The Vault #4- The Warriors (1979)

Director: Walter Hill
Starring: Michael Beck, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, James Remar

Can. You. DIG IT? It's hard to really put my finger on why this film is as great as it is, because honestly, it's so simple. All of New York's gangs meet up one night to discuss forming an alliance, but when the leader of the gang proposing the truce is shot dead, a Coney Island gang called The Warriors are framed, and every gang in New York hunts them down. As I said, the plot is incredibly simple. You basically follow the Warriors as they attempt to get back to Coney Island alive. I think what makes this film work so well is the near impossible odds that our heroes are up against. Everybody wants them dead, and spends the whole film trying to kill them. There's something so intense about that, that literally every gang in the city is after this one group, and The Warriors never feel safe. Every time it looks like they might be alright, they get attacked by a rival gang, or chased by the police. And it's this feeling of constant threat that makes The Warriors such a thrilling watch. You know that anything could go wrong at any moment, and it does. The threat in the movie feels real. It feels like the Warriors are way out of their depth, like at any moment they could be killed or arrested. So many things go wrong for them in this film, and as the night goes on, their situation gets worse and worse. As the situation builds and builds, and things get worse for the Warriors, you start to wonder if they'll even get out at all. I think it would have been easy for the writers to just end the movie with a deus ex machina. But instead, and I'll try my best not to spoil anything here, they turn the situation around and end it the only way that they really could have.

The movie is made in such a way that you just know when something's going to go wrong. You can see when a problem is going to start, like with the scene with Ajax in the park. You know it's going to go wrong somewhere, and you're just waiting for things to go south. The whole film is like this. Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong, and makes the Warriors feel completely unprotected. The action is also really well done, albeit pretty over the top. But it definitely adds to the incredibly stylized tone that Walter Hill was going for.

Speaking of the movie's stylized tone, The Warriors has a distinct feel to it, and when I say that, I mean it's absolutely insane. The sheer madness of this film is perfectly reflected in it's visual style. I love the way that this movie looks. It really feels like New York is this huge battlefield for all these gangs, and the way that each area has it's own unique feel to it makes this movie a pretty visually interesting one. I really love the way each gang has their own style, and the opening credits where we see each gang en route to the meeting is one of the best opening scenes I've ever scene. It establishes who each gang is, as well as pretty much set up the entire plot of the movie in about seven minutes. It's just a fantastic opening scene that sets up the movie perfectly.

So, does this film have any flaws? Not really, actually. Yeah the story is a little bit simple, but apart from that, this film really works. It makes up for it's simplicity with a pretty distinct visual style, incredible action sequences and palpable tension, making for a chaotically fun and thrilling watch. It's a film that's always on the move, always going somewhere new, always throwing it's characters into new situations and always throwing new twists and turns at you (more from an action standpoint than from a story standpoint). Overall, The Warriors is a pretty fantastic dystopian crime action film. And like most dystopian films, it mixes it's world with some social commentary. Here, it's the perception of gangs. I love the scene on the train where Mercy's looking over at two civilians, almost envious at the life she has compared to them. That's actually pretty fascinating as commentary. Not everyone in these gangs are bad people, and everyone has a reason that they fight. It humanizes people that  would usually be portrayed as one dimensional villains anywhere else. It also says that these people can do heroic actions, and have honour. Yeah, the story is still pretty simple, but the commentary provides depth to the movie.

Overall, The Warriors is just an awesome movie. Fast paced, stylish action, mesmerizing visual style, and surprisingly deep social commentary make this movie one of the standouts of it's decade in my opinion. It's certainly one that I feel not enough people talk about, both as an action film and as social commentary. If you haven't seen The Warriors, please do. It's great movie, and one that's undoubtedly worth seeing, whether you just want great action or you want some surprisingly intelligent commentary on how we perceive criminals.