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The Rewatchables ·

The Warriors

year 1979decade 70sdirector Walter Hillgenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Shea Serranohost Sean Fennessey
All 16 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 18:05

Cyrus's speech

The movie is described as six scenes that are fun to watch over and over with lagging in between; Cyrus's speech is amazing, including the little wooden platform built for him that fell apart when he bumped it, and his 'can you count, suckers?' to 900 juvenile delinquents.

The production could not afford 900 extras and used real gang members, whose cheering during the speech was genuine; Roger Hill's performance is called all-time, with three lines in the lexicon ('can you count, suckers', 'can you dig it', 'the future is ours if you can count'), and The Rock's late-nineties wrestling persona seemed like a Cyrus impersonation.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:02:13

"Warriors come out to play"

Candidates: 'I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle', 'Warriors come out to play', 'can you dig it' and 'the Warriors are good, real good, the best'; the popsicle line is one host's favorite, but the iconic quote that has lasted forty years is probably 'Warriors come out to play', and it comes down to that and 'can you dig it', which has been good too.

The film

The Warriors (1979)

Directed by Walter Hill · Drama

92 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Michael Beck "Swan", the second-in-command and interim War Chief of the Warriors
James Remar "Ajax", the vulgar mouthy enforcer of the Warriors
Deborah Van Valkenburgh "Mercy", girlfriend of the Orphans leader who accompanies the Warriors to Coney Island
Marcelino Sánchez "Rembrandt", the youngest member and Graffiti Artist of the Warriors
David Harris "Cochise", a member of the Warriors who sports Native American gear
Tom McKitterick "Cowboy", a member of the Warriors who wears a cowboy hat
Brian Tyler "Snow", an enforcer of the Warriors with a taste for music
Dorsey Wright Cleon, War Chieftain and leader of the Warriors
Terry Michos "Vermin", a member of the Warriors who is the known bearer of the group
David Patrick Kelly Luther, the psychotic leader of the Rogues who was responsible for Cyrus's assassination and who clicks empty bottles together to taunt The Warriors while repeating "Warriors - come out to play-ee-eh..."
Roger Hill Cyrus, leader of the Gramercy Riffs and host of the Van Cortlandt Summit
Edward Sewer Masai, second-in-command of the Gramercy Riffs who personally trains the gang members [ N 1 ]
Lynne Thigpen the D.J.
Thomas G. Waites "Fox", the Scout for the Warriors [ N 2 ]

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

18:05

Most Rewatchable Scene

Cyrus's speech

Cyrus's speech

In the discussion (16)
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:05Read transcript
  • The movie is described as six scenes that are fun to watch over and over with lagging in between; Cyrus's speech is amazing, including the little wooden platform built for him that fell apart when he bumped it, and his 'can you count, suckers?' to 900 juvenile delinquents.
  • The production could not afford 900 extras and used real gang members, whose cheering during the speech was genuine; Roger Hill's performance is called all-time, with three lines in the lexicon ('can you count, suckers', 'can you dig it', 'the future is ours if you can count'), and The Rock's late-nineties wrestling persona seemed like a Cyrus impersonation.
  • The film had a renaissance around the video game some twenty-plus years later after being on cable for twenty straight years, a rap song sampled 'can you dig it', and like Scarface it was adopted by a later generation; the Craig Mack 'Flava in Ya Ear' video with Puffy saying 'come out and play' is cited, and Scarface's own arc from bust to cable classic is compared.
  • Other rewatchable moments: the run to the first train station after Cyrus is shot while the Turnbull ACs cruise around in a school bus with 25 guys and two-by-fours, and the Baseball Furies reveal, Ajax's 'what the fuck is that' as the camera cuts to four dudes in painted faces and baseball uniforms.
  • The sprint through Central Park, where they run about a mile and then stop to fight, prompts admiration for the cast's cardio; Michael Beck described on a making-of shooting all night, sleeping six hours and doing two hours in the gym, and this is called one of the most running movies ever, with running in about twelve scenes shot twenty or thirty times.
  • One host tells an airport story about a delayed flight in Oregon and a half-mile sprint to a gate that ended after a quarter mile, concluding the Furies would catch them fast.
  • An imagined SNL sketch has the gang asking the Furies to wait ninety seconds before fighting; the bathroom battle with the Punks, the roller-skate gang, was reportedly filmed for five days, only one guy had skates, and a tall 6'5 member compared to Miles Plumlee should have done more in the fight.
  • 'Warriors, come out to play' was reportedly ad-libbed by David Patrick Kelly with the three bottles, and the hosts wonder why the Golden State Warriors do not use it before games, though the Rogues are an evil gang the team may not want to ride for.
  • The ending, where Swan throws the knife into the Rogues' leader and 150 Riffs materialize in silence before 'You warriors are good. We are good. The best', is compared to the tri-lamps (as transcribed) showing up in Revenge of the Nerds; the Gramercy Riffs all know kung fu and have a number two ready to lead right after Cyrus dies.
  • A theory that Masai, with the mirrored sunglasses and looking born to lead the Riffs, may have had Cyrus killed while working with the Rogues, which would explain why the Riffs kill Luther at the end without asking questions because he knows they set it up.
  • Asked for the most rewatchable scene, the answer is the Cyrus speech, the favorite part and the scene seen most from the movie. — Sean Fennessey
  • The asker concedes they have to go with the Cyrus speech; the fight with the Lizzies is held for later and would not totally make the list.
  • Another host personally likes the Baseball Furies scene most, for the moment they stop running and ask if they lost them as the Furies come over the hill, with the first Fury called an assassin.
  • The Furies' loss is already picked at: a nine-man baseball gang that swings bats all day loses to three after the cowboy goes down; Ajax does the popsicle line and fights one at a time while the others stand around, which is called terrible planning, too much honor, and all gimmick, no substance, more Florida Marlins than Boston Red Sox.
  • The Furies' face paint, silence and cleats are questioned; they are read as bad athletes inspired by the 77-78 Yankees, somewhere near Union Square or 96th, and a corny white-guy frat gang from Murray Hill rather than Harlem or the Bronx; the Tyson-Douglas analogy is that everyone has a plan until they get hit, and maybe James Remar as Ajax is simply underrated as a badass.
  • Swan's play of cutting around a corner with two guys to double back and catch the out-of-shape Fury and take his bat is called amazing.
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32:21

