The Warriors

“Warriors … come out and play-eee-ayyy!” In action master Walter Hill’s super-stylized exploitation classic, preposterously-themed street gangs (“The Baseball Furies!” “The Rogues!” “The Lizzies!”) rule the crime-infested streets of New York City, and Coney Island-based gang The Warriors are about to find out just how tough this town can really be. Cyrus, the baddest gang leader around, has assembled all of the gangs in NYC for a one-night meeting in The Bronx, hoping to unify the gangs so they can work together to take the city away from the police. But when the psychotic leader of The Rogues assassinates Cyrus, The Warriors take the rap, and soon every face-pained, spiked bat-carrying, roller skate-wearing gang member in the city is out to kill them. With an army of vicious, homicidal thugs in hot pursuit, our true-hearted, iron-willed Coney Island rumblers must punch, bite and bleed their way through the nightmarish labyrinth of Manhattan-after-dark as they desperately try and make it back to the safety of their home turf. Filled with absurd violence, electrifying synth music, comic book pacing and enough references to Homer’s The Odyssey to classify it as a loose adaptation (albeit one with dirty bathroom brawls and subway knife fights), The Warriors is a unique cult classic that sparked major controversy on its initial release and inspired countless kooky Halloween costumes. “Can you dig it?” (Dir. by Walter Hill, 1979, USA, 92 mins., Rated R)