ROX-TV revisits “The Warriors”
Tonight on ROX-TV we are going to revisit one of the greatest “gangster” movies of all time. In my forty years of existence, there has never been a movie quite like “The Warriors”. It is a literal masterpiece and something that everyone should experience sometime in their lives, even if they aren’t necessarily fans of this type of action. What exactly is “The Warriors” movie you might ask? Well, to capture the essence of the movie in a few choice words or sentences is impossible. It’s the kind of thing that you just have to witness for yourself.
Before we dive into the movie, I want to give the readers a slight back story, at least from my own point of view. The concept on paper is basic enough….”gangs in the 1970’s, set in New York City” but its so much more than that, at least in my opinion. The movie itself is known to people that have interesting tastes and although I don’t come across people who’ve seen it daily, the people that do know, are always a pleasure to meet. These people often times vary remarkably from each other, but still all recognize the greatness of the flick.
Sometimes the people are cult movie experts and other times, old school rap heads. The movie fans seem to transcend any one particular group, and in a way, bring people from all walks of life together. This is a rare thing, whether we are talking about 1979 America or 2021 America. The fans have a fondness for the movie and often times know every line from the script.
I first came into contact with “The Warriors” sometime in the late eighties. I was about ten years old and although I don’t remember the exact context of the viewing, the images and story line swooped me up into its clutches and never let me go again. Back in the eighties, you could rent the movie on VHS from the local “video store”. It also ran (rather randomly) on late night television from time to time. How do I know? Because I was cooking bacon at 3am one night after getting drunk all day and it came on. You could say that any time spent with the movie was a treat, even if it was nearly sunrise. Till this day, whenever I catch a fleeting glimpse or sound of the movie, I’m running towards it.
Released on February 9th, 1979 by Paramount Pictures. The movie was shown in 670 movie theaters across the country, without advance warning or “proper” advertising. Regardless, the movie managed to rake in almost four million dollars in the opening weekend. I guess for anyone who’s seen the movie, what happened next might not be that surprising. By the second week, there was multiple incidents of violence linked to the movie, including three murders (one in Boston and two in Southern California). Apparently random acts of vandalism often followed behind the more serious trouble as well.
I suppose this makes sense though. Here you have a gang movie, highlighting a rather brutal night in the Bronx and New York City at large. The fans were probably pretty tough themselves. The movie doesn’t exactly rail against gang activity, and I suppose some might argue that it actually celebrates the lifestyle in a way. I don’t that would be entirely fair though, and would propose that the movie merely presents “gang life” as is. There isn’t really an endorsement of the scene, but at the same time, there’s no real warning or message, putting the “life” down either. It’s like the movie just gives the audience a slice of life that just is. No faults or put downs, no judgment. Just good old fashioned “here you go”.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons I fell in love with the movie like so many others. It’s one of the first and only “gang” movies that I’ve seen where there isn’t really a terrible ending, or some stupid ass public service announcement type finish. These guys go to a big gang meeting in the Bronx, get set up, and have to “bop” their way back, all the way to Coney Island (which comes in at twenty seven miles or some something like that). While trying to get home, twenty thousand cops are looking to bust their heads and asses, while something like a hundred thousands hard core bangers and affiliates are looking to end them. They collectively make it home, but only after some heavy shit goes down. But, no matter what, there isn’t a rubber stamp on the movie at the end saying “Gangs are bad” or “Don’t do this” and there isn’t a dramatically sad ending. As I remember it, the ending is rather profound, served up with proper “street justice” administered to The Rogues gang by the Gramercy Riffs. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe we should just jump in. Ladies and gentlemen…..The Warriors.
Within five seconds of starting, there is a very haunting noise that starts to play and the first thing the viewer sees is the Wonder Wheel (ride at Coney Island) in the night time. “The Warriors” flashes on the screen and an lonely looking subway train slowly pulls into the station. The leader of the gang starts to talk and “briefs” the nine member delegation, hand picked to represent the Warriors at a big gang meeting going down in the Bronx. Cyrus, the mythical and mysterious leader of the biggest gang in the city, The Gramercy Riffs, is putting the meeting on and has invited any gang that was worthy enough of the invite, to show up.
“It’s still on and we’re going. Cyrus sent an emissary this afternoon to make sure…now Cyrus doesn’t want anybody packed and he doesn’t want anybody flexing any muscle….so I gave him my word that the Warriors would uphold the truce. Now everybody says Cyrus is the one and only, I think we better go have a look for ourself”
The gang goes on the move at this point, heading off to the big meeting in the Bronx. The energy of this movie really takes off here and even today, when I watch the opening scenes, and the music starts playing in the background….I get chills. The hair on my arms stands up and my head goes almost numb for a split second. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to pay attention to things that my whole body reacts to, and this movie is certainly one of those things.
You feel the anxiousness of the Warriors, the bravado, the impending night of unknowns, all the while this amazing song is jamming in the background. The visuals are dope and the gangs start to move. From all over the city, these vibrantly dressed gangsters are descending on the big meeting. By this point, I’m ready to kick someone’s fucking ass myself and I’m just watching the movie in my living room at 9:45am. That’s a powerful trick man, and shouldn’t be ignored. “You got the stuff, I want you to hit everything in sight, I want everyone to know the Warriors were there”…
The narrative continues in between amazing shots of the subway. The Warriors are talking to each other and giving the audience bits and pieces that will come in useful soon enough. And then all of a sudden, the movie takes you right to the heart of the big gang meeting at the Van Cortlandt Park (which is an 1,100 acre park in the Bronx borough).
