Variety
"...Vivid lensing....Deft editing....The cast of unknowns is remarkably strong..." 02/14/1979New York Times
"...[Hill] is on to something....A stark yet extravagant visual style..." 02/10/1979 p.10 USA Today
"...A striking example of style and energy over content....The movie benefits from bright color schemes and occasional left-field imagery..." 01/19/2001 p.6E Entertainment Weekly
"...Rousing '70s filmmaking..." 01/19/2001 p.67 Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]rue to the city and time....[With] the greatest cinematic beach showdown this side of QUADROPHENIA." 10/20/2005 p.92 New York Times
"[W]hile you'd have to be crazy to want to return to that dismal, dangerous New York City, it sure does look seductive on film." 10/11/2005 p.E5 Uncut
Ranked #9 in Uncut's Best DVDs Of 2005 -- "Walter Hill's tense, mesmerising gang thriller from 1979 gets the full whistles-and-bells treatment." 01/01/2006 p.84-85 FilmCritic.com 8 of 10
"There are certain films that by some unforeseen circumstance tap into a generation, a culture, a time, perfectly. The Warriors is just such a film. It is by no means a perfect movie. It is well crafted and dramatic, but what moves it beyond cult adoration and fanboy drooling is its epic storyline and intensely rendered narrative...The Warriors isn't really a movie about a gang trying to get home. It's an archetypal tale of survival, of revenge, of power and corruption and the human spirit...The Warriors is a film unlike any other, an amalgamation of classic hero mythology, hoodlumism, hip '70s kicks, and youthful exuberance. It is a film of raw power and arty excess, a perfect gem of counter-culture ""new"" mythology in which the collective power of unrefined youth overcomes the corrupting influence of uniformity." - Keith Breese
Reel.com 9 of 10
"The violence that accompanied The Warriors first theatrical run seems shocking nearly three decades later, mostly because the gangs portrayed in the movie bear hardly a passing resemblance to reality. The Warriors themselves, a multiracial bunch in sleeveless leather vests, aren't exactly intimidating; only thuggish Ajax, animated by Remar's surly glower, seems capable of committing real mayhem. Many of the remaining gangs are so stylized as to be campy, comical creations, like the gang of mimes or the Baseball Furies in their KISS-like makeup and uniforms that look like relics from the Babe Ruth era...Mostly, after 26 years, The Warriors holds up beautifully in both content and presentation...All in all, this is an excellent addition to the phenomenon known as The Warriors. ""Come out to pla-a-a-y!""" - Pam Grady
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