The warriors

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Movie
German title The warriors
Original title The Warriors
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1979
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Walter Hill
script David Shaber ,
Walter Hill
production Lawrence Gordon
music Barry De Vorzon
camera Andrew Laszlo
cut Freeman A. Davies ,
David Holden ,
Susan E. Morse ,
Billy Weber
occupation

The Warriors (Original title: The Warriors ) is an American film by the director Walter Hill from 1979, which is based on a novel by Sol Yurick , who in turn interprets the anabasis of Xenophon . It is about a gang from New York City who are accused of murdering a respected leader of another gang. The gang must fight their way back 30 miles from the north end of the Bronx to their home in Coney Island in southern Brooklyn . Various other gangs try to intercept the warriors . The film opened in American cinemas on February 9, 1979.

action

New York City, late 1970s: The city is populated by hundreds of gangs, all of whom are keeping a truce to prevent turf wars. The leader of the Gramercy Riffs , gang boss Cyrus, plans to unite all gangs into a huge "Army of the Night", which would number around 80,000 members. This “army” would be superior to the police in a ratio of 4: 1. So he calls a meeting in Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, to which nine unarmed members of each gang are invited. But the leader of the Rogues , Luther, shoots him from behind from the crowd and is seen by Fox, a member of the Warriors , a gang from Coney Island.

Shortly afterwards, the police storm the event and the gangs flee. When the riffs seek the murderer, Luther accuses the Warriors of having shot Cyrus, whereupon their leader Cleon is killed by the riffs . A female DJ informs gangs of the city via a radio pirate station that the riffs want the Warriors dead or alive. Many of the city's gangs hunt down the warriors .

The warriors head home without knowing the allegations. They realize that something is wrong when they are attacked by another gang, the Turnbull ACs , at a subway station . But they escape into the subway. On the way through a slum they are caught by the local Orphans gang , who do not know anything about the murder of Cyrus, but they can initially pass through Swan's negotiating skills. However, a young woman who appeared shortly before, Mercy, insults the leader Sully as "soft" and incites him to a confrontation. Mercy's incitement moves Sully to tell the Warriors to strip off their "colors" (their vests) and walk through orphan territory as civilians . Swan and the Warriors categorically reject Sully's invitation, and the Orphans challenge them to fight. The Warriors are outnumbered and, unlike the Orphans, unarmed, but with a Molotov cocktail and with Mercy in tow, who tries to escape the desolate area, the Warriors manage to escape.

They are attacked by a group of police officers at the 96th Street and Broadway subway stations . Fox is pushed by a police officer in front of the subway and dies. The remaining split up. Vermin, Cochise and Rembrandt make it to the train to Union Square .

Swan, Ajax, Snow and Cowboy make their way through Central Park and meet another hostile gang, the Baseball Furies , who are chasing them into Riverside Park . Although outnumbered again, the four warriors defeat them and take their baseball bats from them. Ajax stays behind, harasses a woman who turns out to be a police officer and is arrested. The rest of the gang then split up again to look for the others.

Swan and Mercy go back to the 96th Street subway station, but are again attacked by police officers and flee into the subway shaft, where they get closer. Snow and Cowboy rush to another subway station. Vermin, Cochise and Rembrandt are lured into a trap by a gang of women, the Lizzies , but escape at the last moment. During the attack by the Lizzie , they learn that they are suspected of murdering Cyrus.

At Union Square / 14 subway station. Street everyone meet again and fight against another gang, the punks . After their victory and a long drive, they arrive in Coney Island at sunrise.

The rogues followed them and put them on the beach. When Swan calls Luther to a duel and Luther pulls the revolver with which he shot Cyrus, Swan throws a knife in his arm (as Toshirō Mifune had already done against the pistol shooter in Yojimbo ).

The riffs , which have since learned from a witness that Luther was really Cyrus' murderer, arrive on the beach and set the rogues . Masai, the leader of the riffs , who wears aviator glasses and black clothes throughout the film , admits to Swan that the Warriors are pretty good, to which Swan proudly replies, "The best!"

The radio DJ announces that the hunt for the Warriors is over, the accusation was a mistake and testifies to the Warriors of the honor with the song In the City . While the Warriors are walking along the beach with Mercy, you can see how the Rogues and their boss Luther are surrounded by a huge, heavily armed crowd of riffs and slowly drown in her screaming.

criticism

In Germany, the film was perceived by critics less as a film than as a sociological phenomenon. For example in the news magazine Der Spiegel from July 9, 1979, where he is made responsible for youth violence.

Trivia

The film originally received an FSK rating “not under 18 years”. In 1983 the Federal Inspectorate found a youth risk and indexed the film. After 18 years, the film was prematurely removed from the index and received an FSK approval “from 12” when it was re-examined in 2013.

The film achieved great popularity at the time; Enzo Castellari made a similar film with the international title The Bronx Warriors in 1982 with the film The Riffs - We are the violence , which was supposed to swim along on the wave of success.

At the time, the film was captivating with its comic-book look and over the decades it became a part of mainly American pop culture. References to The Warriors are still made today, for example in the music video for the song Fight Music by the group D12 from 2001.

There is also a video game adaptation of the film by the company Rockstar Vancouver / Rockstar Games from 2005, which was never officially released in Germany; see: The Warriors .

On October 23, 2009, an arcade video game called The Warriors: Street Brawl was released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network . In a classic side-scrolling beat 'em up , you play the movie with the escape to Coney Island.

In the episode visit of the old men of the US cartoon television series The Simpsons (season 25, episode 14), the movie is parodied. Bart attends a “rowdy congress” with the “school hooligans ”. His twin is stolen and a speaker is shot with it. Bart has to flee back to Springfield with the others and is chased by other rowdy gangs.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Warriors . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2013 (PDF; test number: 50 624 V).
  2. ↑ Dear guys. Der Spiegel , July 9, 1979, accessed February 2020.
  3. ↑ Dear guys . In: Der Spiegel . No. 28 , 1979, pp. 148-152 ( online - 9 July 1979 ).