Deckchair Cinema closes the summer with The Warriors' hyperstylized ode to warring street gangs, August 29

Last of Polygon Gallery’s outdoor screenings features the cult hit’s battling youth gangs in a famously inspired array of ‘70s costuming

By Janet Smith

The Warriors.

The Polygon Gallery screens The Warriors outside at Lonsdale Quay’s Cates Deck on August 29; music by RHEK begins at 7 pm with the screening at 8:30 pm

THE LATE, GREAT Roger Ebert nailed it when he described Walter Hill’s 1979 classic The Warriors as “a real peculiarity” and “an exercise in mannerism”. “There's hardly a moment when we believe that the movie's gangs are real or that their members are real people or that they inhabit a real city,” he wrote.

The famous film scribe did not mean that as a compliment, but that whacked-out vibe of unreality ended up rightfully earning the film full-blown cult status. That and, of course, the beyond-drip costumes of the movie’s warring gangs: Coney Island’s Warriors in their leather vests, giant belt buckles, and Chuck Taylors; the Hi-Hats in their top hats, suspenders, and old school rugby jerseys; the Baseball Furies in their facepaint and varsity togs… We could go on!

It all adds up to a highly entertaining ode to a heightened ’70s-grimed New York City, when graffiti-splattered subways were the most dangerous place on Earth and tens of thousands of battling youth gangs ran wild on the streets, so much so that the badly outnumbered cops were afraid to get involved. The synth-tastic soundtrack rocks it all, peppered by hits from the likes of Joe Walsh.

It’s the perfect, hyperstylized way for The Polygon Gallery to sign off on another season of free outdoor cinema, August 29.

So pull out your favourite bell bottoms, leather vests, or vintage pinstripe baseball shirts, grab a Strathcona craft beer onsite, and settle into a deck chair for a blast from the badass past. In other words: "Warriors, come out to pla-a-ay!"  

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