Warriors
Sometimes you get a filmmaker who pulls off a real miracle by coming up with a movie where it turns out that neither the story, script, performances, or any one actor are particularly significant, but somehow through the use of style, pacing, cinematography, and other miscellaneous factors, manages to pull off a masterpiece with the use of pure, simple kinetic energy, and this 1979 release by Walter Hill manages to do just that, employing said energy in such a way that it turns out to be spellbinding and impossible to take your eyes off of, even if none of the basic ingredients we’ve come to expect from such a movie really seem to impress, definitely making this a movie where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Using atmosphere and nuance to a fine degree, the film depicts New York City “in the near future”, a world where the gangs rule the streets at night, and there are a whole hell of a lot of them, ranging in everything from a mime troupe to an All Asian formation to a bunch of guys dressed as colorful pimps to even a bunch of weirdos with their faces painted up wearing baseball jerseys and carrying bats. The main group in the film (The Warriors out of Coney Island) start off by heading to a massive gang summit in The Bronx, called by the most powerful gang leader in the city, a guy with a shocking resemblance to Barack Obama who calls himself Cyrus. His plan is simple, yet pure: All the gangs come together to form a truce, and under his leadership, they essentially take over the city itself and live in harmony, albeit with he as Supreme Ruler. Despite his inspiring oratory skills about how such an alliance would become an utopia and getting all the less than average intelligence gang members to be cheering on his words, it quickly becomes obvious that Cyrus himself is just an opportunist at heart, using his position as the leader of the biggest gang in the whole city to enable himself to become the leader of ALL the gangs in the city and thus be giving them all of their marching orders as well. Of course, not everyone is completely on board with that, and when Cyrus is unexpectedly gunned down during a high point in his speech by a member of a gang called The Rogues, their leader (David Patrick Kelly) quickly points out The Warriors as the culprits, and after The Warrior leader is systematically taken down and killed, the other members flee for their lives and realize that they’ve got to make the long trek back to Coney Island, only now with their second in command (Michael Beck) in charge, with the toughest member (James Remar) thinking that he should lead. Only problem is that Cyrus’ gang (The Riffs) has now put out a call that the truce will only be observed if a gang…any gang…can take out The Warriors at some point during the rest of the night, with coded instructions being relayed by a silky yet sinister female DJ (Lynne Thigpen) over the radio. With the colorful, innovative cinematography that literally makes the characters and action jump off the screen, Hill instills an almost hypnotic feel to the late night goings on, as if these gangs and their various members literally live in a world all their own, completely separate and disparate from the “normal” world and people that inhabit it during the day, with only the ever present police and their own rivals protecting each of their own turf posing any sort of tangible threat, as our protagonists encounter a skinhead group riding in some sort of remodeled transit bus, then a lower level “loser” gang so lightly regarded that they weren’t even invited to the summit, then the aforementioned painted freaks in their baseball uniforms, followed by an all girl gang (possibly lesbians) who lure a couple of members back to “party” before opening fire on them, to a bunch of rollerskaters in a subway bathroom, and then the final confrontation with The Rogues themselves on their home turf in Coney. While some questions about the story remain blissfully unanswered (Who was the Rogues leader talking to on the phone? Did it indicate an outside party having arranged Cyrus’ killing such as The Mob?), it’s the incredible momentum that drives the movie along and keeps the viewer watching and wondering as to what could happen next, so much so that as amazing as the film is, it actually loses something after the first viewing when one already knows where the plot is headed, and the kinetic energy as spoken of is not quite the same even as the incredible craftsmanship on display remains a thing of beauty and awe. As for the actors, we mostly get a bunch of guys who at best had very solid character acting careers and at worst were one shot wonders whom never had anything else notable on their resumes ever again. In the ostensible lead role, we get Michael Beck (a guy who later joked that this movie opened doors for him in Hollywood that his next lead role—in Xanadu—later closed) playing the newly ascended leader of The Warriors with a stoic yet puppy dog eyed pretty boy earnestness, looking like a movie star but yet not being made to show too much emotion even as it is obvious that he is nervous about their chances to all make it back in one piece. Much more fun to watch is James Remar (a guy who has had a long career since) as Ajax, the tough guy member with the biggest mouth to show for it, who actually gets some great badass lines and holds his own well in the fight scenes before being suddenly removed from the story about 2/3rds of the way through. Deborah Van Valkenburgh is brought in as the gang girl attached to the loser gang who latches onto The Warriors and makes a play for Beck, acquitting herself rather well despite her unconventional attractiveness. Other actors of note include David Patrick Kelly as the psychotic leader of The Rogues (and Kelly himself would parlay that into a long and lucrative acting career usually playing more psychos), Thomas G. Waites as the scout and intelligence man of the group, and even future Oscar winner Mercedes Ruehl in a small cameo part. The adrenaline fueled unexpected nature of the story is what’s most on display here, giving us a surrealistic yet eerily accurate view of gang life, no surprise since the filmmakers received cooperation (and death threats) from real life gangs during filming, with gang related brawls even breaking out in theaters in certain areas showing the film. As frightening as Cyrus’ dreams were (and still are), and as empty as the gang lifestyle really is (one of the revelations of the ending), it is nonetheless a part of our own shared culture to be acknowledged as such, never summed up more beautifully or eloquently as it was here, an undesirable way of living made out for a brief period of screen time to be a larger than life, comic book style adventure in futility…
10/10