Thursday, December 15, 2005

Warriors! Come out to play-ay!



That crazy, over-the-top 1979 gang flick "The Warriors" is now the cutting edge of cool, according to the Village Voice.

The article mentions that the author of the original 1965 novel was an old-school Marxist, and boy is he ever. I attempted to read the introduction to the novel. Mind you, I'm always interested in a socio-economic theory but that man could fell a caffomaniac on 10 espressos. In any case, the movie retains almost none of the author's views about society and poverty: it's a vision of NYC's future when gangs roam Manhattan. Like The Hi-Hats - a gang of mimes from Soho.

I know I slammed Wikipedia a few days ago, but this article on the Warriors is pretty good, and has a list of all the other gangs and uniform concepts, including the Gramercy Riffs, the Saracens, and the Satan's Mothers.

I knew there was a Warriors revival underway when some guy who works with my bf dressed up like a Baseball Fury for Halloween this year. And now my bf is addicted to the new video game.

The basic plot of the movie: the Warriors are falsely accused of killing a gangland visionary named Cyrus and they have to get home to Coney Island from the Bronx, while avoiding the vengence of other New York gangs. Yet one more Coney Island curiousity, along with the freak shows, hotdog eating contest and the Cyclone a national landmark deathtrap made out of toothpicks.

Can - you - dig it?