The Warriors (1979)

In writer/director Walter Hill's urban fantasy cult movie (his third feature film) - the action-crime film was a modern retelling inspired by the Greek tale Anabasis by Xenophon. This controversial film told the story of a number of gangs (approximately 100) who were invited to attend a midnight truce meeting - unarmed ("unpacked") - with other gang members in Van Cortlandt Park in the West Bronx. Most of the filming was on-location, shot overnight from dusk to dawn, and the film shoot quickly went over-budget and over-schedule.

On a budget of about $4-7 million, the film successfully grossed $22.5 million. The film gained a cult following after its initial theatrical release when the cable TV and the VCR revolution occurred, and through midnight showings. It was a surprise hit, although it had a large cast of unknown actors from the New York theater area, and it presented a cartoonish-like, sylized display of violence (without blood) and an unrealistic view of NY street gangs. The film's original poster, which stated the film's tagline, outraged and scared many people:

• "These are the armies of the night"
• "They are 100,000 strong. They outnumber the cops five to one. They could run New York City"

Some of the film's early showings incited lethal violence (in Palm Springs and Oxnard, CA, and also in Boston) and caused gang outbreaks. Due to these reports of criminal violence in a few locations, the film was temporarily pulled out of circulation in over half a dozen theaters by its nervous Paramount Studios despite being a box office success. A number of theaters were forced to hire full time security until the end of the film's run. Paramount also attempted to modify the film's advertising campaign by pulling its print and TV advertising, but then was compelled to remove the film from release entirely.

• the Director's Cut opened with a voice-over:
  • "Over two millenniums ago, an army of Greek soldiers found themselves isolated in the middle of the Persian Empire. One thousand miles from safety. One thousand miles from the sea. One thousand miles with enemies on all sides. Theirs was a story of a desperate forced march. Theirs was a story of courage. This too is a story of courage."
• as the film opened under the title credits, representatives (nine unarmed members) of each gang in the area (composed of almost 1,000 individuals) converged on the West Bronx's Cortlandt Park; they were on their way (via the subway system) to attend a conclave (a midnight summit) held by Cyrus (Roger Hill), the head of the Gramercy Riffs, the largest and most powerful gang in New York City
• each gang group sported their flamboyant or similar uniforms or costumes, face paint, and/or distinctive weapons; the three main gang groups were The Gramercy Riffs, The Rogues, and The Warriors

Three Main Gang Groups
The Gramercy Riffs	The Rogues	The Warriors

• The Warriors (from Coney Island), recognized by maroon pleather vests with a skull with wings patch on the back, were led by African-American Cleon (Dorsey Wright)
• The Gramercy Riffs, martial-arts experts, were led by charismatic gangleader Cyrus (Roger Hill) known as "The One and Only" - composed mostly of African-Americans; the group members wore orange, blue, white, or black robes
• The Rogues, black vest-wearing outcasts and punks were located in Hell's Kitchen, led by anarchistic, bullying psychotic Luther (David Patrick Kelly), who packed a revolver from a murdered police officer

Gramercy Riffs Leader Cyrus (Roger Hill) Delivering a Speech to All the Gangs in Cortlandt Park

• during a powerful speech to the assembled gangs, Riffs' leader Cyrus (with the repeated phrase: "Can you dig it?") spoke about how the massive combined strength of the gangs, if they worked together, could overpower and outnumber the police and city authorities:
  • "Can you count, suckers? I say, the future is ours, if you can count! Now, look what we have here before us. We got the Saracens sitting next to the Jones Street Boys. We've got the Moonrunners right by the Van Cortlandt Rangers. Nobody is wasting nobody. That is a miracle. And miracles is the way things ought to be. You're standing right now with nine delegates from a hundred gangs. And there's over a hundred more. That's 20,000 hardcore members. Forty-thousand, counting affiliates, and twenty-thousand more, not organized, but ready to fight: 60,000 soldiers! Now, there ain't but 20,000 police in the whole town. Can you dig it? Can you dig it? Can you dig it? (cheers)
    
    Now, here's the sum total: One gang could run this city! One gang. Nothing would move without us allowing it to happen. We could tax the crime syndicates, the police, because WE got the streets, suckers! Can you dig it?
    
