The Warriors

The Warriors (1979)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: Michael Beck, James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, Lynne Thigpen

From: Paramount

I’ll be honest here; I don’t feel 100% right now and I’ve felt that way since about when I woke up on Tuesday. I’ve just about kicked a cold but it’s not completely gone yet. Still, I’ve been chillin’ today so right now I’m posting a review of something I’ve seen several times before and remember very well, then in like 7 hours or so I’ll post my review of The Expendables, as I’ll still be seeing it at midnight despite me being less than 100%. Then, sometime Saturday I’ll post a review of something I’ll watch later tonight before I go and see the movie. Got that?

This is a movie that I first saw only back in college when I got it from a videostore, but once I saw it, I dug the film and I understand why it has such a cult following. Now, I’ll briefly explain what the plot is about, as I just can’t assume this is a film that all you readers will know about. After all, I remember back in 2005 when the videogame came out (it’s pretty fantastic, by the way. One of my all-time favorites. It greatly expands on the colorful universe you see in the movie) and some people I knew on a local messageboard (at least knew at the time; I don’t really know them currently) stated that they had never heard of the motion picture until they saw ads for the game. No kidding. So…

This is about a gang in New York City that travels out of their area of rule in order to go to The Bronx and participate in a truce amongst all the gangs in the city; it’s led by the charismatic Cyrus. A troublemaker in another gang, Luther (Kelly) guns down Cyrus, and in the chaos, Luther blames The Warriors. They run away and they have to try and escape back to their home on Coney Island while all the other gangs in the city are looking to take them out, with the caveat that just about all of the gangs (including The Warriors) have no guns on them, as remember now, you can’t have guns around in a giant truce meeting when there’s thousands of gang members around… the rest of the movie is seeing if they can get back, mainly using the subway system, while dealing with arguing amongst each other and dealing with gang members having weapons like baseball bats. This is all done to a groovy soundtrack filled with good songs and catchy synthesizers.

On face value, the movie may seem rather ridiculous. I mean, it’s based off of a novel, and both the book and movie use elements of the Greek tale Anabasis, by Xenophon, which is also about a group of people travelling home and the adventures they experience along the way. Plus, all of the gangs are rather colorful and do not in any way represent any sort of actual gangs, even back in the day. From guys dressed up in baseball uniforms and facepaint (The Furies) to The Lizzies (a gang of lesbians!) to the rollerskate-riding The Punks and the striped-top wearing Jones Street Boys, it is rather preposterous… yet the movie is great as it’s awesome in the terms of simple storytelling and rewatchability. It moves along at a fast pace and it’s incredibly tough, with some great action/fight scenes. There are other quotable/memorable moments that have become famous in some segments of pop culture; thus, I recommend that you track this down, although there is one unfortunate thing to note.

The original DVD of the movie, which of course has the original cut, has been long out of print and now you can only find the Director’s Cut. That’s bad as the DC is little changed except for a pompous opening which says without actually spelling it out its Greek origins and adds some comic book panel switching between certain scenes. It’s what they originally wanted to do but had to forget about at the time due to production woes, but it’s just not needed; like I said it’s pompous and plus, due to that the great entrance of The Furies when they battle The Warriors is completely ruined, and it’s a Director’s Cut that is not as good as the original, yet of course the original cut isn’t included on the new DVD that has the Director’s Cut on it… or even the Blu-Ray of the movie; that’s right, a Blu-Ray had more than enough room to have both versions of the film on it, yet they didn’t; sigh… still, even if you can only see the DC, you should still check it out if it sounds appealing to you.

I do have to bring up one more thing… it sounds odd that I would approve of this film when other films that are based on comic books or videogames or have that sort of styling are ones that I don’t always care for. For example, my takes on the likes of Kick-Ass or Iron Man 2. It’s not that I’m necessarily against all of those types of movies. It just depends on how it’s stylized and if the story is any good and not totally ridiculous for what kind of movie it’s supposed to be.

I know that some people I’m pals with will get offended by this sort of statement, but Scott Pilgrim vs. The World looks downright awful to me! Sorry, but it looks dogshit terrible to me. The very style of how it’s filmed-not to mention what the story is about-just totally turns me off. It’s total nerd pompous wankery to me! It’s totally off-putting and I have no interest in ever watching it; reading reviews where stuck-up Internet reviewer types are gushing all over this, calling it “a game-changer” due to how ridiculous it is and how it’s ADD edited and “how it speaks to our generation” and all sorts of nonsense… I shake my head and wonder why I don’t “get it”. Oh well, the movie probably won’t do well at the box office anyhow.

Then again, I’m an oddball and who knows if I’ll ever see Inception. I know, sacrilege. The story just looks like crap to me, so even know everyone’s praising it to high heaven, I don’t plan on seeing it on the big screen. It’s not that I’m against “movies that make you think” or anything of that nature; it just doesn’t look like something I’d enjoy.

Anyway, I'll be back in a matter of hours.