The Warriors (film)
The Warriors is a 1979 American action thriller film directed by Walter Hill from a screenplay by Hill and David Shaber and based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Sol Yurick, in-turn inspired by Xenophon's Anabasis. The film features an ensemble cast which includes Michael Beck, James Remar, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Marcelino Sánchez, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Brian Tyler, Dorsey Wright, Terry Michos, David Patrick Kelly, Roger Hill, Edward Sewer, and Lynne Thigpen. In the film, a street gang must escape from the Bronx back to their home turf on Coney Island after being framed for the murder of a respected gang leader.
Development on The Warriors initially began in 1969 after film rights to Yurick's novel was purchased by American International Pictures, but production stalled until producer Lawrence Gordon obtained the rights and commissioned Shaber and Hill to work on the screenplay. Originally envisioned as a western, the novel was ultimately adapted as a stylized action thriller. Casting was extensive and production was troubled, with Hill clashing with some of the actors and going over budget. Principal photography took place in 1978 on location across New York City, including at Astoria Studios.
The Warriors was theatrically released in the United States on February 9, 1979, by Paramount Pictures. It grossed $22.5 million worldwide and received negative reviews from critics for its lack of realism and dialogue. Initial screenings of the film were linked to vandalism and murders, prompting Paramount to halt advertising or release theaters from their obligation to screen the film. The Warriors has been reappraised by critics and is considered a cult film. It has since launched a franchise which spawned several spinoffs, including video games and a comic book series.
Plot
Cyrus, charismatic leader of the Gramercy Riffs, the most powerful gang in New York City, requests that 100 of the city's gangs each send nine unarmed delegates to Van Cortlandt Park for a midnight summit. The Warriors, a gang from Coney Island, send a delegation consisting of "warlord" Cleon; "war chief" Swan; enforcer Ajax; scout Fox; graffiti artist Rembrandt; music-man Snow; bearer Vermin and soldiers Cowboy and Cochise. Cyrus proposes a citywide truce and alliance to the assembled crowd, allowing the gangs to control the city together since they collectively outnumber the police by three to one.Most of the gang members applaud this idea, but Luther, the unbalanced and sadistic leader of the Rogues, shoots Cyrus dead as the NYPD arrive to raid the summit. In the chaos, Luther realizes that Fox witnessed his actions; after failing to shoot him, he falsely accuses the Warriors of responsibility. Cleon denies the assassination, however he is viciously attacked by the vengeful Riffs, leaving his fate unknown. Meanwhile, the other Warriors escape to Woodlawn Cemetery, unaware that they have been implicated in Cyrus's killing. Masai, Cyrus's second-in-command in the Riffs, puts out a "dead or alive" bounty on the Warriors through a radio DJ. To Ajax's disappointment, Swan takes charge of the group as they try to get home.
The Turnbull ACs spot the Warriors and try to run them down with a modified school bus, but they escape and board the MTA New York City Subway. On the ride to Coney Island, the train is stopped by a building fire alongside the tracks, stranding the Warriors in Tremont. Setting out on foot, they encounter the Orphans, who are insecure about their lowly status as they were excluded from Cyrus's meeting. After Mercy, the girlfriend of the Orphans' leader, instigates a confrontation, Swan throws a Molotov cocktail, and the Warriors run to the nearest subway station. Impressed and desperate to escape her depressing neighborhood, Mercy follows the Warriors.
When the group arrives at the 96th Street and Broadway station in Manhattan, they are pursued by police and separated. Vermin, Cochise, and Rembrandt escape by boarding a subway car. Fox, struggling with a police officer, is thrown onto the tracks and killed by a passing train as Mercy flees the scene. The Baseball Furies chase Swan, Ajax, Snow, and Cowboy into Riverside Park, but they are defeated in a brawl. After the fight, Ajax sees a lone woman sitting on a park bench and leaves the group despite Swan's objections. When Ajax becomes sexually aggressive, the woman reveals herself as an undercover police officer and arrests him with the help of uniformed officers.
Upon arriving at Union Square station, Vermin, Cochise, and Rembrandt are seduced by an all-female gang called the Lizzies and invited into their hideout. They narrowly escape the Lizzies' subsequent attack, learning in the process that the gangland community and the police believe the Warriors murdered Cyrus. As a lone scout, Swan returns to the 96th Street station, where Mercy joins him. After reaching the Union Square station by walking along the tracks, they reunite with the remaining Warriors and fight with an overalls-wearing roller skating gang, the Punks, which allows Mercy to prove herself in combat. Meanwhile, an unidentified gang member visits the Riffs and tells them that he saw Luther shoot Cyrus.
