While the
myriad subway inconsistencies,
cartoonish gang-life portraits, and
rampant late-
1970s
schlock running through the film give it an element of
camp, it should be remembered that the
film is
based on a true story.
What??
Yes, it's true. It's just that the story from which The Warriors was ripped off took place in 401-399 BC. And it's a blatant rip-off; though, in the film's defense, it's a story that's proved so popular through the ages that it's been ripped off countless times already.
The story, as committed to paper in about 370 BC by the former Athenian commander Xenophon, is entitled the Anabasis, literally meaning "the journey up." It is alternatively known as The Persian Expedition or simply "The March of the Ten Thousand." The story, in extreme brief, goes like this:
After the end of the Peloponnesian War, Cyrus (brother of the recently installed king of the Persians Artaxerxes II) decides to make his own claim to the throne. He takes a look over at Greece and notices that, in the wake of the war, there are literally thousands of armed men sitting around with nothing to do. He hires ten thousand heavily armed Greeks, raises some local troops of his own, and marches off to Babylon. They meet up with the armies of Artaxerxes at Cunaxa. Cyrus's army wins the day, but in the fray Cyrus himself is killed. The Greeks therefore find themselves very, very deep inside hostile territory and without a claimant to the throne. They are left with the sole option of retreat, and they negotiate with the Persians for a way out. They decide to take the shortest way back to Greek-controlled lands, which entails a march north ("the journey up") through the mountains of Kurdestan toward the Black Sea. On their way, they are assaulted by any number of enemies, including the treacherous Persians and the suspicious Kurds. When they reach the shores of the Black Sea, the soldiers famously begin to shout, "The sea! The sea!" And while in reality it took them some more time to get back to Greece, this is the point when their real troubles end.
Anyone familiar with The Warriors will immediately see parallels. Coney Island and The Bronx are about as far apart as you can get in NYC (as I recall, there is a sequence dramatizing the length of the trip early in the movie). The Warriors make the entire trip, only to find their potential leader assassinated and themselves surrounded by hostile gangs. On their long trip back home, they are attacked not only by their pursuers, but by the gangs through whose turf they must travel. And, of course, the movie draws to a close with The Warriors returning to Coney Island (aka "the sea") at sunrise.
In the end, it's a kind of silly film, though I personally find it entertaining and watch it whenever it happens to come on TV (which is usually at about 2 AM on the equivalent of the "Thousand Dollar Movie" show). Your lives will probably be richer if you read the Anabasis than if you see The Warriors; but the dialog in the movie is much more engrossing. Consider my favorite line: "I'll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle!" Chirisophus, Xenophon's superior commander, may have had such words in mind when rebuking his subordinate, but the historical record is lacking in this regard.