The Warriors (1979)

The Warriors 1979 Review is finally here, and this week on Born to Watch, Whitey, Gow and Damo are heading deep into enemy territory for a movie they've been circling since the early days of the podcast. Walter Hill's 1979 cult classic has leather vests, painted faces, subway trains, some of the strangest gangs ever assembled and one very simple objective: get back to Coney Island alive. The Movie Review Podcast, where we don't take the movies or ourselves too seriously, is about to find out if The Warriors can still come out to play.

For the boys, this isn't just another movie review.

The Warriors carries some serious childhood baggage.

This was one of those movies you heard about before you actually saw it. The video shop cover caught your eye; older kids talked about it, and somehow the movie's reputation became almost as important as the movie itself. Whitey remembers hammering it during his teenage years, while Damo recalls hiring it on VHS and watching the bloody thing twice back-to-back.

That's the sort of nostalgia we're dealing with here.

The setup remains magnificent.

Cyrus has a dream. Get every gang in New York together, stop fighting each other and realise they collectively outnumber the cops.

CAN YOU DIG IT?

Unfortunately, Luther can't.

Cyrus goes down, The Warriors get blamed, and suddenly a crew from Coney Island is stranded in the Bronx with every gang in New York looking to collect.

What follows is essentially one long journey home through a New York City that feels like it exists in another universe.

Whitey, Gow and Damo get stuck into Walter Hill's world-building and the collection of gangs roaming the streets. The Turnbull ACs look genuinely terrifying. The Lizzies have guns but apparently attended the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy. The Orphans desperately want someone to take them seriously.