The Worst 70s Movie: THE WARRIORS

A decade’s films say something about its mood, and Walter Hill’s 1979 flick The Warriors displayed both our preoccupation with crime and love/hate feelings towards street gangs. Universally trashed by critics; condemned by politicians and community leaders; even TW’s posters were controversial. The original, which featured a number of street toughs, was replaced with a simpler logo after several outbreaks of youth violence were linked to showings of this flick.

“The Armies of the Night.” That’s how TW depicted its heros (?), the members of an assortment of street gangs. The Warriors, the toughest of the crews, travels from its base near Coney Island to the north Bronx for a truce meeting with a rival group. When that gang’s leader is murdered, The Warriors are falsely blamed for the offense, and must make it back to Coney Island while pursued by thousands of vengeful thugs, as well as the police. Between scenes of violence a silhouetted figure of a female disk jockey (Lynn Thigpen, who portrayed the judge in Anger Management) encourages them with her silken voice. Eventually, the Warriors make it back to their Brooklyn homeland and are vindicated.

Just like “gangsta rap,” TW was seen as encouraging nasty behavior in teens. Indeed, some theaters refused to show it, citing instances of kids causing trouble on the way home. But by today’s standards it was pretty tame. It even portrayed racially-integrated street gangs whose members seemed to get along as harmoniously as a troop of Boy Scouts.