to the movie. From the scenes with the gangs in their colors, to the way the movie was light everything just seems a bit “off”. This goes hand in hand with the story to give The Warriors that unique feeling that makes it stand out. Also contributing to this are the transitions that are used between the scenes, some of which even use the tradition comic book like narration like “meanwhile…” which I really got a kick out of.

Before I finish up my review I did want to mention some of the special features that came on the special edition DVD that I watched. There are 4 short (15 to 20 minutes each) documentaries that cover different topics related to the filming of the movie. First up is The Warriors: The Beginning, which goes into how the movie happened. Funding and casting are covered here. The next up is The Warriors: Battleground, which is all about getting the locations and the challenges that those locations presented the cinematographer. Then we have The Warriors: The Way Home, which is my favorite of the documentaries. Here they discuss the origins of the Baseball furies, choreographing the fight sequences and also how the famous, “Warriors come out and play” line was created. Finally The Warriors: The Phenomenon, which goes into how the cut the movie together and the initial reaction that audiences had. Interestingly enough they also mention how the studio pulled it because of some violence in the theaters. Total these add up to around an hour and are worth checking out.

What can I say? The Warriors is a classic movie that I think everyone should check out. I highly recommend everyone go out and get themselves a copy of the special edition DVD. It can be had on the cheap.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer