Bless This Mess: The Warriors (1979)
THE SETUP
CW: brief mentions of sexual assault
In theory, 1979’s The Warriors has a lot in common with the contemporary-ish Escape From New York (small group against a ton of enemies organized against them), but it’s quite a bit sillier and weirder as an artefact, which to me makes it more interesting.
It’s 1979 in New York City, and all the city’s gangs are headed uptown to a meeting called by Cyrus, head of the biggest crew, the Gramercy Riffs.
See, Cyrus (the one and only) has this plan: he wants to unite the gangs of New York and take over, because together, they outnumber the cops. And, hey, it seems like people are into this idea. Unfortunately, before anything can actually happen, Cyrus is suddenly shot dead.
The person who shot Cyrus goes unseen by almost everyone, except, of course, the audience, and a member of the Warriors, a gang from Coney Island. Naturally, the shooter immediately points the finger at the Warriors, who now have to try to get home, meanwhile every other gang in the city is out to get them for killing their leader.
Cue a mad (and messy) chase through New York City!
You know how gangs look, right?
THE MESS
This film opens with an allusion to Greek history as told through comic book-style images and a voiceover telling us “This too is a story of courage.” I think this might be a reference to the book the movie is (loosely) based on, but it’s very silly, and also very great.
I understood instantly why this was a cult film: it has such a specific style to it. The cinematography, the comic book cutaways, the music, everything slams into you immediately and makes an IMPRESSION. Apparently the comic book transitions were a later addition and weren’t present in the original theatrical edition, but I kind of love them.
Honestly, this whole thing is a fascinatingly weird and messy mix, I think due to behind-the-scenes stuff. I’m no film expert, but there’s a lot of very competent, even good and interesting, cinematography, combined with a good deal of terrible acting and a truly bizarre script. If that doesn’t make for a cult film, I don’t know what does, and I’m here for it.
Okay so before we can really talk about the plot we gotta talk about the FASHION. Every single gang has a specific Look, and these are almost all a) amazing b) ridiculous. Like, I’m a white person from a Canadian suburb, I have no expertise on New York gangs, but I’m really quite sure these outfits are not accurate. I am here for it, though. Yes, show me the Mime Gang, excellent.
Apparently the filmmakers hired a bunch of real gang members to play extras in this film, and while I think they might just be consigned to the summit scene, I like to imagine that they got to play dress up for the opening shots of them all heading to the meeting.
The first scene of the film involves watching all the gangs travel uptown, giving us a chance to see their very cool fashions, while the Warriors discuss Cyrus and the upcoming meeting. It’s a great chance to establish the main players, how they feel about the meeting, and also to show all these presumably tough gang dudes calmly and respectfully putting their tokens into the turnstiles to ride the subway.
So, the big meeting. Cyrus gives a great, iconic speech, including the famous line, “Can you dig it?” I think Roger Hill, the actor who plays Cyrus, gives an amazing performance. It’s over the top but not quite silly, it somehow perfectly sets the tone for the film. Even wilder is that, as I understand it, Cyrus was supposed to be played by a real gang leader who never showed up, and Mr Hill was cast last-minute. He could dig it, clearly.
The actual content of Cyrus’ speech is a little confusing. Again, he wants the gangs to band together to take over the city, so that they can control it. He calls them brothers, invites them to see themselves as united, and thematically this is fine, but logistically, I’m not sure I understand why this would be beneficial. Anyway, all the gangs in attendance are into it: they just quietly stand and listen to him, very demure, very mindful.
Again, we get a really cool moment of filming/editing where we see the gun that will ultimately kill Cyrus be passed down a line of hands, until finally the main villain of the piece, who I’m told is named Luther even though I don’t think he’s actually referred to by name in the film, is handed it. Just a cool shot? An allusion to the collective nature of violence? Who knows!
This film moves at a CLIP, too. It’s only like ninety minutes long, they do not have time to waste.
So Cyrus is down, the police show up, and the gangs scatter. The Warriors’ leader, Cleon, tells his crew to move away from the crowd, and then he goes to try and help Cyrus. He seems to be a generally chill dude, and to genuinely believe in Cyrus’ plan. Unfortunately, Luther points the finger at Cleon, and the Warriors, and Cleon is beaten to death by the Gramercy Riffs, Cyrus’ gang.
The rest of the Warriors end up in a graveyard, where they determine they need to get back to Coney Island. Swan, the de facto leader, is challenged by Ajax, who’s a little shit, but the rest urge them to peace. They tag a gravestone with the slowest tag known to man.
Every so often throughout the film, a radio announcer will speak up and provide details and exposition, a kind of Greek Chorus situation. We never see her face, just her lips and the microphone. It’s a cool shot, it’s a cool way to get information across, and I dig it.
As in many films that are about guys being dudes, which focus a lot on masculinity and bonds between men, The Warriors is (unintentionally) a little queer. These are the gayest looking gang members I’ve maybe ever seen in a film. We have a lot of very pretty boys with long hair running around with just a vest on, or skintight clothes. Ajax keeps talking about shoving things up people’s asses (we’ll circle back to Ajax).
