a5c7b9f00b In a near future, Cyrus is a respected leader that intends to unite the gangs in New York. Cyrus invites the most relevant gangs for a meeting at the Central Park, a neutral turf in a moment of truce. He explains that if the gangs unite, they would be 60,000 members against 20,000 policemen and they could rule New York. Out of the blue, the punk Luther shots Cyrus and blames The Warriors, a gang from Coney Island. There is a riot in the Central Park and the police arrive and put the group under siege. The Warriors try to return to Coney Island while all the gangs decide to hunt them down. The long journey back home of The Warriors begins. Cyrus, the leader of the most powerful gang in New York City, the Gramercy Riffs, calls a midnight summit for all the area gangs, with all asked to send nine unarmed representatives for the conclave. A gang called The Warriors are blamed for killing Cyrus as he gives his speech. They now have to cross the territory of rivals in order to get to their own 'hood. The Warriors slowly cross the dangerous Bronx and Manhattan territories, narrowly escaping police and other gangs every step of the way. I first saw this movie in 1988 when it was only 9 years old, and now the damn thing is over 30. The weird thing is, though I immediately loved this movie and story, I thought it was "dated." It was made in the disco era, and in 1988, everyone was into electronic pop/new wave. The clothes seemed dated, and of course, in the years before the DVD or Blu-Ray came out, VHS movies were grainy, and old movies looked older.<br/><br/>Now that we have DVDs, and with the picture and sound restored to crystal clear beauty, this urban fairy tale is ageless. It really is one of my all time favorite movies, and if you don't mind a surreal and admittedly violent parable (I don't when a story is well executed), it's almost perfect. Fun characters, great nocturnal settings, good music, a cool list of "before they were famous" actors, and even interestingly choreographed fight scenes. It's a very simple morality story wrapped up in atmosphere and surreality. <br/><br/>The Warriors, a gang based in Coney Island, NY has been invited to a huge conclave hosted by the Gramercy Riffs, the most notorious and influential gang in the city. The leader of the Riffs, Cyrus (Roger Hill), has called the meeting to propose an outlandish and ambitious idea: to take over the city one borough at a time, tax the crime syndicates, and get rid of law enforcement. Whether or not it's a pipe dream (while many of the gang members are experienced criminals well into their 20s, many others are mere kids, disenfranchised from society and looking for their true "family" within the Riffs' umbrella network), Cyrus' aspirations are short lived when he is gunned down by someone within the crowd. <br/><br/>The Riffs are the wrong gang to screw with, and though you learn right away who the real killers are, the Coney Island gang becomes the accused, and from the moment of Cyrus' death, the Warriors are forced to fight their way back from the Bronx to their home turf. The characters are many and all memorable, including the "War Chief" Cleon (Dorsey Wright) whose demise puts the levelheaded Swan (Michael Beck) in charge, although hot- headed Ajax (James Remar) thinks he's the better man for the job. With a price on their heads, The Warriors are targeted by every gang within the network, including the eerily silent, creepily painted Baseball Furies, the seductive and sinister Lizzies, and the unscrupulous, trashy Rogues (headed by one David Patrick Kelly, who is obviously having the time of his life in this role! In fact, this HAD to have been a blast of a movie to make for all involved!). <br/><br/>Among supporting characters in the Warriors gang, there is also the introspective Rembrandt, who paints the Warriors' logo everywhere they go "so they know we've been here", lavishly decorated Cochise, who shares Ajax's love for communicating with his fists, the reckless Vermin (Is it me, or does this guy remind you of Beaver Cleaver?), and Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), a gang groupie who decides that her neighborhood "Orphans" are boring and wimpy, and would like some "real action." Although a "love interest" thing would normally be obnoxiously out of place in a story about gangs, Mercy makes for an interesting way to show another side of Swan.<br/><br/>I was quite happy with the original cut of the film. The newer edition, with an introduction referencing the story "Anabasis" which accounts the battle at Cunaxa (Babylon 401 BC) by Xenophon, seemed weird until I learned that the author of the novel upon which this film was based simply modernized that ancient Greek history. I disliked the "comic book" motif at first, saying to myself, "Aw, s***...when will Hollywood get over this graphic novel craze?!" But now that I know about the Xenophon connection, I'm okay with the new stuff. Unlike director Walter Hill though, I also like several of the "deleted" scenes, especially the one of Cleon's girlfriend Lincoln expressing her misgivings about the Riffs' meeting.