Based on Yurick's 1965 novel of the same name, Hill's hip, super-stylized action film, The Warriors unfurls in a dystopian near-future where a turf battle between street gangs has erupted in NYC.

Each gang sports a unique moniker (‘The Warriors,’ ‘The Baseball Furies,’ ‘The Rogues’), with a costume underscoring its theme; each, in turn, is also responsible for one geographic area.

Hill sets up the landscape as a massive, violent playground – replete with bridges, vacant subway tunnels, parks, abandoned buildings and the like, all ripe for exploration and adventure. Throughout, Hill keeps the on-screen violence absurd, exaggerated and unrealistic, downplaying death to an extreme degree; despite this fact, the film sparked a massive amount of controversy and an ugly backlash for allegedly inciting violence and destruction in several theatres where it initially played.

“There’s a night-blooming, psychedelic shine to the whole baroque movie.” — Pauline Kael