THE WARRIORS . . . bad street gang movie

[The Burgomaster]

I saw THE WARRIORS for the first time during its original theatrical release.  I actually saw it at a drive-in on a double bill with Cheech and Chong's UP IN SMOKE.  I later saw it at an indoor theater, then I owned it on VHS.  Now I have the DVD.

This is truly a bad movie, but it is one of my guilty pleasures.  I estimate that I've seen it about 10 times.  It may be ridiculous, but it's fast paced and fun to watch.

What makes it bad?  Well, this movie is DRENCHED in badness.  But here are a few specific examples:

* The gang members all speak as if they just graduated from acting school.  Nearly perfect pronunciation.  They all have pretty decent vocabularies too.

* The gangs wear colorful uniforms that look like they were designed by top Hollywood costume designers.

* The main gang, "The Warriors," has members called "Swan," "Rembrandt," and "Ajax."  Sorry, but I cannot be intimidated by a fowl, an artist, and a bathroom cleanser.

* "Swan," the gang leader, is played by trash actor Michael Beck.  He was a lot tougher in XANADU.

* "Ajax" is played by James Remar, who seems to play a lot of tough guy roles, even though he would probably run home crying if you slapped him in real life.

* One of the Warriors tells another, "We should get to Union Square.  They'll be worried about us."  Tough New York City gang members . . . WORRIED about each other?  WORRIED?  I don't think so.

* Other bad dialogue includes, "What the s**t is that?  Aw, this sucks."

* The movie makes futile attempts to enlighten the audience with "meaningful" socio-economic commentary.

* In one scene, a rival gang called "The Rogues" try to prove how tough they are by stealing candy from a convenience store.

What makes this movie good for repeat viewings?  Here are a few of my thoughts:

* It is full of comic book style fight scenes

* The soundtrack is awesome

* The synthesizer score is awesome

* David Patrick Kelly is very good as a psychotic gang member ("Warriors, come out to play-ay!!!!")

* Character actor Paul Greco is in it

* Some of the cinematography is pretty good

* The tag line "These are the armies of the night" is pretty good (although, "These are the armpits of the night" would be more accurate)

* This is one of those legendary movies that was banned in certain places because violence erupted in some of the theaters that showed it.

Any thoughts from the rest of you?

[Johnny Z]

With those names, sounds like an alternative lifestyle gang. LOL

[Neon Noodle]

Burgo - can't believe you didn't mention the opening scene!!!!! That was the best!


CAN YOU DIG IT?
CAN.....YOU.....DIGGIT???????

I also liked the guy near the end who had the bottles on his fingers:

WARRIORS!!!!! Come out and PLAYYYYAYYY!!!!!

And what about the gang names - The Boppers? The High Hats? The Riffs? The Turnbull A.C.'s and the Baseball Furies? I can't even describe how campy and fun this movie is.

Glad I can buy it for $9 now and not the ridiculous $40 when it came out on DVD 2 years ago!

[Bgrade]

This is one of the classics I can't help but watch when it is on TV.

Definately a film that is better than it's parts.
What makes it is cool to watch and why it doesn't fall completely apart is a one of the wonders of the universe.

I think The Warriors followed by Logan's Run was one of my most out off body movie nights ever.  It felt like a dream because nothing that "off" could have been real

[StatCat]

It's brillant, I've seen it many times.  David Patrick Kelly rules in this movie- he's so damn funny.  It's like a short ugly dude in control of an evil gang of dudes with leather hats.  The Rogues are hard edged candy thieves that ride in one car and have one gun I believe.  I also found it sort of strange that in the gangs there are both black and white dudes- would that happen in real life?  I kind of doubt it.

I'd like to see the tv version with the extra footage at the beginning.  I read about at imdb once and was always curious.  I've seen it on tv lately but that opening is not in there.

[Ellie]

This movie is one of my favorites. The soundtrack is great. I liked the "Furies" the baseball gang that chased them through the park. I have always liked Michael Beck who played "Swan". Also Deborah Van valkenburgh who played "Mercy".

[Eirik]

Interestingly, James Remar and David Kelly would team up again in the movie 48 HOURS - I wonder if the director of that was a WARRIORS fan.