What’s Aged the Best?

Cleon; the Warriors' vests; Central Park in seventies movies; Luther; Barry DeVorzen's soundtrack; the gang DJ; the s...

Cleon; the Warriors' vests; Central Park in seventies movies; Luther; Barry DeVorzen's soundtrack; the gang DJ; the seventies prom couple scene; 'You guys are real good. The best'; the world building; Cyrus

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:21Read transcript
  • Cleon, the original warlord who is killed after the Rogue in the leopard-print headpiece blames the Warriors, has more scenes in the uncut version; he dies under a pile of elbows from 25 guys, flicks Luther off him with an amazing move, and a Cleon prequel about the rise of the Warriors is wished for; the jackets and shirtless vests also hold up.
  • A vest with no shirt is never a win unless you are a professional wrestler. — Sean Fennessey
  • Others disagree about the vest, one joking about wearing a leather vest with sunscreen and phone pockets to the beach before admitting it is not serious; the vest is the part connected to most because of the Orphans scene, where Mercy goads the Orphans into demanding the Warriors remove their colors, which recalls the cuts in Sons of Anarchy that you die before taking off.
  • Central Park in seventies movies is creepy, empty and dangerous; Luther, the leader of the Rogues, is an over-the-top villain going for it, loved for having no reason for anything he does beyond 'because we can', and one host's son loves how over the top he is.
  • Whether villains need motivation splits the room: one says explaining a villain is a waste of time, citing the Joker, and two disagree and need a reason; Luther was one of only two actors one host recognized, from Commando, with Remar recognized as Raiden from Mortal Kombat 2.
  • The actor who plays Luther was purposefully recast by Walter Hill as Luther in 48 Hours, turning on Eddie Murphy's crew, and has been on Twin Peaks and in Spike Lee movies; Walter Hill hit a zone with this film and 48 Hours in how an action movie moves with music.
  • Barry DeVorzen's weird-guitar soundtrack has aged well, but ending on a big Joe Walsh song creates cognitive dissonance after a black gang beats the Rogues; in the movie's defense there is no hip hop yet in 1979, though Sugarhill Gang existed, and a hard funk record or Across 110th Street would make more sense.
  • The Orphans scene is too long but the one Orphan asleep who missed the meeting is pitied; the gang DJ is a great device for spreading information in coded language before texting and Twitter.
  • The seventies prom couple scene is weirdly effective because the film is about guys with no hope fighting all night to get back to the Wonder Wheel, the action-movie version of the end of The Graduate, with the couple looking at Mercy's dirty feet and Swan stopping her from fixing her hair.
  • 'You guys are real good, the best' is a precursor to intentionally hokey, iconic moments like Carl Weathers and Schwarzenegger in Predator; the stilted dialogue is a purposeful comic-book, stentorian, Greek-tragedy theatricality, and nobody talks the way people actually talk. — Sean Fennessey
  • The world building has aged best for another host: an elaborate gang network with rules and systems that later films such as John Wick's assassin network build on, which is undeniably cool even for a viewer who does not get the Greek-tragedy part.
  • Cyrus has aged best: a charismatic figure offering hope whose plan makes no sense if you listen carefully, likened to how Trump got elected and to Obama's 2008 'yes we can', and his death four and a half minutes after meeting him is devastating. — Bill Simmons
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42:57

What’s Aged the Worst?

Ajax's language and sexual assault (disputed); what is said to Mercy; Cleon's death; Fox's stunt double being thrown ...