Meanwhile, Luther, our villain, makes a call to…someone. Is he calling the cops? Another gang member? It’s unclear, and we never get an answer to this. He’s clearly a Joker-esque agent of chaos-type villain (when asked at the end of the film why he killed Cyrus, he says, “No reason, I just like doing things like that”), and that’s fine, but it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. Maybe the implication is that he informed on the gangs to the cops, and that’s why they busted in on the summit? Or maybe he’s just calling his mom to give her updates! Either way, he’s “having a good time” apparently.
Speaking of Luther, the actor who plays him, David Patrick Kelly, absolutely sells it. He is completely committed to this role and it’s excellent. As a friend of mine would say, “He put his whole pussy into this role.” Apparently the iconic “Warriors, come out and play-ay” that he does near the end of the film was ad-libbed. It’s *chef’s kiss* amazing.
Okay so the Warriors have tried to get on a train, then been forced off by a track fire, leading them to pass through the territory of a less established gang, the Orphans. Swan makes an attempt to talk their way through, which is a genuinely interesting scene; they try to appeal to the Orphans’ pride, in a “oh yeah no you’re TOTALLY super tough, definitely” way. This almost works, until a woman named Mercy calls the Orphans chickens, and demands one of the Warriors’ vests, at which point things break down. Hilariously, the Warriors solve this situation by throwing a Molotov Cocktail at it.
Oh, Mercy. She ditches her lame gang to follow the Warriors, and oh man, do I have some conflicted feelings about her character. On one hand, she gets to have a character and an arc, and it actually feels thought-out, like the narrative takes her seriously. On the other hand, when she joins the Warriors, they threaten to gangrape her and assault her. Confusingly, Swan both stops Ajax from assaulting her, and then immediately “jokes”/“flirts”(??) that she looks like she would enjoy a gangbang. Yeah, I don’t love this.
Back to things that are baffling: the gang is chased by cops, and they are separated into three groups. One of their number, Fox, who until this point has been set up as an important character, scuffles with a cop, gets thrown beneath the wheels of a train, and dies. The movie almost completely forgets about his existence after this. Apparently this is because there was behind the scenes drama between the actor who played Fox and the director, but damn.
It does, however, lead to the most hilarious transition I’ve ever seen in a film. I posted a clip of it on Bluesky, [here]. You’re not missing any context: that’s really how we move from the death of a character to a chase sequence (and then fight) with the aptly-named Baseball Furies.
The fighting in this, as a side note, is extremely fake-looking and theatrical, and honestly, I don’t know if this was on purpose, but it works for me. It’s not dissimilar to watching West Side Story, except with slightly more desire to be taken as a serious gang film.
Also, also, New York is hilariously empty. Most of this film features zero extras (beyond, y’know, the various gangs). There’s almost nobody on the subway, on the platforms, in the parks, on the streets. It’s almost eerie, but it does contribute to the specific vibe of this film.
So the Warriors get split into functionally three groups, and we follow their adventures separately. One of these is Swan and Mercy, where they will of course begin to have a romance. The second group, consisting of Ajax, Cowboy, and Snow, have a run in with the police, which — put a pin in that, we’ll come back to it later.
The third group, consisting of Cochise, Vermin, and softboy tagger Rembrandt, runs into a group of women, belonging to a gang called the Lizzies, who lure them into their hideout by promising a good time. This is obviously deeply suspicious, but the two horny boys do not think twice about this. In a fun callback, the Lizzies butter the guys up in a very similar way that Swan and Fox tried to do to Mercy’s old gang.
Rembrandt, though, has some reservations. Sweet, sweet Rembrandt. From what I can tell, the actor who played him, Marcelino Sánchez, was queer, and, whether intentionally or not, that queerness clearly bleeds through the character. He’s feminine and soft, and he’s absolutely not interested in any of the women they see, and I find it really interesting how none of the others seem to mock him for this. Hilariously, he’s the one going, “hm guys I don’t know about this.”
Okay so also, the Lizzies are, it seems, a queer gang (get it, like “lezzies,” like slang for “lesbian”). It’s never spoken aloud, but it’s extremely obvious to the audience, I think, that they’re gay. There’s this strangely beautiful scene where two of them dance together, and the camera flashes between them and Rembrandt, as though recognizing each other’s queerness. While this may just be meant to signal to him that something is wrong, it’s not presented as sinister. These women are just enjoying each other’s company. Sure, they pull weapons on the Warriors just after, but they think the Warriors killed Cyrus. It’s somewhat justified.
This is intercut with Swan and Mercy’s deepening relationship. Again, Mercy is presented very matter-of-factly; Swan tries to slut shame her and she refuses to be shamed by him. She doesn’t want a regular woman’s life, and wants to live in the moment. And then of course they make out, before Swan ultimately tries to tell her off again.
Anyway, after escaping the Lizzies, Cochise and Vermin treat Rembrandt, who got sliced up a little in the altercation. We also get confirmation — at 69 whole minutes into the film — that they had no idea they’ve been blamed for Cyrus’ death before this point. Which means that they’ve especially had a WILD night of being targeted for no particular reason, but also undercuts some of the tension from earlier in the film.