This is a classic Bad Movie that may get overlooked by a lot of Bad Movie fans because it is the rare non-SciFi/Horror/Fantasy film that has all the elements of a great Bad Movie.  I think the movie played up alot of the paranoia society had in the 1970s about degenerating social structures and gangs of wayward youths.  The scene at the beginning where Cyrus was trying to unite the gangs against the NYPD ("Can you suckas count?!") was probably meant to really frighten people, when today people just laugh - especially in NYC where the whole gang thing never really materialized the way it did in LA.

If the movie was better known and more universally seen, SNL could do a pretty good skit where the Baseball Furies (for those who haven't seen the movie, picture Kiss meets the NY Yankees) confront a group of Crips or Bloods (real life gangs).

For an equally hilarious Bad Movie experience, check out THE WANDERERS, which came out the same year as WARRIORS but is set in the early 1960s.  It's a very bizarre NY gang movie that focuses more on racial tensions and then goes off on some wild tangent where the black and white gangs unite against this strange gang of weirdos who never talk and seem to have some sort of psychopathic zombie edge to them (in one scene, one of them just whips out a knife and stabs a character in the neck for no reason at all).  Bizarre.  Karen Allen is also in it and in one completely out of place scene she goes to a coffee house and listens to Bob Dylan play live.  Again, no reason at all for the scene.  It's weird.  Check it out.

[Brother Ragnarok]

This one was a fun one to see on Monstervision.  Joe Bob Briggs had a New York subway map and charted the gang's progress, even making excuses and guessing alternate routes for the massive gaps in continuity and logic when the gang seemed to magically teleport through parts of the city that would be impossible to traverse.
Warriors, come out and plaaaaayyyyayyyy!

Brother R

[Velvet Brotha]

Burger Master, are you f**king crazy?! I love The Warriors. That movie rocks because of it's cheesiness... "Warriors... come out and play-ay-ya!"

Sorry man, but I'm totally eighties. "Can-yoooouuu-dig-iiiiiit?" ; )

[The Burgomaster]

Eirik:

Both THE WARRIORS and 48 HOURS were directed by the same guy:  Walter Hill!

[The Burgomaster]

Eirik:

(SPOILERS)  I think you missed the point of the Bob Dylan scene in THE WANDERERS.  If you notice, he is singing "the times, they are a-changing . . . "  This has a few meanings, one being that the "innocence" of the late 1950s and early 1960s is coming to an end as the country heads off to Vietnam.  It also signifies the end of Ken Wahl's relationship with Karen Allen, and the impending break-up of the Wanderers (caused by Wahl's marriage, Joey and Perry's move out of the city, andTurkey's demise at the hands of the Ducky Boys) .

If you watch this movie closely, there is a lot more to it than just another teen movie.  It deals with everything from racism to alcoholism.  I don't really consider this to be a bad movie.  It certainly isn't a classic by any means, but it's fun to watch and it's more complicated than you might think.

[The Burgomaster]

VelvetBrotha:

I agree.  THE WARRIORS rocks!  (As you can see by my post, I have purchased it on both VHS and DVD and I have seen it at least 10 times!)  My point is that it is a bad movie . . . but it is tremendously entertaining!

(I find it hard to convince myself that ANY movie starring Michael Beck could possibly be a good movie).

[Max Gardner]

It's a b-movie for sure, but retelling Persian history by way of urban street gangs is pretty ambitious no matter how you look at it.  The Baseball Furies made me laugh.

[Velvet Brotha]

> The Baseball Furies made me laugh.

Wasn't there some kind of sequel or other gang film spawned from The Baseball Furies?

[Deej]

THE WARRIORS!!!! Hell Yes! I grew up in Oklahoma, we didn't have real gangs until the mid 90's(and about damn time). This was realistic hard edge s**t to me!! But, even then I knew that the baseball guys were pretty damn goofy. I LOVE this flick.

The Warriors, The Wanderers, Lords Of Flatbush....I love all those bad teen gang movies. I love them now for the same reason I like the old Peter Fonda biker flicks....you know...these are the only gangsters and bikers you just know you could kick the s**t out of!