Ajax's language and sexual assault (disputed); what is said to Mercy; Cleon's death; Fox's stunt double being thrown onto the tracks and never mentioned again

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:57Read transcript
  • Ajax is simultaneously a great character and badly aged for his language and being a sexual assaulter.
  • The counterargument is that a movie about gangs who stalk the streets needs a bad guy, and Ajax contrasts with Swan's King Arthur moral code; a bad guy in a 1979 New York gang is plausible, though some of his words are hard to hear now, and what is said to Mercy is not great.
  • Cleon dying has aged terribly and hurts every time; the stunt double thrown onto the tracks and the character never being mentioned again is one host's vote.
  • The story recited: Michael Beck as Swan and Thomas Waits (as transcribed) as Fox were to be the two stars, but Fox's actor feuded with Walter Hill, who killed the character off midway, rewrote the last 45 minutes, and used a crew member with the same hair as a stunt double, seen from behind with Mercy before a cop throws him into the train; nobody later asks what happened to Fox the way they ask about Ajax.
  • The actor told the story at a 2015 reunion where the cast rode the subway to Coney; another host disliked his face in the zoom-in and was glad he died.
  • The death should have established the stakes of the all-night journey and made the arrival a relief, but it is so quick and so hamstrung together that it has no emotional payoff.
  • Today a studio would recast as with Eric Stoltz and Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future rather than concoct a stunt death; it also creates a hole when Swan returns to an empty station with no ambulances or police after a man was thrown in front of a train.
  • Why the Warriors run from police is debated: they are a gang in colors where they should not be, and the fire, the assassination and the DJ keep police on alert; starting the fire five stops down is called a smart move by the other gangs, and Masai is said to have been pulling the strings like Masai Uhiri (as transcribed).
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50:46

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Cyrus

Cyrus

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:46Read transcript
  • Cyrus has to be the heat check, on screen for about four minutes in one of the great heat checks ever; cases are also made for Ajax and Luther, narrowing to Cyrus and Luther.
  • The two are split across awards: Luther takes the Saul Rubinick (as transcribed) and Cyrus, who plays eight minutes and hits seven threes, gets Dion Waiters, with agreement.
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53:50

Apex Mountain

No affirmative selection

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:50Read transcript
  • The hedged blanket answer is probably everybody in the movie except James Remar, whose peak was 48 Hours or arguably Sex and the City, with Mortal Kombat 2 floated as a joke.
  • Lynn Thigpen's peak is Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, Sesame Street or Lean on Me; Terry Michos's might be his newscaster gig in Wappinger Falls.
  • Remar lived in one host's LA neighborhood; another interviewed him and found him the most straight-talking, hard-edged subject ever, swearing mid-sentence for no reason, recounting 'you got to remember when you're an actor, it's a lot of work'.
  • Mercedes Rue (as transcribed), the undercover cop, became somebody and was Oscar-nominated, the hosts think for The Fisher King, and played the mom in Big; she is hard to recognize here because she is so young.
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55:11

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

James Remar

James Remar

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:11Read transcript
  • Remar wins the Joey Pants Award because most people know who he is but not his name; one host did not know it.
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55:41

Is This Movie Better With…?

Michael K. Williams

Michael K. Williams

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:41Read transcript
  • Michael K. Williams would have been incredible in any gang, perhaps as the new leader of the Gramercy Riffs or as Cyrus, maybe in the remake.
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56:13

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Luther

Luther

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:13Read transcript
  • The overacting award clearly goes to Luther, who is going for it, with the convenience-store 'for one!' exchange cited.
  • During aged best, the hosts already know Luther will win the Saul Rubinick (as transcribed) award for going for it; during the heat check he is given it so Cyrus can take Dion Waiters.
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1:02:59

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

A TV series introducing a different gang each episode, set before cell phones

A TV series introducing a different gang each episode, set before cell phones

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:59Read transcript
  • In 2016 Hulu and Paramount Television started developing a series with writers, and nothing came of it; the idea has been sitting there a lifetime and the hosts want to at least see the attempt.
  • The hurdle is that the movie looks different with cell phones and Uber solves it quickly, so set it before cell phones, such as 1995, or in a blackout or something more post-apocalyptic, since the original seems set slightly in the future.
  • A series could introduce a new gang each episode; the DJ loses her job in a remake since DJs lack that power now, replaced by a podcaster or someone live on Periscope; with 500 TV shows the idea could work.
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1:17:59

Who Won the Movie?

Walter Hill; Luther; New York

Walter Hill; Luther; New York

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:59Read transcript
  • Walter Hill, the director, is one pick for creating the prototype for the action movies that followed; another host did not know his name until this podcast.
  • Swan is praised as a sweetheart taking care of his people, smart and willing to turn it up when challenged by the Orphans, but another host does not think he won the movie.
  • Luther clearly won for one host as the one character everybody knows, whose 'Warriors' prompts the next four words; a case is made for Cyrus and for Dwayne The Rock Johnson for ripping off Cyrus's bit on WWE.
  • New York is another vote: cinematographer Andrew Laszlo's story about fearing rain led to an early rain sequence and wetting the streets every night, giving the neon a post-rain shimmer that makes the city a dingy crystal palace, seen across more of the city than Serpico or Dog Day Afternoon.
  • The wet-street trick was also a Miami Vice season one signature that many have since copied, and The Warriors may have started it.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
Walter Hill
Speaker not identified
Luther
Speaker not identified
New York
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