    The problem in the past has been the man turning us against one another. We have been unable to see the truth, because we've been fighting for ten square feet of ground - our turf, our little piece of turf. That's crap, brothers. The turf is ours by right because it's our turn. All we have to do is keep up the general truce. We take over one borough at a time. Secure our territory, secure our turf, because it's all our turf." (cheers)
• Cyrus extended his arms (in a crucifix pose) just as police cars pulled up on the perimeter, the Gramercy Riffs' leader was shot dead on stage by Luther (with a concealed weapon), a member of the Rogues (Note: It was theorized that Luther had received the go-ahead by an organized crime boss somehow tied to the police)
• Fox, a member of the Warriors, witnessed Luther as the trigger-man; during the chaos of the police raid on the summit, however, Luther pointed to and framed Warriors' leader Cleon for the death: ("There he is! That's him! That's the Warrior! He shot Cyrus!"); as a result, Cleon was assaulted and apparently beaten and killed by a mob of Riffs gang members

Warriors' Leader Cleon - Blamed For Cyrus' Death and Killed

Swan (Michael Beck) - Replacement Leader for the Warriors

• The Warriors quickly fled and replaced Cleon with their second-ranked, reluctant "War Chief" hero Swan (Michael Beck); the assailed gang had to return back to their home turf at Coney Island on the elevated subway (and other means of transport) without weapons (by criss-crossing through other gangs' territories), and with every rival gang in pursuit after them through the dark night of NYC
• the original nine members of the Warriors included:
  • Cleon - deceased African-American leader, wore a leopard-skin do-rag
  • Swan (Michael Beck), a main lieutenant with a wiry build, who became the newly appointed leader
  • Ajax (James Remar), stocky build, tough, always proving his manhood
  • Snow (Brian Tyler), quiet, tall, African-American, with an Afro
  • Cowboy (Tom McKitterick), with a Stetson hat, wore a brown T-shirt under vest
  • Vermin (Terry Michos), curly-haired, a great fighter
  • Cochise (David Harris), African-American, with braided hair and a turquoise necklace
  • Rembrandt (Marcelino Sánchez), Puerto-Rican/Hispanic, short-statured, with an Afro, a graffiti-artist with a spray-paint can
  • Fox (Thomas G. Waites)
• the word went out to all the gangs from melodic-voiced, omniscient radio DJ (voice of Lynne Thigpen), reporting that the Riffs had targeted the Warriors as responsible for the murder of Cyrus (they were dubbed: "the gang that broke the truce"), with the playing of "No Where to Run"

Radio DJ (Voice of Lynne Thigpen)

The Flight of the 8 Remaining Warriors Back to Coney

• the radio DJ communicated God-like through coded-message broadcasts, providing a running commentary about the progress of all the rival gangs and the movements and location of the Warriors - she was represented only by her full, sensual fire-red lipsticked lips; the various gangs regrouped and sought to locate the Warriors and punish them for the killing

Stranded in the West Bronx, the Warriors encountered one gang or group after another:

• The Turnbull ACs: a group of multi-racial skinheads who rode in old green schoolbuses on Gunhill Road in the Bronx, with chains and planks of wood for weapons; they were patrolling Broadway near the subway station and unsuccessfully attempted to run down the Warriors with their bus before they could board the subway train
• The Orphans: a small and weak group of low-class, low-status hoodlums with jeans, dirty green T-shirts and razor blades, who were led by Sully (Paul Greco); the Orphans confronted the Warriors in the Tremont district of the Bronx (where their subway train had been prematurely stopped by a fire); one of the Orphans members, tough-talking, foul-mouthed troublemaker Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh in her screen debut role), Swan's future girlfriend, caused hostilities to escalate, and the Warriors were forced into a brief switchblades stand-off and fiery Molotov-cocktail confrontation; afterwards, Mercy changed allegiances and decided to join the Warriors on the train, bound for Union Square (she explained: "I'm lookin' for some real action")
• The NYC Police - the authorities chased the Warriors through the 96th Street and Broadway subway station in Manhattan, where Fox was rolled onto the tracks and run over by a fast-approaching train; three of the Warriors (Vermin, Cochise, and Rembrandt) escaped on a train bound for Union Square, but the four others (Swan, Ajax, Snow, and Cowboy) left the station and went outside, while Mercy escaped on her own
• The Baseball Furies: an infamous gang represented by baseball bats as weapons and war-paint led by Thurman (Jerry Hewitt); the group of bat-wielding gang members were awaiting them and surrounded them; they attacked the foursome of Warriors on the street and chased them into Riverside Park in Manhattan, but were defeated
• after the fight against the Furies, Ajax was arrested by an undercover police officer named Chloe (Mercedes Ruehl) when he sexually assaulted her, and she handcuffed him to a park bench

