The Warriors

I finally got round to watching my DVD of The Warriors last night (thanks to cassielsander for suggesting it for my course). I confess that I haven't read Xenophon's Anabasis (though I've read most of his biography of Alexander the Great), so I'm sure some of the finer points were lost on me (though I got the obvious ones, like Cyrus). Moved to discover more, I searched on "Anabasis" and found this editorial note: "there is a straightforward manliness about the style, with a distinct flavour of a cheerful lightheartedness, which at once enlists our sympathies."

Well, that goes for the film too, though in these less reserved and more biologically-inclined days we might, instead of "straightforward manliness" write "overpowering testosterone". As guy films go, this makes your typical buddy movie look like a romantic comedy with Meg Ryan. There are, of course, some women in the film, but, like most of the the women in Greek mythology, they're dangerous: we have a Siren undercover policewoman, the Amazon (or Lemnian) Lizzies (presumably named after Lizzie Borden), and DJ Clothis. Even our heroine, Mercy, is viewed with suspicion at first: it looks like she is a calculating little slut who will sell herself to the toughest guy around. It takes a lot of abuse from Swan to prove that in fact she really is a calculating little slut who will sell herself to the toughest guy around, which makes her OK in his books.

While this gynophobia would be annoying in most films, it makes perfect sense in The Warriors, since this is after all, a film about male teenage gangs (bar the Lizzies, of course). It's all about that age when you're trying to escape maternal domination and indulge in sex without any after-effects (i.e. from fifteen to fifty-something). And in some ways, I have to admit that after a decade of films where a feisty chick has to be thrown in to balance political correctness and sex-appeal, this is rather refreshing.

Other retro enjoyment is provided by the strained street dialogue ("Let's split - those guys are packed.") and outrageous hairstyles. The music is also the best that period had to offer, with elector-blips and funky bass-lines on a par with classic soundtracks like Escape From New York.

The really dated aspect of The Warriors, though, is the moral panic it inspired. When it came out in 1979, it was blamed for inciting gang warfare. By today's standards, the gangs in the film look rather tame. I saw maybe three handguns (only used by girls and the cowardly assassin), a few flick-knives and a lot of baseball bats. Certainly a far cry from the gangs of today who use cluster bombs and daisy-cutters Uzis - or are Uzis retro now too? It's so hard to keep up.