Gang psychology in THE WARRIORS (1979) film analysis by Rob Ager
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- Опубліковано 8 жов 2024
- Walter Hill's critically underestimated cult classic THE WARRIORS is loaded withe sharp insights into the fantasy world of gang psychology. For more videos on The Warriors and other classic movies, go to ...
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Response to a couple of frequent comments:
1) 70's gangs in NY having their names on their outfits like in the movie The Wanderers or the documentary Rumble. This isn't the central issue of the vid as it was just part of the introduction, but several have brought it up. Sure some of the gangs did, but I don't think it was like in the movie where ALL gangs did, including the most powerful ones. And I'm not seeing any evidence of gangs dressing up as mime artists (like in The Warriors intro scene) or stalking the streets with baseball bats and make up, or 40 guys prowling around in a graffiti'd school bus, all carrying weapons on open display, guarding a train station entrance. The film is a big exaggeration in the styles of costume and visual prominence of such gangs as a public threat - I personally love the film for it, but I've heard a lot of people say they don't like that element of the film because they considered it silly and unrealistic. Goths, punks and rappers will go out of their way to try to look much scarier than they actually are and that's kind of what I was seeing in The Wanderers film as well - teens putting on a show. Blatant gang names on costumes is certainly not the norm across US culture or here in UK and certainly not today. The hardcore gangs doing serious crime, by necessity, can't advertise their affiliations constantly like in The Warriors (putting a permanent target on their backs). They have to try to retain some anonymity to avoid the cops and gang reprisals. Hence The Wire and other realistic shows present gang culture as mostly hidden from public view.
2) Folks saying it was really hard to get a gun in the 70's in NY. Had a quick look to try and find some stats on that and the closest I could find was this, stating that there were over 1000 firearm homicides in NY in 1980 (the year after The Warriors was made). Note that this doesn't include injuries or incidents where no one was actually shot. blogs.cdc.gov/nchs/2020/12/07/7038/ Hence movies like Taxi Driver or other NY based 70's crime dramas aren't labelled unrealistic for showing gun crime in NY. If a loner like Son Of Sam was able to get a gun in 70's NY surely organized gangs could. In the Warriors movie itself, The Lizzies gang have several guns, and the guy who shoots Cyrus has one as well. Yet The Riffs can't get one?
Thanks for your thoughts folks. Be good to get more feedback on the larger themes outlined in the vid :)
Getting stolen handguns wasn't exactly difficult, but they were "ring of fire" guns, real cheap junk. NY has pretty extreme anti gun laws, and have forever. When Bernie Goetz shot his muggers, he got acquitted of murder, but convicted for possessing a handgun without a license. It's still impossible to get a license in NYC if you aren't a cop.
Anyway, 1% Motorcycle Clubs are the only criminal groups that still identify themselves with a huge patch on their back, although they've started only wearing them while they ride.
It seems that entertainment nowadays is expected to be realistic, whereas it was meant to not be always literal and the audience could really judge for themselves how to take it. One would hope...
Have you ever read "Ethnic Conflicts: Their Biological Roots in Ethnic Nepotism"?
I disagree very strongly about your conclusion that gang membership is not a real thing. From a biological stand point if you approach it at a race level the membership is in your very DNA and you cannot simply remove your self from it. This selection was done by people for hundreds of thousands of years and isn't easy to change from a population level. Other memberships can be defined by language groups and those cannot be easily removed even in the lifetime of most individuals. Another thing to realize is that gang membership often co-ops the reproductive membership you spoke of to enhance its own memetic reproduction. Overtime not being part of a gang can greatly diminish the reproductive chances of an individual such that it is self reinforcing to be part of a gang or group or make one of your own.
@@TerminalLucidity-uz6sl YOur race is your uniform and affiliation.
We’re all members of the Collative Learning gang, and Rob is our fearless leader
Can you count suckers?
@@collativelearningCan you Dig it😎
re no guns: It's a retelling of the ancient Greek epic The March of the Ten Thousand. A Greek army had to march thru 3,000 miles of enemy territory to the sea. The Warriors have to get back to Coney Island; The Sea, and the final shot is of them at the sea. Ancient Greek warriors didn't have guns. Guns in the movie are symbolic of treachery and dishonor. One of the film's main themes is of honor and valor triumphant over treachery and dishonor. There's a second gun at the end of the movie, and it is beaten by a sword (a stiletto, but same diff).
