I might call this the first, true 80s movie despite the niggling little fact that it was released in 1979. It has the bright colors, loose plot, absurdly fast pace, and cartoonish feel to it that most people associate with movies like Commando, The Goonies, Indiana Jones, and the like. Indeed, the positioning of this movie's release and the appearance of a few names like Frank Marshall in the credits indicate that The Warriors probably was the jumping-off point for that kind of movie. However, The Warriors still has enough of that 70s harshness in it to keep it from being just a mindless romp.
The plot is paper-thin so this won't take much time. The Warriors of the title are a small but extremely tough New York gang operating out of Coney Island. They, and representatives of a few hundred other gangs, have been invited to the Bronx by Cyrus, leader of the most powerful gang in New York, the Riffs. Cyrus wants all gangs to unite under his leadership and outright rule the entire city by force. He seems to be swaying the crowd to his way of thinking when he is gunned down from behind by a weasely little twerp named Luther, leader of the Rogues. One of the Warriors is the only witness to the shooting and Luther, stupid but cunning little bastard he is, is quick to lay the blame on the Warriors. The Warriors' leader, Cleon, is quickly caught but the rest escape. From then on, the movie is nothing but a series of chase and fight scenes as the Warriors try to get back to Coney Island, fighting their way through the cops and every other gang in the city.
This movie features a few familiar faces. A startlingly young James Remar appears as Ajax, the Warriors' best fighter. Unfortunately, he's not got the brains to match his brawn. Mercedes Ruehl makes a cameo appearance. David Patrick Kelly, who has been in a lot of movies but will forever be known as Sully from Commando, plays Luther. And, of course, The Warriors was a star-making turn for Michael Beck. Watching the movie, you can understand why. You can also understand how his star sank just as fast as it rose. All he really does here is stand around and look cool but, oh my, he does it so very well. There are also plenty of other "Hey, it's that guy!" faces in the crowd.
By all accounts, The Warriors is an extremely satisfying watch. Aside from some top-notch brawls, it has to its credit a few moments of true power. Witness the scene in which the Warriors stand proud against the judgmental gaze of a quartet of preppy kids. Given what they've been through on their way home, no one has the right to judge them. If you haven't seen this one, give it a chance. It has enough grit to please fans of 70s action and is goofy enough for fans of 80s cheese.
The directors cut is pretty annoying with the comic book scenes added, but I love this movie to death. The soundtrack is especially fun, with a DJ giving people advice on where the Warriors are/what the score is and playing music to suit.
Rockstar made a PS2 game based on this movie which is actually a ton of fun, and delves into the different gangs alot more which was quite refreshing and one of the better video games based on a movies that I've played.
Loved the movie. I'm surprised it hasn't been remade.
I remember seeing it first at the drive-in on a double feature with UP IN SMOKE, and then a few months later at an indoor theater on the same double feature! It got a lot of publicity as being a very violent movie, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw how tame it was. Despite the often crappy acting and the cartoonish gangs (most of which don't seem to be very tough), I still enjoy it and own the DVD.
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 03, 2013, 08:36:12 PM
I remember seeing it first at the drive-in on a double feature with UP IN SMOKE, and then a few months later at an indoor theater on the same double feature! It got a lot of publicity as being a very violent movie, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw how tame it was. Despite the often crappy acting and the cartoonish gangs (most of which don't seem to be very tough), I still enjoy it and own the DVD.
it was the 70s, before steriods and gyms everywhere. There wasn't 200 pound people, let alone that being the norm. Toughness in that area was totally measured by how much someone could take as opposed to now where it all comes down to size.
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 03, 2013, 08:36:12 PM
I remember seeing it first at the drive-in on a double feature with UP IN SMOKE, and then a few months later at an indoor theater on the same double feature! It got a lot of publicity as being a very violent movie, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw how tame it was. Despite the often crappy acting and the cartoonish gangs (most of which don't seem to be very tough), I still enjoy it and own the DVD.
My dad took me to see it sometime when it first came out around 1979. It was the old Washington Theatre in Washington, NJ. It was late spring heading towards summer, I was around 15, and it was really hot that year...even hotter were the reports that there had been some gang violence as a result of the multiple gangs seeing the move in the same theatre, and some attacks and a few deaths had been reported. Aside from that, it was a very good movie and a fun look back at a time when things were really good overall, and with the 80's on the verge of arrival, the fun was only just beginning :cheers:
The Italian knock off is awesome too.
This one sounds fun, and I love watching older fare like this with familiar faces early in their careers.
Off to the queue....
Quote from: rebel_1812 on February 02, 2013, 01:14:05 AM
Loved the movie. I'm surprised it hasn't been remade.
I agree but don't encourage someone in Hollywood to remake a classic! :buggedout:
I think Tony Scott was looking into a remake for a while [I heard this around the time Domino got a release]. For obvious reasons I think its not going ahead any more but may come to life again later.
Quote from: Trevor on February 07, 2013, 01:23:16 AM
Quote from: rebel_1812 on February 02, 2013, 01:14:05 AM
Loved the movie. I'm surprised it hasn't been remade.
I agree but don't encourage someone in Hollywood to remake a classic! :buggedout:
Thats just it. They remake everything why should we expect a good movie to not be remake. There was no reason to remake total recall and yet they did.
Quote from: ulthar on February 07, 2013, 12:26:01 AM
This one sounds fun, and I love watching older fare like this with familiar faces early in their careers.
