A movie like The Warriors screams drive-in classic. Perhaps because it was due to my first experience with the film being at a drive in when I was a child.

Although sporting all the trimmings of a b-movie feast, Walter Hill’s adaptation of Sol Yorick’s novel is a masterpiece of 70s grit. The oppressive atmosphere of the grimmy city, the unseemly gangs giving chase, and the overall pessimism reeks of something artsier than it looks.

It’s s movie so influential that several quotes transcend its sell by date. Rockstar developed a stone cold classic adaptation in 2005. David Patrick Kelly honed his villain skills here, with commando and the crow completing his trifecta of evil. Walter Hill kept his journeyman filming eye for the rest of his fruitful career.

Desmond Child cut his teeth here too with Last on ancient breed, a proto Bon Joviesque ballad that set the tone for 80s AOR hits.

Barry DeVorzon’s score is one of my faves. A bit of italidisco, a dash of ambient, a good spoonful of Moroder, and all grit. The droning synth when our protagonists realise they are surrounded by the terrifying Baseball Furies gives me chills.

A chase by the armies of the night. A soundtrack that mixes rock and disco with eerie synth based rhythms. In the end, their survival makes the warriors realise their gang lifestyle is probably over now. Walk into that horizon.

-Sam J Valdés López