Nope. Overanalysis fail. Why did the Lizzies have guns?
Why did the Lizzies have knives or "swords" as you put it? Lol
@@theloanranger2632 because they are women; biologically speaking they are strong but not strong enough in comparison to the other gangs that are exclusively men.
They are except, lol
Yeah, but the ancient Greeks would have used guns if they had them. They used the most technologically advanced weapons available at the time. New York Street Gangs in the 50s, 60s, and 70s did use fists and knives, because they didn't want to completely exterminate rival gangs. They also had guns, but didn't use them to the extent they did later. That changed when the crack epidemic came.
@@theloanranger2632Phallic symbols?
I had never thought of the Riffs as a mirror of the police in this movie until you said it in here, but it makes a good amount of sense. In a way they also have their own police dispatcher/public affairs office with the radio station disseminating information about the warriors and where they can be found/who has failed to catch them. Great work.
Information is the strongest tool.
They definitely are a strong gang because they pay attention to their surroundings, unlike some gangs who are just about partying, lol
Rob take a look at a documentary called Rumble Kings about the 70’s NY gangs (interestingly, one of the producers is Jim Carey of all people). It leads up to the Hoe Avenue Peace meeting that was instigated following the death of Black Benjie who was a kind of Cyrus type figure who wanted to bring the gangs together. You’ll actually note that actually all the gangs advertised their gang on the backs of their jackets. The Warriors are based on the Savage Nomads who wore biker jackets with the sleeves cut off and massive name patches on the back, as they all pretty much did.
“Hoe avenue peace meeting”
🤔
Cheers. I'll check it out.
@@brianmeen2158originally they wanted to meet at slut park
We need an updated version called the Worriers. A bunch of neurotic New Yorkers in constant search of coffee, a decent apartment and a therapist who "really understands them"
And a decent pastrami on rye.
I’m pretty sure gangs of that time did in fact use jackets kinda like bikers do with their gang on it.
Gangs in Chicago had "party sweaters" lol it sounds silly but they had them
I can't speak first-hand on street gangs, but, where I live, people did, and still do, wear "Colors." Colors are usually a denim vest with a patch sewn onto the back that signifies the person is a member of a chapter of a local motorcycle club. People wear them to this day.
They did in New York. My friend was a Ching a Ling in the 80’s.
@@sconni666 They did in Australia as well....
My dad was a gang member in NYC in the fifties. His gang wore jackets with the gang name on back on the members name on front. They wanted EVERYONE to know who they were.
The terminology 'punk' is an American meaning for scumbag, loser, worthless, useless, trashy etc etc, and has been around for ever (Dirty Harry 1971 from example) so it wasn't until the mid 70's the word was adopted for a music era. The gang called The Punks weren't referred to in that context.
Before that, it referred to men who were passed around in prisons for…well, yknow…it would have been the ultimate insult. Early punk rockers hated the term for that reason.
Since the 50s at least, in West Side Story (1961) the gang members call each other 'punk' in plenty of scenes, the term is widely used in these 1950s juvenile delinquent movies.
Right, and it didn't really become a major part of the American lexicon to describe punk-rock music until the early1980s. In the 1970s, outside of niche music scenes in New York and L.A., punk would just have meant juvenile delinquent to the public.
Sure, but why would they call themselves the punks if it's an insult?
Language is an interesting thing for its adaptation.
27:30 - I always thought this scene was an alegory of the Sirens. They were demons disguised as beautiful women that lured in and trapped greek sailors.
Ajax is trapped by the woman pretending to be a damsel followed by literal sirens from the police cars.
Could be. Personally I think it's part of the overall gender conflict element, which includes Swan's initial distrust of Mercy. Maybe both are worked in there.
