New York City went through a transformation in the mid-late 20th century that people at the time found apocalyptic, but today we can enjoy as entertainment. The organized, conformist culture of the 1950s increasingly fell apart into raw anarchy in many neighborhoods by the 1970s, and this led to some very fun movies.
Two examples that naturally go together are The Wanderers and The Warriors. The Wanderers takes place in the '60s, right on the borderline of the transformation, and follows an Italian-American youth gang (the eponymous Wanderers) in their sort of silly environment of all sorts of different theme-gangs. It's maybe 60/40 serious and not serious, but has moments of real human emotion and one very iconic and spooky scene (the confrontation with the "Ducky Boys" gang).
It's sort of nostalgic, as the film was made at the end of the '70s, so a number of cultural changes are hinted at in foreshadowed terms, but is still sincere and kind of moving.
The Warriors is more famous today, because it's completely bonkers: It takes place in the late '70s and wildly exaggerates the urban anarchy into a kind of Mad Max, post-apocalyptic sort of environment.
Where theme gangs in The Wanderers were identified by ethnicity and stylized jackets, the theme gangs in The Warriors are complete Halloween costumes that make no practical sense (e.g., the Baseball Furies, who wear baseball uniforms and theme makeup, and only fight with baseball equipment, LOL). It's all sorts of funny and goofy, but still interesting.
The Warriors gang goes on a journey across the City trying to escape roving enemy gangs out for misinformed vengeance, as well as useless cops just looking to bust some heads. It's so campy that it stops being embarrassing and is just fun. Plus the anarchy is at least rooted in realities that the city was experiencing at the time, so there is some degree of honesty and naturalism in it despite being exaggerated to extremes.
The Warriors also has its own famous, iconic scene - the bottle-clinking scene where their main enemy taunts them to "Come out and play."
Although neither of them are realistic, they both reflect psychological environments, and say a lot about how New York saw itself and how people remembered it.
Once upon a time, there was a City...
Wikis:
Spoiler scenes:
A good fan trailer for The Wanderers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEMJe-if_N8
Big Spoiler - the Ducky Boys brawl/riot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU6GF8Lk2s4
Gang assembly from The Warriors...Hehehe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTUrWYv2vtU
Baseball Furies... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrEmF4SK3T4
Big Spoiler - Bottle-clink...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRM2YcGpmxg
Submitted August 28, 2017 at 02:52PM by KubrickIsMyCopilot http://ift.tt/2wNmPQf
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