History Film / TheWarriors

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Thomas G. Waites being fired not only caused his character's death, it unintentionally had further consequences that could've been a disaster. According to Sean Eagan's 2021 book about the film, Deborah Van Valkenburgh fractured her wrist filming Fox's death scene with Waite's double. She was in a cast for almost a month while the crew shot around her. When Hill finally ''had'' to have her start shooting again, he pulled a denim jacket from costume, threw it over Mercy -- and the still-obvious cast -- and [[LampshadeHanging hung the following lampshade]] pretty much on the spot:
-->'''Mercy:''' Hey, wait! There's still cops all over the place.\\
'''Swan:''' Where's the Fox?\\
'''Mercy:''' A cop grabbed him.\\
'''Swan:''' So how come you hung around?\\
'''Mercy:''' I don't know.\\
'''Swan:''' Where'd you get the coat?\\
'''Mercy:''' You ask a lot of questions.\\
'''Swan:''' Don't give me that!\\
'''Mercy:''' I stole it. Cops are looking for somebody in a pink top.

** Sully, the Orphans' leader, threatens to smack Mercy in the mouth when she starts mocking them. Not long after that, Swan suggests that the Warriors should gang rape, or "run a train" on, her when she [[TooDumbToLive foolishly]] or at least [[ThrillSeeker recklessly]] continues to follow and heckle them.

** 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.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Fox. The character was originally written as the love interest for Mercy, but the actors did not get along. Swan was rewritten as the LoveInterest and Fox gets hit by a subway train halfway through the film. The actor had already quit by the time his death scene was filmed, hence the FakeShemp.
** Played with [[spoiler: with Ajax. For most people, Creator/JamesRemar is one of the most recognizable names in the cast, so his sudden decision to put the make on an undercover cop and get himself arrested in the beginning of the third act is a bit surprising to first-time viewers, especially because he disappears for the rest of the film.]]

* GangOfHats: New York's streets are apparently ruled by these. Each gang has a theme, which carries into their dress and behavior. The Orphans dress shabbily and are total wimps. The Turnbull [=ACs=] are a large gang of skinheads, and non-racist ones at that given the presence of black members in their ranks. The Baseball Furies never speak, wear facepaint and baseball uniforms, and wield baseball bats. The Lizzies are all female. The Riffs (NYC's most powerful gang) have an Asian martial arts theme. The Hi-Hats (seen briefly in the opening and given a bigger part in the game) dress like street mimes. The Warriors themselves wear red leather vests and Native American accessories. Needless to say, the New York underworld [[UncannyValleyMakeup comes across as very surreal]]. In any case, this movie is definitely one of the {{Trope Codifier}}s.

* ImprobablyCoolCar: In all fairness, the 1950's-vintage Cadillac hearse driven by the Rogues ''is'' pretty cool, but how they obtained it -- never mind how they learned to drive it -- is a mystery.

* LighterAndSofter: The original book is far bleaker. The Coney Island gang is composed of {{Villain Protagonist}}s who murder an innocent man and commit multiple rapes and various acts of vandalism on the way back to their territory. The other gangs are never particularly gunning for them; the fights they get into are primarily instigated by themselves. The book also shows the wider social context of how gang members come from poverty, sometimes abusive households and the future seems to hold nothing for them.

'''The Fox:''' It's just our mark, it don't mean we're at war.\\

'''Orphan Leader:''' Go as civilians, okay? You go as soldiers I got to come down on you. Now take off your colors.\\

** Vermin, Cochise, and Rembrandt beat the crap out of the all-female Lizzies. To be fair, the Lizzies have gone from seducing to ''shooting'' at them.

** Proves to be the undoing of [[spoiler:Ajax]] in the third act when he stops to flirt with a woman on the park bench and gets aggressive. She reveals he's an undercover cop and cuffs him to the bench. He's unable to get the key from her before he's swarmed by police and arrested.]]

** Luther, the leader of the Rogues, in spades. He violates the truce and shoots Cyrus, then frames the Warriors. He is the only (male) gang member to use a gun in a fight. And his meltdown when the Riffs show up [[spoiler:and reveal they know what he did]] is classic (see below).

** For that Matter Cyrus big plan ultimately is a victim of this. While his plan to unite all the gangs together in theory is a clever plan, his immediate death also underline the issue that was bound to occur. The issue being that not everyone would be willing to work as a unit and their would always be people (like Luther who killed Cyrus) that would cause issues and make the whole plan collapse. Even later on in the film when the Warriors are together and reflect on Cyrus's plan, they scoff at it and Masai (Cyrus's top lieutenant) himself writes this off as a case of "the dream died with him" when Swan brings it up in the comic.