At dawn, the Warriors finally reach Coney Island, only to find Luther and the Rogues waiting for them. Swan challenges Luther to single combat, but Luther pulls a gun instead. Swan dodges his shot and throws a switchblade into Luther's forearm, disarming him. The Riffs arrive, acknowledging the Warriors' courage and skill before apprehending the Rogues. As the Riffs descend upon him, Luther screams. The radio DJ announces that the bounty on the Warriors has been cancelled and salutes them with a song, "In the City." The film ends with Swan, Mercy, and the rest of the gang walking down a Coney Island beach illuminated by the rising sun.
Cast
Featured as gang leaders in the film are Paul Greco as the leader of the Orphans, Jery Hewitt as the leader of the Baseball Furies, Kate Klugman as the leader of the Lizzies, and Konrad Sheehan as the leader of the Punks. Stunt coordinator and future director Craig R. Baxley appears as a member of the Punks, as does stuntman A.J. Bakunas, who was killed on the set of the movie Steel before the film's release. Steve James and Bill Anagnos portray Baseball Furies, while Dennis Gregory portrays a Gramercy Riff. Mercedes Ruehl plays the policewoman who arrests Ajax, with Irwin Keyes and Sonny Landham also appearing as police officers. Ginny Ortiz portrays the candy store employee whom the Rogues steal from and John Snyder portrays a gas station worker. In a pre-credits scene deleted from the theatrical version but reinstated in television broadcasts, Pamela Poitier portrays Lincoln, Cleon's girlfriend.Production
Development
The film is based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel The Warriors, which was, in turn, based on Xenophon's Anabasis. Film rights were bought in 1969 by American International Pictures but no film resulted.
Rights were then obtained by producer Lawrence Gordon who commissioned David Shaber to write a script. Gordon had made Hard Times and The Driver with Walter Hill; he sent the script to Hill with a copy of Sol Yurick's novel. Hill recalls, "I said 'Larry, I would love to do this, but nobody will let us do it.' It was going to be too extreme and too weird."
Gordon and Hill were originally going to make a western but when the financing on the project failed to materialize, they took The Warriors to Paramount Pictures because they were interested in youth films at the time and succeeded in getting the project financed. Hill remembers "it came together very quickly. Larry had a special relationship with Paramount and we promised to make the movie very cheaply, which we did. So it came together within a matter of weeks. I think we got the green light in April or May 1978 and we were in theaters in February 1979. So it was a very accelerated process."
Hill was drawn to the "extreme narrative simplicity and stripped down quality of the script". The script, as written, was a realistic take on street gangs but Hill was a huge fan of comic books and wanted to divide the film into chapters and then have each chapter "come to life starting with a splash panel". However, Hill was working on a low budget and a tight post-production schedule because of a fixed release date as the studio wanted to release The Warriors before a rival gang picture called The Wanderers. Hill was finally able to include this type of scene transition in the Ultimate Director's Cut released for home video in 2005.
Casting
The filmmakers did extensive casting in New York City. Hill was considering hiring Sigourney Weaver from Alien and watched a movie she had filmed in Israel called Madman where the male lead opposite Weaver was played by Michael Beck. The director was impressed with Beck's performance and cast him in The Warriors. Hill initially wanted a Puerto Rican actress for the role of Mercy, but Deborah Van Valkenburgh's agent convinced the film's casting directors to see her and she was eventually cast. The filmmakers wanted to cast Tony Danza in the role of Vermin but he was cast in the sitcom Taxi and Terry Michos was cast instead. While there were white characters in Yurick's book, none of the central characters or protagonists were white: according to Hill, Paramount did not want an all-black cast for "commercial reasons".Hill saw Thomas G. Waites as the next James Dean, and the director "invited the young actor to the Gulf and Western to watch movies like Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden for inspiration." During the screening, Hill offered Waites a drink, which Waites refused, resulting in a rift between the two that grew worse during the grueling summer shoot. At one point, Waites threatened to report the working conditions to the Screen Actors Guild, forcing Paramount to provide a second trailer for the eight Warriors to share.
Finally eight weeks into principal photography, when the tension on set between Waites and Hill reached the breaking point, Hill demanded that stunt coordinator Craig Baxley improvise a stunt scene in which Waites' character would be killed. "Stunned, Baxley demurred. Such a critical scene would take careful planning. But Hill was insistent. 'I don't give a shit how you kill him,' Baxley recalls the director saying. 'Kill him.'" Baxley found a crew member who resembled Waites and staged a scene in which the character is thrown off a subway platform in front of an approaching train. "It was like someone cut my soul out and left a shell", Waites remembers. He would later demand that his name be removed from the cast altogether; he remains uncredited to this day. Both Waites and Hill have expressed regret over how the situation was handled and since made up.