History Film / TheWarriors

*** What's worse, when he runs the idea of gang-banging the woman by Swan, Cowboy and Snow, they turn him down...although it's not because it's a bad thing to do or because he sickens them, but because every gang is out to kill them and they don't have time. They even tell him that there's plenty of women back in Coney.

** The movie begins with almost every gang gathering in Van Cortland Park, where a charismatic leader is planning to forge them into an army... and what looks like the entire NYPD following them, since suddenly all these criminals that normally fight each other on a daily basis are gathering in one location, and that is definitely worth the NYPD's entire force to deal with.

* RealityEnsues:
** The movie begins with almost every gang gathering in Van Cortland Park, where a charismatic leader is planning to forge them into an army... and what looks like the entire NYPD following them, since suddenly all these criminals that normally fight each other on a daily basis are gathering in one location, and that is definitely worth the NYPD's entire force to deal with.
** The comic sequel presents a logical consequence of the above: With the sudden influx of arrests, the criminal justice system is temporarily overwhelmed with processing all of them. Many of the gang members are kept in relatively low-security police holding cells for an extended period of time, which is the only reason the Warriors have any hope of breaking Ajax out.

* RealityEnsues: The movie begins with almost every gang gathering in Van Cortland Park, where a charismatic leader is planning to forge them into an army... and what looks like the entire NYPD following them, since suddenly all these criminals that normally fight each other on a daily basis are gathering in one location, and that is definitely worth the NYPD's entire force to deal with.

The movie starts with the Warriors arriving in a huge Bronx park to attend a summit called by Cyrus, the intelligent and charismatic leader of the Riffs, New York's most powerful street gang. Cyrus makes an ambitious proposal to the assembled delegates of the city's various gangs: if they all unite under his leadership into an army, they can rule New York City and take out [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops the cops]], [[TheMafia the mob]], and anyone else who gets in their way. Swayed by his eloquence, almost all the gangs are completely fired up to unite and make Cyrus's dream a reality. They don't realize two things; the cops have been quietly surrounding the park as Cyrus speaks, and Luther, leader of the Rogues, is planning havoc. In the midst of his speech, as hundreds of gang members are distracted by their own frenzy, Luther shoots and kills Cyrus. Luther then frames Cleon, the leader of the Warriors, for Cyrus's murder. An instant later, the cops raid the park as the Riffs kill Cleon. None of the other Warriors know either that their leader is dead or that they are accused of Cyrus' murder, but they do manage to escape the frenzy. The remaining Warriors are now faced with a nearly impossible task: They must make their way from literally one end of New York City (the Bronx) to the other (Coney Island), [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCitySubway by subway]], while being hunted by every gang member in the city, the cops, and the people who actually killed Cyrus.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_warriors_1979_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Can you dig it?]]

''The Warriors'' is a 1979 crime/action movie, directed by Creator/WalterHill and based on the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick, that tells the story of nine members of a UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity street gang known as the Coney Island Warriors as they fight for survival throughout one very bad night.

* AgeLift / VagueAge: Caused by DawsonCasting young adults as teens in a movie where the dialogue implies high-school age for the main cast. Notably, the general age of the underage main characters was also changed in the adaptation to late teens rather than early to mostly mid-teens, like the characters in the novel. The novel's characters also behave a lot more suspiciously, immaturely and nervously, and there is a much harsher take in the novel on teen male toxic masculinity.

* MeaningfulName: Ajax is the DumbMuscle, as was his mythical namesake. Rembrandt is in charge of tagging, making him the gang's "artist." Fox is the gang's scout and quickest member. Snow always stays cool. Swan is calm, dignified, and handsome. Cleon is named after a famous Greek general. Cowboy is never seen without his stetson hat. Cochise is dressed in Native American apparel. Vermin, in the original script, was to be "exterminated" by the Lizzies. Cyrus's namesake was a powerful king in ''{{Anabasis}}'' who was killed trying to reclaim a Persian empire. Masai is named for the African warrior culture.

* RunTheGauntlet: After the Punks frame the Warriors for the murder of Cyrus, the Riffs put out a kill order on the Warriors, who need to fight off multiple enemy gangs to reach home. This gauntlet is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as the enemy gangs in question are usually territorial and will attack any other rival gang crossing their territory, so the idea of [[EnemyMine uniting against the Warriors]] is out of the question.

* NewOldWest: There are a lot of Western plot elements, with the Warriors essentially running through a lawless InjunCountry of hostiles while themselves sporting a Native American theme. Further, the Warriors are "outlaws" being pursued by the "Posse" of the NYPD. Two of the Warriors even have Western motifs; Cowboy, who wears a stetson, and Cochise, who wears Native American style clothing with his vest.

* ChainPain: One the Punks who attacks the Warriors in the men's room is wielding a length of chain as a weapon. Cochise manages to wrap it around the Pink's own neck. Later, one the Riff's who surrounds [[spoiler:Luther]] on the beach is carrying a heavy chain.

* DefiniteArticeTitle

* WeAreStrugglingTogether: This is basically Cyrus' message at the Bronx summit.

** Ajax attempts to rape a female undercover cop at one point.

* PetTheDog: Swan is mostly a jerk to Mercy. But in a later scene they wind up sharing a train with some yuppies whose girlfriends take very pointed, mocking glances at Mercy's general state of disarray. Swan responds with a DeathGlare that scares them off the train before they reach their stop.

* ChekhovsGuman: The Turnbull [=ACs=], the Furies, and the Punks make their first appearances listening to the radio channel, on which the DJ is relaying the Riffs' kill order on the Warriors.

* ShoutOut: The Baseball Furies' make up was inspired by {{Music/Kiss}}. Their uniforms are based on the [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} New York Yankees]].

* NewOldWest: There are a lot of Western plot elements, with the Warriors essentially running through a lawless InjunCountry of hostiles while themselves sporting a Native American theme. Further, the Warriors are "outlaws" being pursued by the "Posse" of the NYPD.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The Turnbull [=ACs=], the Furies, and the Punks make their first appearances listening to the radio channel, on which the DJ is relaying the Riffs' kill order on the Warriors.

* TheThemeParkVersion: Played straight and averted. Especially by today's standards, the film offers a somewhat cartoonish vision of gang life in New York, with gangs wearing elaborate costumes and getting up-to-the-minute coverage on rumbles from a local "underground" radio station. However, the film is also rather brutal, with a number of characters getting killed. One particular scene, in which the surviving members of the gang are contrasted to some suburbanites coming from prom, emphasizes the relative grittiness of the setting. The film became infamous when real gang members attended showings and got into fatal fights.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The Turnbull ACs, the Furies, and the Punks make their first appearances listening to the radio channel on which the female DJ reads out the Riffs' kill order on the Warriors.

* ChekhovsGunman: The A.C. Bulls, the Furies, and the Punks make their first appearances listening to the radio channel on which the female DJ reads out the Riffs' kill order on the Warriors.