The Warriors
It’s Archive Saturday! recycled from Saturday Jun 23rd 2001 is my review of “The Warriors.” You can’t go wrong!
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The Warriors
by nacho
<img src=”http://www.plutoniumempire.com/userfiles//warriors.jpg” width=”98″ height=”140″ alt=”text”>
My Australian friend has made a habit of seeking out the truly abstract elements of American popular culture. A few days ago, he threw his latest prize on my desk – a poorly copied version of Walter Hill’s 1979 <a href=”“The”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6300213714/santafewriterspr”>”The Warriors.”</a>
Before the DVD revolution, this film was difficult to find. Not as difficult as <a href=”“Oasis”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000059H87/santafewriterspr”>”Oasis of the Zombies”</a>, mind you. More on the lines of <a href=”“I”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000009O8A/santafewriterspr”>”I Spit on Your Grave”</a>, which was still circulating the Ma and Pop video circuit before my little Panasonic disk player came through the door and the world changed.
Some movies, however, don’t cut it on DVD. I admit that I’m a disk junky, but when it comes to the truly cheesy films… Avoid DVD at all costs. Get a tape, dub it off onto another tape, make a copy of that copy, and then sit back and enjoy. That’s how the movie needs to be viewed. So when the credits roll, everyone gets really skinny and you squint as you try to read the names of big actors who, 25 years ago, started out as “Whore #2.”
The DVD experience is 70% sound, and nobody can afford or properly enjoy the sound system that’s required. At least, not in my circles. For the movie freak such as myself, the redeeming quality of DVD is the extras. The industry, realizing this, has started to focus on extras as well.
But there are still some movies that deserve videotape. Without a doubt, “The Warriors” is one such film.
This is a typical case of a cheesy movie that, in it’s time, was pretty edgy. The film was blamed for starting gang violence when it ran in theaters (if you trust the word of Walter “Budget for fake news stories” Hill), and was thought to be a shocking experience back before we were raped by Reagan and lost the last of our innocence.
The late 70’s, disco-ain’t-quite-dead horror that is “The Warriors” redeems itself in many categories. I don’t know what Hill was up to, but I see a lot of “Clockwork Orange” in the depiction of the New York gangland underworld. Hill also taps into the whole idea of how these gangs are the orphans of modern society, et cetera, et cetera. I think he’s glorifying it. I don’t know.
But people get their asses whipped! So that makes up for the attempt at a message. I hate it when there’s a message. Everything should end like <a href=”“Battle”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000055ZF1/santafewriterspr”>”Battle Beyond the Stars”</a> – the forces of good triumph, but only because everyone sacrificed themselves and died horridly.
The fight scenes are fun, the race from the Bronx to Coney Island makes me wish David Carradine was present (Oh! Oh! -<a href=”“It’s”>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305261318/santafewriterspr”>”It’s a hand grenade.”</a>) and the costuming is just so 70’s. When I was a kid, living on the streets of…uh…suburban Washington, I looked up to jokers like this. I had the hair thing going on, and I don’t remember what I wore. Probably day-glo short pants like the Japanese kids wear today. Anyway, “The Warriors” is a blast.
Falsely accused of the murder of William Hill’s younger brother, a gang “president” turned cult leader going by the name of Cyrus, our faithful gang of Warriors must find their way back to their Coney Island turf. It’s eight of them against the fuzz and all the gangs of New York. You won’t stop laughing. The baseball gang is my favorite… But the mime gang is pretty fun as well. I love the whole sense of pseudo-mythical brotherhood here. I mean, please…
But it’s a gang movie without rap music. It’s set in the old New York – the cool New York – and it has a whore with a heart of gold, as well. If there’s one thing I love in this world, it’s Hollywood’s whore with a heart of gold.
So check it out for the fight sequences and the NYC nostalgia. Or just watch it so you can tell me why our heroes, when running from a busload of madmen, stay in the middle of the road. I never understand that. HELLO? HOLLYWOOD? Okay, look: If you are on foot and a car is chasing you, you can get away from it by getting off of the road. Hire me, Hollywood. I’ll help you out.