No sleep 'til Brooklyn...

[jack_babalon]

A few weekends ago I showed "Vee" one of my favorite movies ever... The Warriors. As 90% of you who read this knows The Warriors is the story of a street gang from Coney Island who must fight their way through the five boroughs against the law and a lynch mob of rival gangs out to get them before they reach their home turf... oh and this is after being framed for the murder of a prominent street gang messiah who was holding a conclave of rival gangs in a bid to take over the state of New York.

Anyway... we get a good forty minutes into the movie - the gang have just been split up after a run in with the pigs on the subway system (this is after being chased by a school-bus full of skinheads and them molotov cocktailing a car) - when Vee looks over at me and asks: "Why didn't they just take a cab home?"

"What?"

"Why didn't they just take a cab? It certainly would've been a lot easier."

"Well... who'd pick up eight cats decked out in their gang-colors?"

"Why not steal a car then and just drive back to Coney Island?"

"They wouldn't all fit in a single car"

"They wouldn't have to steal just one..."

"Honey, that's not the point... they're the Warriors... they're not gonna just drive home. No, they're gonna bop their way past a vertible army of gangs and cops and whoever else stands in their way. They have to. They're from Brooklyn."

"I'm just saying it'd be easier if they stole a car... and why wouldn't they? They're in a street gang?"

"Uhhh... none of them have licenses yet!"

"'None of them have licenses yet'?"

"Hey it's New York... you don't need a car to get around."

"Uh-huh..."

"Especially in the 70's... hell, I'd be surprised if any of them knew how to drive!"

"See this? This is my believing-you face" she says giving me a look that conveys a bemused incredulity.

Eventually we agree this wouldn't make for much of a movie... but still the imagery is funny enough to me: Thirty minutes into the film and we see two, maybe three yellow cabs pull into the Astro-Land parking lot, out of which emerge the eight Warriors - all high-fiving one another and feeling pretty good after the relatively quick trip. "Well it's a good thing we listened to Fox and decided to grab a cab" Swan grumbles stoically, "Otherwise it would've taken us all night to get home. Alright guys... let's call it the night and we'll meet up tomorrow to talk about Cleon getting elbowed to death by an army of black-belts. Later..."

Also I should add that I really, really wanted to see the Warriors fight the top-hat wearing mime gang we catch a glimpse of in the opening credits. Alas...

Comments

[mlfoley.livejournal.com]

The Warriors fight the top-hat mime gang (the High Hats, according to the script) in the Warriors game. You should check it out if you're into gaming.

[deadflowers.livejournal.com]

i thought the same things upon my first viewing, about stealing a car and fighting the mimes.

that type of thinking

[domestikgodess.livejournal.com]

is precisely why I am not a big movie fan...I cannot stop my brain from asking those kind of tough questions either...it certainly keeps me a bit removed from the movie...very few movies can actually occupy my mind enough to keep my "alternate reality" from intruding. That "second perception" is a constant in my life, I keep myself very entertained by it.

Books, though, are another story entirely....

[daucus-carota.livejournal.com]

I love that with movies... the whole "but why didn't they just..." makes me feel smart sometimes.

Sorry I missed your call last night... had company.

I'll call again later... please begin to prepare for toning your "I told you so"s and gloating to a minimun.

xxx

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

I have heard of the game (Rock Star did it if I recall) but I had no idea you got to fight the 'High Hats'! I'll try and hunt it down.

Appreciate it!

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

Pathos vs Practicality I guess.

I can't think of anything better though than watching Ajax and Swan work over a mime with a pair of confiscated bats they took off the Baseball Furies... I don't know why but i'd just feel a little more relaxed after seeing that!

Re: that type of thinking

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

Well the thing to remember is that the Warriors roster is made up of machismo addled teenagers (tweens at best) who have lost their leader during the nights events. So to a street-gang of testosterone alpha-males there would be no option for them except to go mano-a-mano with the entire NYC underworld.

When I told my buddy about Vee's concerns, he mentioned that this was why women should probably be in charge more often -because a female member of the gang might've said -"Hey assholes! I'm gonna steal a car and go home, you can walk back to Coney Island for all I care!".

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

You've always been quite the 'Smarty Pants' - You should read the Jane Austen version of the Warriors perhaps:)

No worries, sorry I didn't answer when you called I was elbow deep in a scene and couldn't pry myself loose.

Gloating/"I told you so", why?

[gaeasdaughter.livejournal.com]

Actually, Ajax alone could have wiped out the mimes!

An aside, Spouseperson and I just can't get used to this actor's "name" in Jericho ... we still keep referring to him as Ajax and occacsionally get confused when another character refers to him as Jonah(?)

[jackbabalon23.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen any Jericho, Bill raves about it so maybe i'll give it a rental. Have you seen that the 3rd season of BSG is out on DVD finally?

[daucus-carota.livejournal.com]

I've already read that, silly boy! :)

The reason for your Power to Gloat isn't lj-friendly... at least it's not the drama-free lj-friendly that I prefer.

xxx

[mlfoley.livejournal.com]

'Course, mate! It's one of my favourite games. It's a hell of a lot of fun.

[mlfoley.livejournal.com]

I have the same problem. Whenever I see Remar, I automatically think, "Ajax!" Doesn't matter what role it is, he will always be Ajax to me.

And you're right, Ajax could have wiped out the mimes. Buncha wimps.

[gaeasdaughter.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was especially weird when watching him in Sex In The City ... Samantha and Ajax!