<br/><br/>I'm not a fan of gang culture or violence, but there are a few movies that I watch without being offended, mostly because good stories and good filmmaking are involved. A great score by Barry Devorzon adds to the fun, and the Joe Walsh song at the end is perfection. <br/><br/>This one is a real classic. This is one of my top five movies of all time. How can you go wrong with The Warriors. My only complaint with the new release is that it does not have the uncut scenes. Luckily I have the uncut Hi-Fi letterbox version on VHS and DVD. Here is the warriors uncut stuff... "One tv cut features a pre-credit "prologue" which shows the Warriors on Coney Island, receiving their assignments for the night. After the credits, extra footage shows the Warriors struggling to find the location of the big meeting. This version also features a reworked version of Cyrus' speech which includes dialogue not in the theatrical version and which is also missing dialogue from the theatrical version. The rest of the tv cut features some extra snippets of the d.j., the "new" Cyrus, and the Warriors before the bathroom brawl." Enjoy The film is as handsome to watch as it is preposterous to listen to, full of gorgeous nocturnal city images that splash blaring neon colors against filthy, rain-slicked gray. Mr. Hill uses subways, jukeboxes, spectacularly eerie costumes and deserted streets to create a stark yet extravagant visual style, and a grimy little world in which everything looks curiously brand-new. Thanks to a lot of wipes and slow-motion shots, you are never in danger of forgetting that somebody clever is at the helm. Original version:<br/><br/>DVD release: 2001, purple/blue cover<br/><br/>Picture quality: Okay, but with some of the artifacts expected in what was then a 22-year-old cut of film.<br/><br/>Sound: Original mono.<br/><br/>Cut: Original cut as seen in theaters.<br/><br/>Extras: Nothing.<br/><br/>Availability: Now out of print, but still fairly easy to get hold of secondhand for very cheap.<br/><br/>Director's cut:<br/><br/>DVD release: 2005, red-orange cover<br/><br/>Picture quality: Greatly restored and cleaned up, worthy of DVD.<br/><br/>Sound: Remastered stereo surround, very well done.<br/><br/>Cut: Some new short comic-book-style transitions (1-3 seconds) inserted between some scenes, and a new short intro comparing the adventure to the classic Greek story it was based upon.<br/><br/>Extras: Some really good documentaries and interviews, pure gold to Warriors fans.<br/><br/>Availability: Common and in print, low-end DVD price, usually on shelves at major DVD stores.<br/><br/>Fans are very divided on the comic transitions, with some saying it actually ruins the movie while others aren't affected at all by them. But even people who totally hate the comic stuff tend to really like the rest of the goodies on the new disc.<br/><br/>Basically, if you're a fan of the film, you probably won't regret getting both versions. They're fairly cheap as DVDs go, and since it is out of print that original edition won't be so easy to get hold of forever. Additionally, the Director's Cut was released on Blu-ray and the now-defunct HD-DVD format. Both of these HD releases contain the same features as the DVD. A remake of this film was announced in 2005. Set to be produced by MTV films with Tony Scott directing, it would share the original film's basic idea of a gang stranded outside its turf. However, it would be set on the West Coast instead of New York and take place in modern times rather than a dystopian setting. It wasn't done with the approval or participation of Walter Hill or anyone else involved with the original.<br/><br/>Since that announcement, a few minor rumors surfaced (mainly the suggestion that this would feature real gang members as extras, a persistent rumor that has not been confirmed by any official source), but no solid information has been announced by MTV or Tony Scott since the original announcement.<br/><br/>Time has passed since that announcement, and Tony Scott himself died in 2012. Nobody's heard anything about this remake in quite a while. Apart from speculation, and the pushing forward of the release date on the remake's IMDb entry a couple of times (it's been quietly changed from 2006, to 2007, to 2008, all the way to 2014 as deadlines passed with no movie; you can find the entry at http://imdb.com/title/tt0423512/.) There hasn't been a scrap of information about it since the original announcement and Tony Scott's one interview at MTV in 2005. All that info is on http://warriorsmovie.co.uk (click "New movie") - a page on the main "Warriors" fan site, which hasn't changed or updated for a couple of years now.)<br/><br/>At this point, it appears that the project is at least on hold and, at most, dead. 1. Cleon (Dorsey Wright): the warlord, leader and founder of the gang. He wears a leopard-patterned cloth around his head and a Native American-style necklace.<br/><br/>2. Swan (Michael Beck): the war chief, second-in-command of the gang, and the central focus of the film. He's the tall white guy with long hair who becomes Mercy's boyfriend.<br/><br/>3. Ajax (James Remar): the guy who wears fingerless leather gloves and a black tank-top.<br/><br/>4. Vermin (Terry Michos): the fellow who always looks worried. White with scraggily hair, he often voices the down side of things.<br/><br/>5. Cochise (David Harris): the African American wearing Native American-style jewelry, leather pants, and boots. He sports an afro with a red bandanna tied around it.<br/><br/>6. Fox (Thomas G. Waites): the gang's scout, a white guy with curly brown hair he is the one who sees Cyrus shot.<br/><br/>7. Rembrandt (Marcelino Sánchez): the gang's graffiti artist, he wears the standard Warrior's vest along with a messenger bag and an afro.<br/><br/>8. Snow (Brian Tyler): a stoic African American Warrior with an afro.<br/><br/>9. Cowboy (Tom McKitterick): the warrior, who wears a Stetson cowboy hat and a shirt underneath his vest.<br/><br/>Cleon is murdered by the Gramercy Riffs. Ajax is arrested after attempting to sexually assault an undercover police officer. Fox is thrown in front of a train by a police officer. Mercy is the young woman whom they meet when the encounter the orphans, and she becomes and integral part of the rest of the movie. The other six (along with Mercy) Warriors make it back to Coney Island.
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