@@collativelearning Definitely
ROB, I love your reviews and your perspectives on film … but in this case you’re wrong, he based it on the New York City gangs of the late 60’s and 70s and they did walk around with their names on their Jackets and on their Vests … They called them their “Colors” … I know , because I am from the Lower East Side , Manhattan a place that is steeped in history (from Murder Inc. , Meyer Lansky , Lucky Luciano to actors like George Burns , Jimmy Durante , Marvels Jack Kirby is from here and the list goes on) … Again I love your videos , you are very brilliant. Don’t think I am trying to upstage you with this comment. I just had to make the correction as someone who was raised in those same NYC streets
Thanks for that. From what I've seen in my time such flamboyant dress is tytpically an expression of musical taste and general ideology. Not saying it didn't happen in NY like that at the time, but in discussing this film with others I've very often heard people say they think the film is ridiculous on account of the costumes. The clown gang at the start and the Furies are extremely theatrical, and gangs walking the streets with weapons ... was it really like that in NY back then? I'd be surprised.
I suppose I'm talking about the film from a more modern pov. Here in liverpool there's a brutal gang culture, but its hidden from public view. They don't advertize themselves to the police or their enemies, so I do wonder how much of the NY scene was theatrical display as opposed to serious crime.
@@collativelearning The only group that was exaggerated was The Furies … I agree with you on that , even as a kid I was like “what the heck?” … but everything else and all the other gangs were on point. Osiris was based on Afrika Bambaataa and The Black Spades who ended up becoming The Zulu Nation
@@DONTOURAGETVbambataa should be in prison
Explain the part of "real gangs don't advertise their membership". The costumes are literally inspired by real NY gangs of the 70s who had their gang logo emblazoned on the back of their cut sleeve jackets.
In the 60's/70's in America; from National Bikers to hoods in the LA Watts ghettos; it's all about IDENTITY.
Yes, gangs have always advertised themselves like a military, graffiti marks are like flags.
These days gangs can't advertise themselves so much due to the greater ability in surveillance law enforcement agencies have.
ua-cam.com/video/CKbqGNtkIsM/v-deo.htmlsi=SdpggWMhMVMnD1f7 the Ghetto Brothers Documentary as proof to the guy that made the video and 80 blocks from Tiffany's shows it too
Yeses! I was so hoping you would do The Warriors when I saw your poll. This is such a good choice for your awesome power of analysis, can't wait to dig in!
Man, oh man I would love to see Rob's take on Hills most underrated film "Southern Comfort" .
Am not much of a fan of that one. It's ok, but I'm much more likely to make some vids on Hard Times, The Driver and 48 Hrs.
@@collativelearning 48 hours would be great, love the whole vibe of that movie.
The Driver would be excellent
@@collativelearning "Hard Times" (Coburn, Strother Martin, Bronson) is still one of my favorite "just throw the VHS up there" films.
When I was a kid living in Brooklyn back in 84, I remember seeing gangs wearing outfits that would identify their gang affiliation. Maybe they adopted that from the movie but who knows.
In the 70’s gangs didn’t carry guns, maybe a Saturday night special type or at the most, a sawed off shotgun, but back then, you would never see a gang with an AR-15 or any type military hardware as they were simply too expensive. Besides most gangs fought over turf, & the idea was to run off the other gang-not kill them all. Knives, bats, & maybe one or two guys carried guns when going to a squabble, but only if the other gang pulled first.
I wasn't talking about military stuff, just basic six-shooters. The Lizzeis have them in the film, but no other gang does.
One of my favorites, analyzed by one of my favorites!
Agreed
Who else do you follow that comparable to Rob?
@alexsvoboda4994 Honestly most movie reviews are synopsis of the movie Rob is the only one I know that directly unpacks and uncovers subtext
@@alexsvoboda4994 Check out Mike Hill.
@@alexsvoboda4994 Noah Caldwell Gervais, though he does video games and travel logs. Check him out!
In American slang, "punk" is an insult term. Being labeled and dismissed as a lowlife troublemaker nobody.
Sure I'm aware of that. I just found it funny and it's not clear if the gan call themselves "the punks" as opposed to an insult from others.
@@cutiemangothe term "punk" existed before the music/fashion trend.
Punk has/had/does get used as a terminology to lowlifes. And in early 20th century American prisons a "punk" was a term for a disrespected man.
