The 1979 cult film about a Coney Island gang trying to cross hostile New York territory is The Warriors.
Directed by Walter Hill, the film follows the Warriors after they are falsely blamed for the murder of Cyrus, a powerful gang leader who has proposed uniting the city’s gangs. The group must travel from the Bronx back to Coney Island while rival gangs hunt them.
The film adapts Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel, which was inspired by Xenophon’s ancient Greek account Anabasis. Hill transformed that journey into a stylized urban odyssey, using New York’s subway system, nighttime streets, distinctive gang uniforms and comic-book-like characters.
A common mix-up is confusing The Warriors with The Wanderers or The Outsiders, both youth-centered films from roughly the same era. The Warriors is especially associated with its opening gang summit, the repeated radio announcements and the closing return to Coney Island.