The Warriors
The Warriors is a 1979 film from the USA, directed by Walter Hill, running 93 minutes. reelscum files it under vigilante.
- Year
- 1979 · 1970s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 93 min
- Director
- Walter Hill
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- canon (7/100)
Defined in the glossary: Vigilante
Barely exploitation, entirely brilliant. A subway ride as Greek epic.
A New York gang is framed for a murder at a midnight summit and has to cross the whole city, on foot and by subway, to get home to Coney Island, fighting a themed gang at every stop. Walter Hill shoots it like a comic book crossed with a Greek epic, which is exactly what it is.
It barely qualifies as exploitation and is far better made than it needed to be. The gangs are ridiculous, the night is endless, and the line about coming out to play has outlived everything around it.
Pure momentum from the first reel to the last.
Trailer
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Where to watch
Legal options in USA
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Written about
- The best exploitation films and what makes a canon
The best exploitation films are picked by censors, restorers and polls before anyone ranks them. What that machinery leaves on the shelf.
On these lists
- Better than their reputation
Prosecuted, banned, dismissed or filed on the wrong shelf. All of them are good.
Filed alongside
Death Wish
Bronson as a liberal architect who buys a gun. A phenomenon, and reactionary.
Dirty Harry
The vigilante with a badge. Pauline Kael called it fascist and was not wrong.
Assault on Precinct 13
Carpenter remaking Rio Bravo for $100,000. The ice cream scene is still shocking.
Taxi Driver
The same story told by people who knew the protagonist was unwell.
Death Wish 3
Abandons realism entirely. Bronson defends a housing block with a machine gun.
I Saw the Devil
Revenge as a chew toy. Nobody in Korean cinema has been crueller for longer.
Maniac Cop
A dead cop stalks New York in uniform. Larry Cohen writes, Robert Z'Dar's jaw does the rest.
Class of 1984
Death Wish enrols at high school and the faculty loses.
Walking Tall
One sheriff, one hickory club, and the blueprint for every Southern vigilante picture after it.
The Exterminator
A flamethrower and a meat grinder. Death Wish with the restraint removed.
Coffy
Pam Grier's arrival. Jack Hill knows exactly what he has.
Ms. 45
Ferrara's best. Zoë Lund is extraordinary and the ending is a genuine image.