@@PauloHernandezXD Yeah I'm just saying it's use now is primarily in reference to the music/fashion trend.
Is the lad who shoots Cyrus the creep Arnie dangles over a cliff in Commando?
Yeah
Ooh-la-laaah...
Friends description "Arnold is gonna drop the guy from the Warriors."
Another friend says "the guy from the Warriors!" And starts laughing out loud.
Lmao :3
@@PauloHernandezXDhe’s also the guy that gets his gf taken from him at the beginning of 48 Hours 😲
David Patrick Kelly. He was also T Bird in the Crow. He's in a bunch of David Lynch stuff, too.
Rob, you're wring the bronx gangs saw Easyrider andcstarted wearing biker style cuts/vest. , you need to watch The Wanders ,based on the Bronx gangs in the early 6os or the Education of Sonny Carson about Brooklyn gangs . The movie may take the costume thing to ridiculous levels but they most certainly had gang names on the clothing.
Saw The Wanderers. Didn't think that much of the film, but it seemed more realistic than The Warriors. I also don't think of those as serious gangs, more like local teen fads. Serious gangs out to commit serious crimes, by their nature, cannot make themselves constantly public like that. They have to avoid being targeted by cops and rival gangs comitted to violence. But The Warriors presents these theatrics as if they were properly organized criminals in their twenties or even thirties. And hence the argument of "unrealistic" and "cheesy" has been thrown at the film so much.
@@collativelearning yeah ,I see your point, but i think you'd have to make an exception with all the 1% biker gangs though. They make a point of flying their colors most times and even most law enforcement agencies would classify them as serious organized crime. I think maybe you should give the wanderers a second evaluation. Cheers been watching yours stuff for a decade.
Someone needs to do a docu on the gangs that the Wanderers was based around.. the Ducky Boys were real no doubt but how much of their image was exaggerated is the question …?
@@brianmeen2158 according to longtime coworker/friend who grew up on Arthur Avenue all the gangs existed, The Fordham Baldies were notorious, Duckie boy not so much. The writer of the screenplay and novel was Richard Price who grew up in the same neighborhood.
@collativelearning you have to check out the documentary called 80 blocks from Tiffany's and Ghetto Brothers about the real inspiration for Warriors. It's not fake you'll see the REAL Warriors that's Warriors movie was set in the 70s but in the 60s and 70s Warriors type Gangs was real in New York
This is a very presumptuous analysis of gang culture in the 70s. Handguns were not as commonly used by street gangs at the time.
I disagree. The Lizzies gang in the movie have more handguns than all the other gangs in the film put together. The Riffs are the biggest gang in the city, directing all the other gangs ... huge manpower ... and none of them are able to find a gun when tooling up to hunt the warriors? Even the cops in this film don't have guns.
@@collativelearningbecause they're women. You kind of answered your own question. In a fight with a male gang do you think they have the same equal strength and physical manpower to fight back. A gun evens the odds of not pits them in their favor.
Always healthy breakdowns.im not into horror so it's a big chunk of your videos I don't watch,but I enjoy almost every other. Thank you for your time
Actually some gangs did wear colors, maybe not as ridiculous as these guys, but check out “The Wanderers” gang movie set in the 50’s, maybe? youll see similar things
Plus they're very representative of a comic book element, illustrators making each group representative of their specific identity.
The end taking place at the beach is also from Anabasis, March of the 10,000 where the army yelled out, and Xenophon riding up saw that they had reached their destination, the ocean.
So excited for this video! Thanks Rob!
Gangs in NYC in the seventies wore the names on their jackets.
Theatrical youth displays or seriously violent gangs? The latter would have a massive tactical advantage.
Von Clausewitz? Possibly.
@@collativelearningseriously violent gangs would, yes. I think your confusing organized crime syndicates with common street gangs. Key word being street. What's with you and theatrics. As if young stupid violent kids who join gangs wouldn't display their affiliation on their bodies proudly.
Warriors gsng isn't just 9 people. There are many members. The 9 from the movie are representatives to the meeting
I hope with this comment, that I can effectively convey to you how excited I get when I see that you’ve dropped another video.
