THE WARRIORS rumbled out of Coney as the bad junkyard dog in a pack of five youth-gang movies that raided theaters in 1979. Rousing pulp fantasy, it was the hit of the litter, and the most controversial. Twisted fun as it is, we give the edge to rowdy rock & roll rival The Wanderers, while punk wanna-be’s Boulevard Nights, Walk Proud and Over The Edge are left in stewing in juvenile detention. In this youths run wild(ing) gauntlet, with machismo maestro Walter Hill directing, you get stylized action and attitude galore, a sleek look armed with a pulsing soundtrack, and a s-load of quotable, non-p.c. backtalk. *

“I’ll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle.”    “A train would help! Unless you wanna go up there and get Japped on an open platform.”     “The chicks are packed! The chicks are packed!”      “Waaarrrrriiiorss, come out to play-ee-ay!”

NYC, the Bronx. ‘Cyrus’, messianic honcho of the clout-commanding ‘Gramery Riffs’, summons a night-time gathering of 100 of The Big Apple’s rottener samples, nine members apiece. His call to rule the city they already plague whips up the mob of normally adversarial turf battlers—and then a shot rings out (like in a democracy) and all hell breaks loose. Crazy ‘Luther’ (David Patrick Kelly), batshit leader of ‘The Rogues’ has fun by spoiling it for others, and, in true fascist fashion, blames someone else—the ‘Warriors’. Sicced on by radio broadcasts, one gang after another pursues the Warriors, who also have to dodge the cops as they try to navigate over 50 miles of subways and streets to get back to their home turf in Coney Island.

Hill and co-scenarist David Shaber (Last Embrace, Nighthawks) freely adapted (i.e., ran roughshod over) Sol Yuricks considerably more serious 1965 novel (with the ‘Coney Island Dominators’), which basically updates the timeless “Anabasis”, written by Xenophon around 370 B.C. , handily serving as the ancient template layer for countless ‘Lost Patrol’/behind enemy lines thrillers. **

Working with a cast of eager newcomers (some of whom panned out, others not so lucky), Hill and cinematographer Andrew Laszlo (The Beatles At Shea Stadium, Southern Comfort, First Blood) lensed on location in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, their tense and sleek seizure of place, time and situation abetted by Barry De Vorzon’s  dynamic score, spiced with choice cuts from Arnold McCuller (“Nowhere To Run”) and Joe Walsh (“In The City”).  **

Noteworthy in the colors, cussing and clobbering are Michael Beck, 29 (cool number ‘Swan’, who takes charge), Debra Van Valkenburgh (26, impressive debut as ‘Mercy’, tough chick who tags along/is dragged along with Swan & Assoc.), David Patrick Kelly (28, debut, viciously bonkers Luther) and most memorably, James Remar (25, second part) as ‘Ajax’, fearless and much too hot-blooded for a safe landing. In something this brazenly pulpy, snarling attitudes can only suspend your disbelief so far if the fight scenes aren’t locked to load. The ace in the deck is stunt coordinator Craig R. Baxley (Freebie And The Bean, Predator, The Long Riders) who designed a series of exciting balletic bruisers with the ‘Turnbull A.C.s’, the ‘Orphans’, the ‘Lizzies’, the ‘Punks’ and, top of the ninth—the ‘Baseball Fury’s. The controversy generated by the flick was manifested by several incidents of gangs attending showings and—go figure—getting into fights, a couple ending in fatalities. Hill: “I think the reason why there were some violent incidents is really very simple: The movie was very popular with the street gangs, especially young men, a lot of whom had very strong feelings about each other. And suddenly they all went to the movies together! They looked across the aisle and there were the guys they didn’t like, so there were a lot of incidents. And also, the movie itself is rambunctious—I would certainly say that.” Critics, natch, safely piled on.

The other Warriors: Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Marcelino Sanchez, Terry Michos and Thomas Waites.

92 minutes, with Lynne Thigpen (the silken voiced D.J.–“Be lookin’ good, Warriors. All the way back to Coney. Ya hear me, babies? Good. Re-e-al good“), Roger Hill (‘Cyrus’–“CAN you DIG IT?!!), Paul Greco (leader of the Orphans–“We’re gonna RAIN on you, Warriors!”), Edward Sewer, Sonny Landham, Mercedes Ruehl (undercover cop in the park) and Jery Hewit (creepy frontman of the Baseball Fury’s). Made for $4,000,000, Cogerson has the gross $32,400,000 and 26th place, while ‘The Numbers’ drops that to $22,495,000.

* The Kids Are Alright—or are they?—besides the quintet of youth-gang oriented escapades, the year looked at the restless young thru the assorted prisms of Breaking Away, More American Graffiti, Hair, Roller Boogie, Skatetown U.S.A. and A Little Romance. While we detest street gangs in real life, we cop to digging the ass-kicking absurdity of The Warriors. Yet The Wanderers, which made one sixth the amount at the box office, is equally wild and stylish, and a lot more fun, with fleshed-out characters you actually care about: the rep has grown exponentially: thank you, Dion…

** Old as the Hills—Xenophon based “Anabasis”  on his serving thirty years earlier in the famous fighting retreat of “The Ten Thousand”, Greek mercenaries trying to get out of a major jam in Mesopotamia, Armenia and Persia. You’d think that after a couple dozen centuries, we’d figure out that stomping in is one thing, stumbling out another.

*** Walter H, 2016 A.D.—“I love the fact that people still enjoy something I did what, 37 years ago? It makes an old man happy. I’m surprised by it. But I loved working with my cameraman Andy Laszlo in shooting it, and I loved working with my cast, who were incredibly trusting of this crazy old fucker that was making the movie. They didn’t get it, I don’t think—costumed gangs running around New York?—but they just went with it.”

A different take from author Sol Yurick: https://lithub.com/sol-yurick-on-trying-to-find-any-trace-of-his-novel-the-warriors-on-the-big-screen/