Surely There Be Something Better

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150 miles from Long Island to find no hint of this either.

At the beginning of this film the viewer may get the impression that some kind of political point is being made.

The gangs of New York each send 9 delegates to a raily called by Cyrus-the leader of the biggest gang.

The people attending the rally represent 60,000 "soldiers", and, as Cyrus says, there are only 20,000 cops in Wednesday 9th marked the 150th Anniversary of the establishment of the Metropolitan Police Force.

The day passed completely unnoticed i by the so-called 'public' the police are alleged to protect.

The reason for this is no doubt because the police are as hated now as they were when they first stepped on to the streets of London in 1929.

It was at that time that names, some of which are now used affectionately, such as 'Peelers' 'Bobbies' and 'crushers' were invented to ridicule and insult the newly New York.

So instead of fighting eachother, why don't they unite and gradually take over the streets?

Cyrus is getting big support for this when he is shot dead. His shooting is timed to coincide with the arrival of the police.

The gang leader who does the shooting blames the gang of one of the witnesses. This is the 'Warriors" gang.

The Warriors have of making a complaint against the police and making it stick.

The making of a complaint not difficult-you just tell policeman-but following thorugh through and getting action even with overwhelming evidence on your side is extremely difficult.

The programme showed the complaints procedure to be a complete sham. the Bronx: the rest of the film is about the journey back.

The actual killer of Cyrus phones somebody to say the job is done. But don't get too interested in who is behind the murder. From this point onwards it is dropped from the "plot" altogether.

Apparently the author of the book, Sol Yurick, had chosen the name Cyrus for mythological reasons. But the viewer will TV review by Howard Lloyd judge, dealing with eight reports in two days, therefore getting £40 for just rubber-stamping For the rest of the film we are back on familiar territory.

The excitement is there as the word goes out on the street to get the 'Warriors"

That is, there is excitement if you are excited by waiting to see whether the next victim of violence will be smashed to the ground with a baseball bat, run over by a train, kicked to death or simply shot in routine fashion.

The everyone against them-the other gangs and the police.

Yet they battle against obstacle and defeat them.

They confront gangs with knives, gangs dressed up as baseball players, gangs on roller skates and a gang of women with guns and knives; but they beat them all as well as innumerable police.

Messages informing on their whereabouts are relayed by a disc jockey.

This is almost exactiy the same as a movie five years ago called "Vanishing Point" starring Barry Newman.

He too was being chased and innocent of the "crime" he was accused of, but driving a stolen car.

And he too had all the forces of the law against him.

The only differences were that he was driving right across America, while the Do was on his side and was playing Stevie Wonder instead Of Martha and the Vandellas.

The great similarity is that both films glorify the "great" individual or groups of individuals against the system.

"Warriors" , a film starting out about unity ends up being a hymn to individualism.

But this is the favourite stock-in-trade of the American movie industry.

Director Walter Hill calls it "escapism" • in a sense this is true.

The girl that the 'Warriors" pick up on the way announces that she doesn't want a future of looking after five kids: "1 want something now"

And when they arive back at Long Island and look at the slums, the "Warlord" asks 'is that we fought all night to get back to?' A hint of reality seems to arrive in the scene when a group of rich people get on one of the trains. But they go on their way and nothing is said.

The ending of the film doesn't even have the saving grace of Vanishing Point" in which Barry Newman is blown to oblivion when his car crashes into a snow plough.

Here the couple end up walking off into the sunset. The message is that there is hope for individuals against the system.

This is the first of a wave of US "gang" films to come to this country.

It obviously has nothing to do with the reality of gang life, in which the streets are controlled by the Mafia, drug syndicates, bent cops and other smali-time hoods.

For them fighting is no joyous celebration- it is a means to an end. They are thugs and thoroughly lumpen elements reduced by the capitalist system to an existence of brutality, exploitation, rape and robbery.

'Warriors" however is obviously no more than a vehicle for the ideas of the director. Walter Hill's ideas are obviously about as deep as those in 'Saturday Night Fever' . In either 'case it is the odd individuals who can fight or dance that can escape reality and find a certain freedom for themselves.

The song that ends the film sums it up completely: "There must be something better"

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THE directed by Walter Hill.