When the Orphans pulled out that newspaper clipping I cringed so hard
the fact they even kept it hand too lol
I don't know how it is where you live, but the gangs ive seen in my own real life do advertise their affiliation through clothes and tattoos. They don't dress in themed costumes like in the film (sadly), but they wear certain colors, have specific tattoos, and they just dress very similar. Also, graffiti; tagging is a very visible way to advertise your gang.
I love The Warriors, but its more an allegory of the old greek tale than an accurate depiction of gang life. Watch Blood In Blood Out for that.
It's all tribalism.
Identity. And things like graffiti are like flags/advertisements for gangs.
COME OUT TO PLAYYYYYYYYYYYYY
David Patrick Kelly, great actor. I always enjoy seeing him popping up in tv shows and movies such as Commando or John Wick.
@@truefilm6991Dreamscape 😎
"FOR WHAT"
I think you might enjoy the Rockstar Games adaption and prequel Warrior video game. It added a lot of grit and new story subtexts to the film. A big part of the prequel part of the game is playing the warrior committing street crimes to fund the gang. The game also heavily implies the police on the riffs take and rumors that the police and the riffs work together to remove some of the more violent gangs from the public eye.
Heard good things about that.
The lady at 16:32 used to be on the children's TV show "3-2-1 Contact". R.I.P to Lynne ("The DJ") Thigpen.
You warriors are good, real good. The best.
Watch...Rockin the Cut sleeves documentary if you haven't seen it. Also 100 blocks from Tiffany's.
If you think about it, governments were invented when
robber gangs became tired of roaming around to find new people to rob.
The settled down and told the peasants that they are now in charge. The peasants will
give a chuck of their harvest to the gang members and in return the peasants would get protection
against other roaming gangs. And a nation was born.
Since they’re gathering for a meeting don’t they mention early in the film that they can’t carry? (ie no weapons) And punks could be a reference to the original meaning of the term which referred to young men “passed around” in prisons for…yknow. So basically the lowest of the low.
Yeah the no weapons thing is a key point in the film, but those gangs do tool up for the hunt after Cyrus is shot. They could have grabbed their guns.
I’ve follow a page of old school Chicago gangs. Plenty of gang jackets/sweaters. Emblems. Colors. Even gang cards lol literally a gang business card lol maybe not common but it was around. Just a anecdotal
Edit. Late 60’a early 70’s Chicago gang era. People repped their colors. Blocks. And actually fought. Obv things got out of control beef after beef. Someone had to One Up
It's interesting to hear a British person analyze a quintessentially American film. I always took for granted the cultural anachronisms that base layer the plot and atmosphere of this film. Understanding the context on 1970s NYC, being closer to Escape from New York than New York, I Love You, as interpreted through the lens of Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange with a nice breath of Dick's "ultra violence."
By the by, it is incredibly hard to get a gun in a leftist city state like NYC. Even in the crime ridden 70s. It's also culturally, even in the contrarian gang culture, frowned upon in NYC to own one. I think that's why you see so few of them. I remember keenly, when I lived there in my 20s, many, many of the hardest "gang banger" bar hoping types never owned them, didn't need them. Knives make an effective replacement.
The Warriors is one of my favorite films. Based on Anabasis from 401 BC.
I don't think of The Warriors as "quintessentially American". As you mentioned Walter Hill was making a lot of references to greek mythology in it, so it's universal in its themes. In both the US and UK, there are internal cultural and class differences the film is relevant to. I'm from Liverpool which is culturally near enough the opposite of London and, arguably, a lot more like New York in terms of its roughness, straight talk, and street violence. Liverpool tends to be looked on in UK as one of the lowest slums. So teens in this city loved The Warriors :)
@@collativelearning thank you for the context and reply
@@collativelearningit's quintessentially New York of the 70s if anything.
"The family, starting with man and woman, is the most powerful core gang in this world" beautifully put, Rob. Many societies seem to have an inert respect for this gang too. In politics the appeal of policies protecting/benefitting "young families" is often used as a populist draw by many opposing political "gangs".
Walter Hill in my opinion is a brutal storyteller. It's interesting to note that the only people that use firearms are the only people that cannot physically attack the Warriors namely that member of the Lizzies and Cyrus.
