walking with street fighters
While there are many films that bring us the sights, sounds and character of New York, there are few that do it in the way Walter Hills’ 1979 film The Warriors did. The Hippy Dream has turned into a nightmare, and New York is the world capital of Punk. The Summer of Love has crashed and burned in this Gotham-esque city. Those who live outside the system are laying down their own law on the streets and in the boroughs. It has become The Age of The Street Gangs.
The Warriors is based on an epic poem by Xenophon. It tells the story of the escape of the Greeks from the enemy-filled lands of Western Asia. The Warriors transfers the story to New York and replaces the soldiers with street gangs. This is the gist of the film: the leader of the biggest gang in New York gathers the 9 principal gangs together in the north of the city. He calls for a ceasefire in intergang hostilities. There are 60,000 gang members throughout the city, he says, and if they all come together, they can easily overcome the 20,000 police officers in New York. In the middle of his speech, however, someone shoots him. The blame is laid at the door of The Warriors from Coney Island. This means that the members of The Warriors gang will have to make their way through New York, from North to South, in order to reach their home turf. As they flee through the city they will have to fight with the members of the other gangs.
The film lays bare the underhand methods the establishment uses to subject society. Just as the gangs are about to come together, the system uses its power to smash any possible unity. The Warriors is very much shot at street level and it offers a wonderful chance to see the city as it was at that time. The Warriors will find safety on the shore of Coney Island… so strange really in a city that lives with its back to the sea
The Warriors is based on an epic poem by Xenophon. It tells the story of the escape of the Greeks from the enemy-filled lands of Western Asia. The Warriors transfers the story to New York and replaces the soldiers with street gangs. This is the gist of the film: the leader of the biggest gang in New York gathers the 9 principal gangs together in the north of the city. He calls for a ceasefire in intergang hostilities. There are 60,000 gang members throughout the city, he says, and if they all come together, they can easily overcome the 20,000 police officers in New York. In the middle of his speech, however, someone shoots him. The blame is laid at the door of The Warriors from Coney Island. This means that the members of The Warriors gang will have to make their way through New York, from North to South, in order to reach their home turf. As they flee through the city they will have to fight with the members of the other gangs.
The film lays bare the underhand methods the establishment uses to subject society. Just as the gangs are about to come together, the system uses its power to smash any possible unity. The Warriors is very much shot at street level and it offers a wonderful chance to see the city as it was at that time. The Warriors will find safety on the shore of Coney Island… so strange really in a city that lives with its back to the sea