The camera cruises the crowd and all the various delegations have arrived. I’ve seen this movie thousands of times (who knows what the real number is, but it sounds good) and I still scan the crowd, trying to take in all the details from each one of the various gangs. I swear, every time I watch this movie, I still pick up something I’ve never seen before or noticed. Sometimes its an outfit, other times its just a face of a member. Cyrus, gets up on a platform and starts dropping real “knowledge” on the bangers. He basically breaks down their ranks in terms of numbers and compares that to the police department. Then, as now, the bangers vastly outnumbered the police. Cyrus proposes that “everyone come together” and take back control of the city.
I must say that even though this movie is forty something years old, that message of unity still rings in my ears. What could America look like, if we all just united against the systems of control that keep us divided and unhappy, oh the things we could collectively achieve together….now that’s a thought. Enough of that talk though. Politics can be very dangerous and people don’t always take the time to educate themselves or see other points of view. Sometimes, the message needs to be examined and other times, its the source. The present state of America is something that I just don’t get. I wish people didn’t put so much faith in what “things appear to be” and started figuring out “what actually is”. Ok, that’s it. I promise. We are here to celebrate a pimp ass movie, not get dosed out on unhappy thoughts.
During the meeting, a shitty ass gang called The Rogues assassinates Cyrus, causing a gigantic moment of chaos. Although its only speculative as to why The Rouges thought it would be a good idea to kill off such an amazing and visionary leader such as Cyrus, the damage is done. Somehow, in the midst of all of this the blame gets unfairly shifted to the Warriors and in the confusion, the message travels fast. The homies from Coney Island have been set up, whether planned or not, and find themselves in the impossible task of getting out of the Bronx and making their way back home.
The entire gang world is now after them, including the Gramercy Riffs, who start to direct and call for capturing the Warriors “alive if possible, if not wasted”. And the movie really starts to get going. A local radio station puts out the word all over the airways, that the Warriors are a smash on sight target, and the going starts to get a whole lot tougher for the remaining Warriors. Their leader is taken out in the initial setup and it causes a host of problems for the gang, especially when competing forces within the group via for control.
I suppose I could walk you through everything that happens along the way, but my words could never do the justice that would be called for and besides, this movie is to seen, screw talking about it all day.
After the initial wave of violence and bad press, Paramount Pictures scaled back what advertising had been released. More than 200 theaters throughout the country added security personal for screenings, and so it went. Some of the press on the movie was surprisingly good, while others dropped the ball entirely. The highly over-rated Roger Ebert gave the movie two out of four stars, and his two-bit side kick Gene Siskel gave the movie one out of four stars. Thank goodness their expertise in the matter was wrong and history has bared that out over time. The Warriors has gone on to become one of the greatest movies ever made (in my opinion). Eventually Roger Ebert would have to eat his own words and admit “that he overlooked some of the positive qualities of the Warriors”. I never understood why people put so much stock in “experts” anyway. Most of the time, they are influenced by money or other pressures, which greatly diminishes, in my eyes, their opinions anyway.
I am merely presenting this movie as is to you, the reader. Although I think you should drop what your doing and go watch it now, I don’t claim to be a Hollywood expert or anything like that. With that being said, I like to think that I know a good movie when I see. I might not always be “right” but my intentions are pure and no one is paying me to say shit I don’t want to. Take it anyway you want.
The movie has been referenced a lot over the years. Rappers and the hip hop community seem to do it the most, but the odes to this movie don’t really come from any one particular source. It is celebrated by people that know…..As for the rest of the movie I can say this; there are some very interesting twists and turns, shit loads of great imagery, and a climatic finish worthy of the biggest budget. The film was able to accomplish so much, even though they were working with a tight schedule and budget.
Today I am happy to report that his film has started to receive at least some recognition. As of March 13th, 2021 the film has an 88% score on Rotten Tomatoes, in 2003 the New York Times put it in the top 1,000 movies of all time, and Entertainment Weekly named the movie 16, among the top 25 cult movies of all time. A video game was produced based on the movie, which I own and used to play rather often. I never beat it so I can’t tell you how the game ends, but the movie ends just fine.
I have always been a fan of modern “gangsterism”, but I also dig the gang scene from the 1960’s and 1970’s. It had a different feel than the later 80’s and 90’s stuff that was going on around the country (and still does in many parts). Maybe its just the passage of time, that crystalizes the imagery and substance. I suppose one day, someone will be writing an article, referencing books like Monster: By Monster Kody of the Eight Tray Crips in Los Angeles, with the same nostalgic glances. And there will be a time in the future when the 90’s gang culture will be seen with awe from the generations to come. In closing, all I can do is keep the memory of classics like “The Warriors” alive through stories, so that people in the future get a sense of what was going on, so long ago. Do yourself a favor and go buy it.
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV Head Writer
shepard2909@hotmail.com
kidvicious810 on IG
https://rox-tv.com/2021/03/19/rox-tv-presents-the-sounds-from-the-underground-hot-track-list/
