The Warriors is a 1979 cult action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill and based on the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick. Much like the novel, the film borrows certain elements from the Anabasis by Xenophon.

Synopsis

Cyrus, the leader of the most powerful gang in New York City, the Gramercy Riffs, calls a midnight summit for all the area gangs, with all asked to send nine unarmed representatives for the conclave in Pelham Bay Park. The Warriors, from Coney Island, Brooklyn, are one such gang.

The eloquent and intelligent Cyrus (Roger Hill) tells the assembled crowd that a permanent citywide truce would allow the gangs to control the city, pointing out there are 60,000 of them and only 20,000 officers in the NYPD. Most of the gangs laud his idea, but members of the The Rouges gang, who have smuggled a gun in, pass it Luther, who then kills Cyrus. Panic ensues. Luther (David Patrick Kelly), leader of the Rogues, is seen in the act by one of the Warriors, Fox (Thomas G. Waites). Immediately after, the NYPD rushes in from all sides. During the chaos, Luther screams that the Warriors are responsible for killing Cyrus. While the Riffs beat the Warriors' leader Cleon (Dorsey Wright), the other eight Warriors escape the melee and debate their next move, knowing they are deep in enemy territory. Meanwhile, the other, locally based gangs regroup at their respective headquarters. Masai, second-in-command of the Riffs, takes charge as their new leader, and declares a bounty on the Warriors. This sets the entire city's gang population out hunting for them, with a seemingly omniscient radio DJ (Lynne Thigpen) reporting on the events.