* GreaterScopeVillain: Perhaps. Luther frequently makes stops to call an unknown person and report on the situation to them. The implication is that Luther may have been hired to kill Cyrus and is checking in with the person who put him up to it.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out to whom Luther was speaking during those phone conversations. It was someone he was familiar with and needed to give constant updates on what was happening, implying [[TheManBehindTheMan a bigger force]] may have put him up to killing Cyrus.

!! Tropers! Come out to Plaaaay!

** Luther, the leader of the Rogues, in spades. He violates the truce and snipes from ambush InTheBack [[spoiler:to kill Cyrus]], then frames the Warriors. He is the only (male) gang member to use a gun in a fight. And his meltdown when the Riffs show up [[spoiler:and reveal they know what he did]] is classic (see below).

[[caption-width-right:310:Can you dig it?]]

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.

* AdaptationTitleChange: The film, and the novel it's adapted from with the same name, are a modernized retelling of the ancient Greek text the ''Anabasis''.

A comic miniseries, ''The Warriors: Jailbreak'', was published in 2009. Taking place after the events of the film, it deals with the gang breaking Ajax out of jail.

** The Lizzies are hinted at being a lesbian gang, due to two members who are seen dancing with each other during the party scene. Their name might be a play on "lezzies", a reference to Lizzie Borden, or maybe even both.

*** Orphan Leader - You see what you get Warriors, you see what you get when you mess with The Orphans!
*** Orphan Lieutenant - We’re gonna rain on you Warriors! [[spoiler:The Orphans then get their own asses kicked.]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Thomas G. Waite's being fired not only caused his character's death, it unintentionally had further consequences that could've been a disaster. According to Sean Eagan's 2021 book about the film, Deborah Van Valkenburgh fractured her wrist filming Fox's death scene with Waite's double. She was in a cast for almost a month while the crew shot around her. When Hill finally ''had'' to have her start shooting again, he pulled a denim jacket from costume, threw it over Mercy -- and the still-obvious cast -- and [[LampshadeHanging hung the following lampshade]] pretty much on the spot:

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never do find out to whom Luther was speaking during those phone conversations. It was someone he was familiar with and needed to give constant updates on what was happening.

* BigApplesauce: New York City's teen gang underworld is the setting and subject, though treated in a [[{{Understatement}} rather fantastical fashion.]]

* DistractedByTheSexy: [[spoiler:Ajax]]. This also seems to be the Lizzies' tactic of choice.
** [[spoiler: Proves Ajax's undoing in the third act when he stops to flirt with a woman on the park bench, and gets aggressive. She reveals he's an undercover cop and cuffs him to the bench. He's unable to get the key from her before he's swarmed by police and arrested.]]

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Subverted. The Warriors don't know that [[spoiler: Cleon was beaten to death by the Riffs and assume he's been arrested by the cops.]] Also, [[spoiler: Fox doesn't get any mention beyond Mercy saying that a cop wasted him to Swan and neither of them passes this news on.]]

* GangsterLand: Nearly every character that isn't a cop is a gangbanger; there're virtually ''zero'' civilians on the streets out at night.
* GiantMook: One of The Punks is notably taller than anyone else in the film.

* HeroAntagonist: The NYPD -- of the three casualties the Warriors suffer, New York's finest inflict two of them.

* RunTheGauntlet: After the Rogues 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.

* TakeThat: Sol Yurick's novel was written to contrast against ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and its more silly, rosey portrayal of gangs with a much more gritty, grim and realistic portrayal based on his actual experience as a social worker. While the book itself mostly takes the high road and doesn't mention the play or anything in it by name, a few reprinted covers didn't shy away from taking potshots at it. As one blurb read:
-->'''This is a 'West Side Story', but nobody's singing 'I feel pretty'!'''

** For that Matter Cyrus big plan ultimately is a victim of this. While his plan to unite all the gangs together in theory is a clever plan, his immediate death also underline the issue that was bound to occur. The issue being that not everyone would be willing to work as a unit and their would always be people (like Luther who killed Cyrus) that would cause issues and make the whole plan collapse. Even later on in the film when the Warriors are together and reflect on Cyrus's plan, they scoff at it and Masai (Cyrus's top lieutenant) himself writes this off as a case of [[DyingDream "the dream died with him"]] when Swan brings it up in the comic.

* VillanousBreakdown: Luther's begins when Swan demonstrates his ImprobableAimingSkills and gets worse when the Riffs show up now knowing that it was ''he'' who murdered Cyrus.

** For that Matter Cyrus big plan ultimately is a victim of this. While his plan to unite all the gangs together in theory is a clever plan, his immediate death also underline the issue that was bound to occur. The issue being that not everyone would be willing to work as a unit and their would always be people (like Luther who killed Cyrus) that would cause issues and make the whole plan collapse. Even later on in the film when the Warriors are together and reflect on Cyrus's plan, they scoff at it.