I think the multiracial gang is a film trope. You saw it previously in John Carpenter's "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976).
It is explicitly a trope. Race and ethnicity are huge factors in criminal organization. Having a multiracial gang was a way of sanitizing the issue for audiences and avoiding the conversation among the public that would occur when they began to see that the gangs in these types of films were overwhelmingly comprised of particular demographics. The reality is, in films like Death Wish, Assault on Precint 13, The Warriors, and others, the gangs would have been mostly non-White, and within that, overwhelmingly ethnically or at least racially monolithic in composition, barring some marginal outliers; a person of mixed descent for example. Entertainment after World War II gradually but steadily became very, very opposed to presenting this kind of thing as it was percieved as being against the prevailing political and social order. You see it really arise after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, in particular.
It's an example of entertainment being used to gaslight, suggesting that the problem is purely cultural or socio-economic, rather than having a very explicit racial or ethnic element at play. That is, the gangs of this type feeling they are in racial conflict with the society they live in.
The Warriors book actually was grounded in this regard, I believe the Warriors were a primarily Black gang with some Puerto Rican members, and the other gangs were similarly modeled.
@@RingworldTyrant Indeed. Political correctness in film has been around for a very, very long time.
You're back Rob! Awesome!
Thank you, I love this movie so I am sure this will help me to reappreciate a re-watch even more.
The Prom gang
One of these guys was my creative director in the NYC area. I’m really looking forward to this! ☺️✨
As many have pointed out, especially people from NYC, who were either from gangs or have had family members in gangs at the time, 60s/70s… they did have their names on their jackets, etc.
I’m from NYC as well, btw. I love your work and been flowing for years, but with all due respect, you should probably listen to what others are saying from their experience. I’ve read quite a number of the comments and it seems like you’re doubling down on your thoughts despite of what people who were around have said.
Thanks. See pinned comment for my response to the claim that all gangs in NY in the 70's wore the kinds of named outfits seen in The Warriors. Same for the claim that guns were really hard to get hold of.
Can you dig it Ager!
I enjoyed your commentary, Rob. Gonna share it.
Amazing, sage observations on a classic film as usual Rob🙏🏻
However watch the plosives on your recording. You ought to move back from your pop filter another 3 inches or so I gauge
I love the Warriors, but prefer the theatrical release to the re-release with the cartoony transitions.
Walter Hill kicks ass. The Driver is awesome too.
Totally agree. The cartoony version is unwatchable for me, totally ruins the movie. Fortunately I managed to get a HD version of the theatrical cut. Need to do a vid on The Driver. Amazing that movie flopped.
I agree with you Rob. Our society is composed groups of self interested gangs.
Excellent vid. Humanity is so tribal in nature. Even the main gang of the film calls themselves The WARRIORS. And your observation of corporate billboard ads being the corporations' equivalent of graffiti is a corker
You're incorrect about gangs not putting their name on clothes; they used to in the 1970's and The Warriors are not all that far off from reality in that respect. Gangs were copying motorcycle gangs like The Hells Angels and would wear vests with patches and things like that. There is a 1979 documentary called 80 Blocks From Tiffany's you should see, it is about NYC gangs. Some of the gangs of the time like The Savage Skulls and The Savage Nomads among others had vests with logo's and rockers, much like The Warriors. You can look up pictures of them. Also, back then, guns were not used nearly to the extent they are now and the high capacity automatic guns like AK's and Uzi's, etc. were not in use yet, all of that started during the crack era in the mid to late 80's.
The CIA etc. flooded America with stimulant drugs and high powered guns in order to cause chaos as a pretext for mass incarceration, police militarization, gun control, etc.
Good point. I'm not sure about some of the gangs we see in the film though. The gang seen at the start dressed like clowns, the baseball furies, the guys with the shiny pink waste jackets. Some of them appear a over theatrical compared to the real gangs in those photos, esp in that some just prowl the street obviously tooled up for violence. I wonder how much of that costume stuff was just for show back then, like advertizing one's taste in music? When you think about it ... it's pretty stupid for a gang to make all its members so obvious like that. Easy targets for a rival gang who keep their identities hidden. The latter gang would have a huge advantage. Just look at The Masons and other upmarket "gangs". They have their dress codes and symbols, but most of it is hidden in the streets.