Then they fight a rollerskating gang.
Okay, okay, only one of the members is on rollerskates. Somehow I actually think this is weirder; commit to the bit, man, and put everyone on skates.
Anyway, the remaining Warriors (plus Mercy) reunite, and they beat up the skaters. Mercy gets a chance to prove herself, I guess. She bites a man, which I can respect, but I’m not entirely sure why she feels that this is the thing to do.
Some random person comes to tell the Riffs, Cyrus’ gang, that he saw who shot Cyrus. I don’t know who this man is, but it’s pretty damn lucky for the Warriors that he came along.
Finally on the train to Coney Island, the Warriors discuss Cyrus’ plan, and how he had the right idea, but they need to “figure out what’s worth stealing.” I suppose the implication is that their crew is worth it, that the brotherhood they have is worth it, but it feels like stretching a little bit to read that into it.
The Warriors then encounter some of the only civilians we’ve seen all night, two couples coming back from prom or some kind of similar upper middle class event. The couples are clearly judging the Warriors’ appearance, but they’re also scared of them. Mercy, self-conscious, tries to fix her hair, and Swan stops her, staring at them threateningly. Finally, she closes her eyes, and the two couples get off at the next stop, clearly rattled. It’s tense, it’s well-acted, it’s a great scene that highlights the differences between them, I have no notes. Afterwards, Swan gives her a dropped corsage, and they talk about leaving the city behind.
Anyway, the Warriors reach Coney Island, where Luther is waiting for them, and we get the iconic “come out to play-ay” moment. Again, brilliant performance, he just totally goes for it, getting screechier and more jarring as the camera holds its position.
The Warriors decide to fight back (on the beach, for some reason, which feels like the worst place for it), and Luther pulls out his gun. Swan executes a frankly improbable knife throw and disarms him. Luther screams and whines.
Then, the Riffs show up, declare that the Warriors are “good, real good,” to which Swan responds, “The best.” They descend on Luther, presumably to kill him. And then the Warriors literally walk into the sunrise while “In the City” by the Eagles plays and the film ends.
I wasn’t sure where to include this, but it’s important to me that you know that Masai, the new leader of the Riffs, spends most of the film in this truly amazing sparkly shirt.
THE ACTUAL BAD STUFF
We gotta talk about Ajax, the hot-headed member of the group. He keeps calling people “f*ggots” and either talking about or attempting to assault women. He represents this very aggressive masculinity that’s kind of fascinating, if absolutely frustrating to watch, especially when none of the other characters ever really challenge him on it. I get that this is all to demonstrate his character, and to set him up in opposition to the more level-headed Swan, but I sure wish they didn’t drop the f-slur so many times.
This is perhaps demonstrated most clearly in his final scene: after defeating the Baseball Furies, they walk past a woman in the park who is somehow completely unmoved by a) the fact that it’s probably like 3am or b) that a bunch of men in vests just walked by her with baseball bats. Ajax decides he’s going to try and hook up with her, and even though she’s bafflingly into this, he decides he’s going to get rough and try to assault her instead of having consensual sex. Turns out she’s an undercover cop, and she arrests him on the spot. Like, not to side with the police, but dude, you totally deserved this one. He gets hit by one of the other cops, and his final word in the film is, “Wimps.”
I mentioned this above but I wish Mercy was treated better by the other characters. Swan makes a comment about her having “a mattress strapped to her back” right before she makes a move on him. Because that’s soooo appealling, right ladies. She also gets pushed around by the Warriors a decent amount; even Swan rips her skirt without her consent to make the Molotov. She’s eventually seen as part of the gang, I guess, but there’s no apology or even dialogue stating they respect her, just that they tolerate her presence now.
I’m probably the wrong person to talk about this in depth, but it feels worth mentioning that, while there are people of colour present (Cleon, Cochise, and Snow are Black, as are Cyrus and Masai, and Rembrandt is Latinx), the majority of the Warriors are white, which kind of feels like it undercuts what the film could be saying about marginalized community (more on this below).
IN CONCLUSION
God, how to summarize this film. If you tend to like cult films, if your brain is broken like mine, you should watch it, because in a lot of ways it’s kind of great. Is it the hardcore gang film it sometimes seems to think it is? No. Is it still a lot of fun? Yes.
Also, it’s kind of fascinatingly apolitical. Obviously it is political because everything is, but it doesn’t seem to be trying to make any particular statements about society. We’re meant to sympathize with the Warriors, but the other gangs aren’t depicted as bad (except for Luther) and nor are the police really (they rough Ajax up, but, as stated above, I don’t have a ton of sympathy for Ajax).
The Warriors started a whole moral panic, which feels hilarious to me in retrospect, especially because it’s not really saying anything all that radical. It’s not telling people to rise up against the system, it’s not telling people that gangs are cool and awesome, it’s not saying “fuck the police.” There is a general message that brotherhood, connection, and levelheadedness are superior to Ajax’s aggression or Luther’s random chaos, but it feels very far removed from real world circumstances (not unlike films about Greek soldiers).
All this to say: I can dig it. I think. 4/5 silly mime gangsters.