Swan with Mercy After She Defected to the Warriors

Swan and Mercy - A Brief Romance

• Swan returned to the 96th Street Station and reunited with Mercy (where she had separated from the group earlier), where they were forced to flee down a train tunnel from a group of policemen, and briefly found time to reconcile and kiss each other, but Swan cut the romance short: "Let's just get to the next station, OK?...You're just part of everything happening tonight, and it's all bad... Just go back to wherever it was you came from"; Swan proceeded on his own to regroup with all of the other remaining Warriors at Union Square, with Mercy tailing after him
• The Lizzies: a seductive, all-female, mixed-race gang with tye-died T-shirts, who were led by Starr (Kate Klugman); they were headquartered in the Bowery and Union Square sections of Manhattan's East Village; after arriving at the Union Square station, the three Warriors (Vermin, Cochise, and Rembrandt) were invited back to the Lizzies' apartment for "a break in the action," to 'party' and smoke dope; the three Warriors gang members found themselves tricked, double-crossed and assaulted (with gunfire and switchblades), but escaped mostly unscathed
• The Punks: a group from the Bowery composed of roller-skating, dungaree-clad gang members wearing rugby shirts, who were led by Vance (Konrad Sheehan); in a major brawl, they fought the full contingent of six Warriors (and Mercy) in the men's room of the Union Square station, in one of the film's most masterfully-choreographed scenes; the Warriors turned the tables on the Punks - they ambushed them from the toilet stalls and decisively conquered them
  
  
• to recap: there were now only six surviving Warriors (plus Mercy); Cleon had been murdered, Ajax had been arrested in the park, and Fox had lost his life in a subway station; by dawn, the Warriors had arrived back in Coney Island on their home turf. Swan wondered to himself: "This is what we fought all night to get back to?"

Luther: "Waaaaarriors, come out to plaaaay"

Luther: Disabled by Swan's Switchblade

• The Rogues (led by Luther) were awaiting them driving a graffiti-decorated hearse; Luther memorably and repeatedly taunted them with three empty clinking beer bottles in his right hand, stuttering:
  • "Waaaaarriors, come out to plaaaay"
• on the sandy beach, after Luther non-chalantly admitted that he had killed Cyrus for no reason: ("No reason. I just like doing things like that!"), Swan and Luther engaged in a quick one-on-one gun/knife challenge on the open beach; Swan threw his switchblade into Luther's left arm-wrist and disabled him
• the entire Gramercy Riffs gang members (dozens of them, now in black) were watching from afar; they approached and their new leader Masai (Edward Sewer) finally acknowledged the Warriors' innocence and courage: ("You Warriors are good, real good"); Masai claimed he was there to eliminate The Rogues once and for all: ("The rest is ours"); The Riffs allowed The Warriors to leave before determining Luther's expected fate
• the DJ provided the film's final lines of dialogue - and the playing of the Warriors' theme song, Joe Walsh's "In the City":
  • "Good news, boppers. The big alert has been called off. It turns out that the early reports were wrong. All wrong. Now for that group out there that had such a hard time getting home, sorry about that. I guess the only thing we can do is play you a song"
• the six remaining Warriors walked down their hometown beach, as Swan looked expectantly at Mercy