To my knowledge, today gangs don't wear their name hardly at all, in code yes, but not obvious. So whenever I introduce someone to this film they often point to that erlementas "unrealistic". The film is based on the novel by Sol Yurick, written in 1965, so I'm not so sure of his inspirations. Hill made a lot of changes though.
You made it obvious so others wouldn't mess with you. You'd take the gamble of being noticed by other gangs but you'd usually be rolling with your crew while wearing your colors. The point of joining a gang is strength in numbers. If you get caught alone wearing your colors then get beaten to a pulp or killed. Then your gang would retaliate. That's the double edge sword of joining a gang. Now it's tattoos but a lot of gangs still advertise and flash their affiliation in incredibly blatant and obvious ways. From clothing to inked letters. Just look up MS13
I'm stuck on a mission on the PS2 game at the minute.
I found a copy of that game as a kid, but it was so scratched up it was unplayable :( lol
@@PauloHernandezXD I've gone back to Splinter Cell instead.
Amazing game. What mission you stuck on?
Alright boppers!
The very brief and believable collective disappointment of the Lizzies is a nice touch.
Something I noticed about the civilians at 17:50, is that they themselves are all wearing the same colours or at least a similar palette of white, light blue/grey and the one guy who quickly steps out of frame, wearing black pants. Also, these colours all belong to the same palette as the set for the shot, blending them in.
Good review. This movie is gripping.
Excellent soundtrack by Barry de vorzon which really adds to the overall ominous feel of the movie
I was rooting for 48hrs, but this is close enough! lol
Rewatched 48 Hrs recently, perfectly efficient movie with great acting all round. Eddie Murphy's very best role too (and it was only his first movie at the young age of 21!)
@@moviearchaeologist9655 To be honest, there are far better 80s crime thrillers, like Thief and To Live & Die in LA.
IMO 48hrs is special because of chemistry, the buddy cop thing. And I agree, very best Murphy role.
"Ajax is cool as fuck!" Cit.😎
"The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes." - Stanley Kubrick
I became a HUGE fan of this movie bc of the video game, created by Rockstar Games(same guys who made Grand Theft Auto) in the early 2000s
It is VERY cinematic and true to the movie. It actually feels like you’re in the movie. It’s so immersive and one of my top 5 favorite games ever.
just one thing, one of the cops in the Warriors is played by Sonny Landham, the native American who also played Billie in Predator and Billy Bear in 48Hours
Very interesting as usual, Rob! How about the gang psychology in Calamari Union from 1985? It had ifluences from the Warriors, among others (film noir etc.) It is classed as surrealistic comedy but it is interesting to say the least. Also in it the gang members dont carry guns, they are just thugs.
I went from gang member of one of the most violent gangs in Chicago in 1992, to a navy veteran of 16 years in 2008, to a public defender in 2020...i like to think all these characters had potential.
I have had dreams about being chased across rooftops after watching Blade Runner late at night, so I can relate to you dreaming about movies.
That's really interesting Hill saying his movies are all westerns. In The Driver, the protagonist 'enters' the film from below (the underworld, perhaps?) and it always reminded me of Clint Eastwood's stranger appearing from a mirage at the start of High Plains Drifter.
One last observation, at the end of Godfather II, Tom Hagan and Frank Pentangeli speak and Tom congratulates Frank for instigating the Capo Regeme into the Mafia. The REgeme was organised along the lines of a Roman legion.
The costumes of the Furies (baseball gang) are iconic in the U.S. The image shows up in art to this day.
I think in the UK, too. At least The Adicts used to dress like the Furies mixed with A Clockwork Orange droogs.
Just brilliant, as always. I'm seven minutes in, and checked for streaming of the movie. No free streaming. Bleh, I will persevere.
The Riffs lady speaking on the radio (appearing as just her mouth) reappears in one of the excellent John Wick films
"Imagine how different our world would seem if you knew exactly what... gang everybody was associated with, because they were carrying the names of those gangs on their costumes."
For example, if you're building a new gang, the first thing the aspiring gang leader might do is hand out identical hats with the gang's name on it.
