By Joe Suszczynski

One genre of film that always seems to stand out are cult films because of their uniqueness.  One film that qualifies as a cult film is “The Warriors.” This was not a very popular film, but time ended up being kind to it and it is now regarded as a great movie despite the cult status it has.

“The Warriors” came out in 1979 and was directed by Walter Hill. The movie was based on the novel by Sol Yurik. Parts of the story are loosely based on the work “Anabasis” by Greek writer Xenophon. I will say that this is not the most intelligent movie where deep critical thought is required to get the message from it, but this movie is just a lot of fun to watch.

The story starts off in the Bronx where the gang leader of the Gramercy Riffs, Cyrus (Roger Hill), organizes a meeting with nine representatives of each gang in the boroughs of New York City in Van Cortlandt Park. The idea is to unite all the gangs against the police, which the majority seemed to like by cheering vigorously. However a gang member from the Rouges, Luther (David Patrick Kelly), shoots Cyrus in the chest killing him and ends up framing the gang, The Warriors, from Coney Island. Their “Warlord” or leader Cleon (Dorsey Wright) gets killed leaving the other eight members to flee the police and other gangs. They now have to find their way back to Coney Island, evading everyone they possibly can.

This film is known for having unfamiliar actors. Michael Beck plays Swan, who ends up taking over once Cleon is killed. Beck had a great presence as a person who was put into a leadership position on the fly and has to think as he goes when he has problems constantly put in front of him. James Remar, who played the character Ajax also did a fantastic job. When he is on screen there is never a dull moment.

Walter Hill did a decent job directing this film. One thing that he did well was directing the chase scenes. Many scenes of the movies have all the gang members running away from either other gangs or police officers and the crazy thing was that all the actors had to actually run those distances instead of incorporating the movie magic that is used today. It made the movie feel so natural because you can actually see the sweat just coming off the actors because they are running so hard.

Cult films are the dark horse of cinema. “The Warriors” is an exceptional cult film that should be watched. The acting was well and despite the simplicity of the story. Cult films have their place in cinema and “The Warriors” are included in that section, for that this is a classic that needs to be respected.