good movie .. but

That's what I was thinking. They walk around spray painting a big W everywhere they go and flashing their colors even though there's a bounty on them. But in true gang fashion, they won't remove their colors.

What gave me a chuckle was a scene where Swan was talking to Mercy. Mercy was wearing a blue coat. Swan says "what's with the jacket?" She says something like, "the cops are looking for a chick in a pink top. This ought to throw them off." And Swan just looks at her.

Must agree, I just watched it again and was thinking from the start, 'why don't they just take their vests off?...' It's hard to sympathise with the plight of characters who don't use obvious solutions. Film shoulda explained this.

I am not so sure.

This film takes place in the late 70s in NYC. At the time NYC was crime infested and most neighborhoods you did not venture into, especially after dark. People did not ride the subways at night as they were afraid to get mugged.

If the Warriors took their vests off and split up, there was still a very good chance other gangs looking for them would recognize them. If the Punks found Swan at Union Square station and he was all alone, they would have beaten him to death.

Also, gangs live and die by their reputation. Lets say the Warriors got home via removing their colors and hiding. They would have been the laughing stock of the gang community. If the Riffs found them at the beach without their colors the leader of the Riffs would not be saying "You Warriors are good, real good." He would be thinking to himself what a bunch of wusses. Their reputation would have been destroyed. Numerous other gangs would be attacking them trying to take over their turf.

Now compare that to the reputation the Warriors must have had after fighting their way back home that night from the Bronx to Coney Island which is as far as you can travel by subway in NYC? The Warriors would be one of the most feared and respected gangs in the city. Nobody would ever mess with them and kids would be begging to join the gang.

The only ones I could see doing that are Cowboy, Rembrandt and Vermin. The rest had too much pride and Ajax probably would've beaten up anyone who tried that.