labelling is sometimes everything .
in original mad max , the opening title set the plot of the movie in near future , thus making it one of the science fiction classics , despite the future world being almost exactly like our own .
walter hill wanted the same opening title for his action classic the warriors .
producers were n't thrilled by that idea and consequently the movie lost all of its futuristic overtones .
on the other hand , producers were right on the mark ; walter hill was accused of actually promoting some disturbing trends that were quite visible in contemporary america .
to make the movie even more distant from future , plot was loosely based on anabasis , historical book written by xenophon , greek mercenary soldier who had described his adventures in ancient persia 2400 years ago .
instead of ancient persia , movie begins in contemporary coney island , where cleon ( dorsey wright ) , leader of the warriors , local youth gang , gets invitation to the great gathering of all youth gangs from the city .
the gathering , organised by gramercy park riffs , most powerful gang in the city , is taking place in bronx .
that is far away from warriors ' home territory , but small and unarmed delegation of the warriors gets there safely thanks to the general truce .
on the gathering , cyrus ( roger hill ) , charismatic leader of the riffs , announces his grand plan to unite all the gangs and take over the city .
crowd is enthusiastic , but the small gang of rogues , led by psychopathic luther ( david patrick kelly ) uses the opportunity to assassinate cyrus .
police simultaneously raids the gathering , and in the commotion warriors get blamed by the killing , and their leader gets killed by riffs .
the remaining eight , led by cleon 's lieutenant swann ( michael beck ) , must now try to get to coney island , but this time unprotected by truce and instead being chased by all the gangs .
upon its release , despite the controversies and even some youth riots that were allegedly inspired by it , the warriors enjoyed immense popularity and very quickly received some kind of a cult status .
however , despite being one of the best movies of that year , and being directed by talented action director walter hill at the peak of his career , the movie failed to leave as strong impression to the future generations as some other cinematic achievements of that same year .
the reason for that probably lies in a fact that this movie aged very quickly .
if walter hill 's idea was to warn the public about problems of urban america , he failed miserably .
the future was much worse than his vision .
the youth gangs , as presented in the warriors , are far from shadowy armies , able to take over entire cities .
their members seem more interested in unorthodox fashion and their little petty feuds than such prosaic , and for the public more annoying , matters like crime .
in their vocabulary , word " arms " is reserved for small knives and blunt objects , and only few of them use heavy artillery like handguns .
they even have their own , very strict and detailed laws , upheld more strictly than some governments do with their own .
many people in american cities would be more than happy to see their young criminals behaving like those in the warriors .
some of the critics who accused hill of actually praising youth crime had a lot arguments in their favour .
despite those objections , the warriors have all the elements of a very good film .
the plot is simple , and serves as good basis for numerous action scenes .
the fights are brilliantly choreographed and quite realistic , although there is n't much bloodshed or gore in the movie .
editing is superb , events happen at quick pace , with the exception of middle , when boring moralistic exchanges between swann and his would - be - girlfriend mercy ( deborah van valkenburgh ) drag the plot from straight action to social drama territory .
the soundtrack by barry de vorzon is very suggestive and recognisable .
yet , the trademark of this film are the actors who showed great talent , although most of them later sunk into anonymity .
best known of them is david patrick kelly , whose superb and original performance
in this film later subscribed him to the roles of psychopathic villains .
michael beck as cool , almost statesman - like leader of a gang , is also very good , and james remar gives good contrast as his hot - shot contender for top spot .
all in all , this movie is perhaps dated , yet in its hour and half can give a lot more entertainment
than most of the contemporary movies .
Output: P