On IMDb, it is commonplace to run across negative reviews that include a statement such as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen" or "worst movie ever made," etc. Those statements sometimes come off as knee jerk reactions to a sub par movie that doesn't deserve such lofty discrediting. In the case of "The Warriors" however, one can trust that such comments are well warranted.
Ironically, the premise for the movie - a gang trying to return to its home turf with every other gang in NY hot on its heels for revenge - is not bad, and I hope the remake of this is far more successful at realizing that premise.
It won't be hard to do so, since this movie is a disaster in every aspect. The script is grade-school level and performed amateurishly by a "never heard of 'em" cast. The styling of the gangs is remarkably silly. And this all takes place with a cheap-sounding electronic soundtrack that sounds like it could have been an experiment by John Carpenter, when as a kid he got his first Casio for Christmas.
One would think that a gang film like this would be high in impact and tension, but the presentation of the gangs and their individual members are more humorous than anything else. I don't know who should get the booby prize for silliness...my vote would go to either the "Baseball Furies" who look like members of Kiss that had just raided a Little League locker room, or the gang that looked like hillbillies on skates who took a wrong turn on their way to the Roller Derby. But they all look like rejects from Saturday Night Fever, reinforcing the notion that the seventies could very well have been the worst decade of style in human history.
The lack of graphic violence, which although gratuitous in "Kill Bill"-type films, but essential to films like "Saving Private Ryan", detracts from a film like this which is already lacking so much in gritty realism.
The script seems to have been written in an ad hoc style, and if you read some of the trivia about this movie, that seems to have been the case at times, as dialogue and situations had to be invented on the spot to account for behind the camera incidents.
However, the fact that there are no characters to root for, since every character in this film is an annoying jerk, may be the biggest detraction to a film that is without a single edge-of-your-seat moment. Once again, who cares if some Warrior gang member gets the snot beat out of him and doesn't make it back to Coney Island if he is just as obnoxious and unlikeable as any other rival gang member?
If there is any entertainment value in this film, it's that it can provide plenty of fodder for sarcastic and amusing comments from the living room peanut gallery. Other than that, the cult status and ridiculously high IMDb rating for this film is absolutely inexplicable.
Ironically, the premise for the movie - a gang trying to return to its home turf with every other gang in NY hot on its heels for revenge - is not bad, and I hope the remake of this is far more successful at realizing that premise.
It won't be hard to do so, since this movie is a disaster in every aspect. The script is grade-school level and performed amateurishly by a "never heard of 'em" cast. The styling of the gangs is remarkably silly. And this all takes place with a cheap-sounding electronic soundtrack that sounds like it could have been an experiment by John Carpenter, when as a kid he got his first Casio for Christmas.
One would think that a gang film like this would be high in impact and tension, but the presentation of the gangs and their individual members are more humorous than anything else. I don't know who should get the booby prize for silliness...my vote would go to either the "Baseball Furies" who look like members of Kiss that had just raided a Little League locker room, or the gang that looked like hillbillies on skates who took a wrong turn on their way to the Roller Derby. But they all look like rejects from Saturday Night Fever, reinforcing the notion that the seventies could very well have been the worst decade of style in human history.
The lack of graphic violence, which although gratuitous in "Kill Bill"-type films, but essential to films like "Saving Private Ryan", detracts from a film like this which is already lacking so much in gritty realism.
The script seems to have been written in an ad hoc style, and if you read some of the trivia about this movie, that seems to have been the case at times, as dialogue and situations had to be invented on the spot to account for behind the camera incidents.
However, the fact that there are no characters to root for, since every character in this film is an annoying jerk, may be the biggest detraction to a film that is without a single edge-of-your-seat moment. Once again, who cares if some Warrior gang member gets the snot beat out of him and doesn't make it back to Coney Island if he is just as obnoxious and unlikeable as any other rival gang member?
If there is any entertainment value in this film, it's that it can provide plenty of fodder for sarcastic and amusing comments from the living room peanut gallery. Other than that, the cult status and ridiculously high IMDb rating for this film is absolutely inexplicable.