Was "The Warriors" a "Western"?

I suppose it shared some elements in common. Westerns have always been rather popular, and there were always those who tried to emulate the styles and attitudes of Western heroes and cowboys. But I don't think that would make it a Western.

I guess one can draw a parallel, since the old West had its share of crime and gang wars. But one difference is that out in the old West, you had to go a lot farther and wait a lot longer for trains. Vermin said that he hated waiting for trains.

Of course, if they were in a Western, they would have had horses.

The book was based on the ancient Greek story Anabasis.

Its a "Street Opera"... Almost a musical(Which plays heavily into every fighting scene). I also wouldn't doubt if Hill was taking those elements and making it an " Eastern" lol so to say. But if I were to really put a name on it, its a Street Opera. Like a rehash of Westside Story but more brutal.

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The book it's based on was a kind of adaptation of ancient Greek mercenary Xenophon's "Anabasis", which is his story of "The 10,000" an army of Greek mercenaries who were hired by Cyrus, who wanted to overthrow the line of succession to the Persian throne so he could be king.

The forces of Cyrus actually won their battle against the king's army, but Cyrus was killed which ended the overthrow attempt. However, it left the 10,000 stuck behind enemy lines and having to fight their old allies and every other hostile group they encountered all the way to the Black Sea to freedom.

This flight to freedom from hostile territory at the shore of the sea is what makes the basic narrative parallel between Warriors and Anabasis.

There are some other subtle touches -- the gang leader is named "Cyrus", I think the Ajax character is meant to represent the Spartan contingent of the 10,000. Swan is most likely the character of Xenophon, who was a lower-ranking officer at the start of the campaign but rose to become a leader after the main leadership was killed in an assassination during a parlay with the Persians. The lead general killed in this parlay was Clearchus -- who we know as Cleon, the gang leader killed (?) by the Riffs after Cyrus is shot.

Luther's character is somewhat similar to a Persian character from the king's forces who actually killed Cyrus in the battle. The king bribed him to keep quiet about the killing so the king could claim to have killed Cyrus himself, but he ultimately talked and was killed for it. It's an imperfect parallel because Luther is central to this story, but the Persian wasn't that important.