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As someone who was a 13-year-old reprobate when The Warriors came out, I've been fascinated with the anticipation regarding the DVD release. There's no doubt the movie has a much higher Q-rating now than when it was first released, so much so that the DVD and video game have acheived the status of marketing "event".
Presumably, the critics circa 1979 would be aghast at this development. Of course, film criticism (and access to media in general) was restricted to the gilded set back in those days -- little wonder they didn't get it. They (Kael, as usual, aside) missed the connection that Hill's little film made with disaffected youth of modest means and limited opportunity.
See, I think the gangs were "kicking against" something, and that something was a glass ceiling so low that most of them couldn't get enough leverage to break it (not even with a baseball bat). This point was driven home in the scene where Swan and Mercy are on the subway, and two young couples fresh from their prom sit across from them. At first, the quartet is jovial and wisecracking, but as they become aware of the stares from the kids from across the track, they fall silent, then contemplative, then almost ashamed. There's no fear of violence in the scene, just a mutual acknowledgement that the difference in their status, while likely permanent, is merely an accident of birth. It's extraordinary.