Love this "flick" does work on a number of different levels. Inculding class\status....like in this scene @ 4:45 with the debutantes. The way Swan moves to stop Mercy's from making her hair look better for the sake others(her betters). Love it.
Ever seen "The Wanderers", around the same time? I always thought there was a connection between the two films, since both deal with the themes of NYC gangs.
I like to think of "The Warriors" as a modern day version of "Gangs of New York". Instead of The Dead Rabbits gang and The Bowery Boys gang, etc., fighting openly in the streets of 1870s NYC, you've got The Warriors and the Baseball Furies, etc., fighting openly in the streets of 1970s NYC. From that perspective, it's almost like one of those historical fiction "what if" pieces (What if Nazi Germany existed in modern day; what if chattel slavery existed in modern day, etc.).
All the other gangs have guns.
The Warriors arm themselves with an AM radio that only plays Burt Bacharach songs, a putter from the putt-putt course, a fossilized hot dog from the Coney Island amusement park, and and a shattered Snickers candy bar.
Real gangsters.
the Rogues (although have one black memeber) look like polo outfits like they are from the suberbs ... The Rogues look like they were extras from the movie Cruising.
It’s funny you mention slapshot i think you should analyze it as I think it’s about a lot more than hockey fighting,perhaps small town economics,and 70s male female relationships
Useless Trivia: D12 (Eminem included) used The Warriors movie as a basis for their Fight Music video. Several hiphop celebs appear in cameos. Most notable of which is Ice T as a stand-in for Cyrus.
CAN YOU DIG IT? CAN YOU DIG IT?
The baseball furies scared me as a kid
i heard warriors was a retelling of some story like homers odyssey or something and that would explain the lack of guns. no idea where i read that or if its accurate but thats the lense ive viewed it through.
Research old photos from that time period. Accurate depiction.
7:11 standing around with a baseball bat isn’t a crime in America. People do it all the time. We play baseball here.
Standing outside a train station for hours at night, swinging baseball bats and wearing gang make up ... that would turn a cop's eye.
@@collativelearningnot really mate. You have to actually do something. Especially if you’re dressed up like a baseball player.
As Paul Rutherford once proclaimed..Everybody is in a gang
One of my top 10s right here !!!
Moooooom! Where's my grease paint? I can't find my baseball pants! I just wanted to go hang out with my friends! Jeez!
My favorite movie of all time.
I'm in a gang. The Rob Ager Crew.
Good observations, I'd have to agree.
The lack of guns could be two reasons. The age of the gang members, they're school kids in the book (when they meet the Orphans they say "my youth worker told me about you guys")
Razor gangs in Edwardian times would slash rather than stab, that way they didn't get hung for murder.
I can watch this movie over and over and over and over….
I'm still trying to figure out why there was a gang made out of mimes in The Warriors. Who's gonna be afriad of mimes? Even in New York.😆
Yeah that was always a surrealist moment. Least scary looking gang in the film. Even the Orphans would give them a kicking.
“Riffs-YEAH! Can U Dig It?” - Pop Will Eat Itself😎
I thought it was interesting that the credits are also organized by gangs, starting with the fictional. Is it implying the other credits are their own gang?
The movie at times seems to imply that it's set "5 minutes" into the future, thus some of the strange fashions and slang. Also wrt weapons, it's clear that their vision of the future was off-target as they didn't realize that by the 80's, criminals would frequently possess and use firearms, including automatic weapons. The Crack Wars that began around 1985 really were an accelleration of chaotic and horrific urban violence in the US. And they literally were called "Wars" by the media and public, for good reason.
Have you ever read "Ethnic Conflicts: Their Biological Roots in Ethnic Nepotism"?
thanks great!!!!
It's funny at 30:55 the guy putting tokens into the turnstile! In real life they would have just jumped over it.
Fun fact. Cops in the old west referred to themselves as The Posse. Their gang name.
Hey Rob, interested in seeing Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis? It could be his swan song.
I was until I saw the trailer.
@@collativelearning I know, quite vague in terms of plot. Does seem stylish though, and perhaps that is the point.
lol, remakes have nothing on the originals, it's a waste of time watching them, let alone making them
Hells Angels too