Off to the queue....
You've never seen
THE WARRIORS?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4cgs-bPic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kqn9qQZdOs
The fight with the Baseball Furies was fun. I like when Ajax (James Remar) tells his buddy that he's "tired of running from these fu**in' wimps" and turns around and basically lives up to his name as he cleans like a white tornado. That guy was a real badass. He go his later on though when he was caught.
Quote from: Umaril Has Returned on February 11, 2013, 11:16:30 AM
The fight with the Baseball Furies was fun. I like when Ajax (James Remar) tells his buddy that he's "tired of running from these fu**in' wimps" and turns around and basically lives up to his name as he cleans like a white tornado. That guy was a real badass. He go his later on though when he was caught.
I think that is my favorite part of this movie!
"I'll shove that bat up your @ss and turn you into a popsicle!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL0ipXUD-uU
It may be a bit cartoonish in some ways but it's an awesome film, one I find very re-watchable.
Quote from: Allhallowsday on February 08, 2013, 08:57:58 PM
You've never seen THE WARRIORS?
Ashamedly speaking, I don't think so. Though there is a possibility that I will sit down to watch it and say, "HEY! I recognize this."
It's happened before. :lookingup:
Quote from: ulthar on February 11, 2013, 06:32:19 PM
Quote from: Allhallowsday on February 08, 2013, 08:57:58 PM
You've never seen THE WARRIORS?
Ashamedly speaking, I don't think so. Though there is a possibility that I will sit down to watch it and say, "HEY! I recognize this."
It's happened before. :lookingup:
You've never seen The Warriors? Shame shame.. What do you say, guys? Shall we revoke his license to watch Good Movies? :bouncegiggle:
Quote from: rebel_1812 on February 04, 2013, 02:18:20 AM
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 03, 2013, 08:36:12 PM
I remember seeing it first at the drive-in on a double feature with UP IN SMOKE, and then a few months later at an indoor theater on the same double feature! It got a lot of publicity as being a very violent movie, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw how tame it was. Despite the often crappy acting and the cartoonish gangs (most of which don't seem to be very tough), I still enjoy it and own the DVD.
it was the 70s, before steriods and gyms everywhere. There wasn't 200 pound people, let alone that being the norm. Toughness in that area was totally measured by how much someone could take as opposed to now where it all comes down to size.
It has nothing to do with size. Most of them just don't talk or act tough. I was more intimidated by the Lizzies than any of the male gangs in the movie. They all seemed like a bunch of frat guys dressed up to go to Halloween parties or something.
"Warriors...come out and play...!" tinktinktink
Classic exploitation. My favorite part was the fight in the subay s**tter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kqn9qQZdOs
Some movies are just cartoons-(though during its initial showing in NYC fights broke out in the theater! Wow.),and aint supposed to be realistic. I'll bet WyreWizrd would have a field day with this one. This is an excellent comic book movie without the comic. Garish colors,insane action,unrealistic plot and premise...I love it! I own it on an old big box video! This is why I watch Bad Movies-I aint lookin for realism-Im looking for FUN!
The Italian one has all these different weird gangs. My computer is acting up or I'd do more
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 13, 2013, 11:46:48 AM
Quote from: rebel_1812 on February 04, 2013, 02:18:20 AM
Quote from: The Burgomaster on February 03, 2013, 08:36:12 PM
I remember seeing it first at the drive-in on a double feature with UP IN SMOKE, and then a few months later at an indoor theater on the same double feature! It got a lot of publicity as being a very violent movie, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw how tame it was. Despite the often crappy acting and the cartoonish gangs (most of which don't seem to be very tough), I still enjoy it and own the DVD.
it was the 70s, before steriods and gyms everywhere. There wasn't 200 pound people, let alone that being the norm. Toughness in that area was totally measured by how much someone could take as opposed to now where it all comes down to size.
It has nothing to do with size. Most of them just don't talk or act tough. I was more intimidated by the Lizzies than any of the male gangs in the movie. They all seemed like a bunch of frat guys dressed up to go to Halloween parties or something.
So if you came across a guy from the movie in the wrong part of town; you would just start singing "Louie, Louie".
That baseball fight scene was amazing! I had no idea they did fight scenes like that in the 70's!
I must be thinking of a totally different gang movie. The only gang movie I can think of is one where three guys get together because they want to form their own gang. One of them is a massively built guy who later gets his arm broken with a baseball bat. Another gang was called 'the Wongs', an Asian gang who supposedly all had the surname of Wong, and all knew kung fu. Or something like that. Is this the same movie???
Okay, I've just looked it up on Google. I'm thinking of The Wanderers. Now I must find The Warriors and watch this amazing movie!
Quote from: dean on February 07, 2013, 02:00:02 AM
I think Tony Scott was looking into a remake for a while [I heard this around the time Domino got a release]. For obvious reasons I think its not going ahead any more but may come to life again later.
If someone were going to remake it, which seems to be the inevitable outcome nowadays, it would be cool if they went in
The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) or
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) route and inserted the retro version of
The Warriors (1979) into a modern setting, pitting the retro Warriors gang up against modern day gangs like the Chi-Town Crips or the Rolling 20s. Yeah, the Warriors wouldn't stand a chance in a fight; baseball bats and knives against Mac-10s or whatever real gangs are using as weapons nowadays; but it would be fun to watch them deal with the consequences. I think it would be hilarious, actually! :bouncegiggle:
The faggiest gang movie ever made.