02/04/06 The Warriors

The Warriors (1979), directed by Walter Hill

watched w/ Leslie, Joel & Z; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Can you dig it?!?! Yes, yes I can. The source for so many of pop-culture's subversiveness, and references, displayed in all its kitschy brilliance. A true cult classic that has always been on my radar, but never in my DVD player until today. Set sometime in the future of NYC, it shows a criminal underbelly consisting of rival gangs that meet to call a truce of turf warfare, only to have it all blow up in their face. The martyr-like Cyrus is killed, and the Warriors are blamed. They spend the rest of the movie on the lam...running all over the place. Seriously, I've never seen so much running in a movie! For such "tough-guy thugs," they sure did run away from a fight. This may also explain why there's no Obese Gang, considering the marathon is part of the initiation process. The costumes & names of the gangs are priceless, like the Lizzies, Baseball Furies (think Kiss in pinstripes), and the Orphans (poor guys, they just get T-shirts w/ iron on letters). The classic scene with Luther taunting the Warriors to fight by clanking beer bottles together in his hands, while creepily calling "come out and play" is awesome...until P. Diddy ruined it. It just brings us full circle in the pop-culture reference library.

5 out of 5 stars