The Warriors Movie Site Forum

OK Cleon mentions a messenger sent by Cyrus to make sure the Warriors were still going to the meeting. This Riff managed to travel alone through countless territories untouched. So I guess I'm asking, do you think a Riff could travel freely from turf to turf without any hassle?

well, I think... they (everybody )already knew about the meeting, the guy was traveling only to confirm that The Warriors, and maybe other gangs on the way, would be there. Maybe the truce was already on, and The Riffs, along with Cyrus are a very famous and intimidating group. The emissary wouldn't get hurt, I think.

the riffs are massive and very well respected ,so i believe even if someone tried to hurt the messenger they would be asking for big trouble and wouldnt get away weth it ,i think the way the warriors survived the night,they too would have earned BIG respect from other gangs especially the riffs as well

All the major gangs are on the Riffs network anyway, so a riff wouldnt have been harmed by them no matter whose turf they were on

I have got to agree with da-warrior and Si-Lee-Warrior The Riffs were the largest gang in the city and every gang knew if they messed with a riff, they would all have to mess with the riffs.

I agree with all these theories. But, wouldn't some gangs see a passing Riff as a target that they could eliminate without retaliation because, how would the Riffs know who did it? Also, if you knew how to fake being a Riff, you could get by everybody, couldn't you? I'm just thinking of the Furies attacking and dragging some poor solo Riff down to their dungeon.

I know what was said in the movie, but I can't imagine that they would travel alone.

Yes, they would most likely travel alone, relying on the other gangs honor not to harm him. Messagers have been used like this for centuies. A good example I can think of is China is its civil war stages. They didn't have any other means of communication, so they sent a messager out (wearing something showing he's a messager, and alone, to ensure safety). Once in a while, as an extreme forms of insulting the enemy, they would have the messager executed. Aside from that, unwritten law states that messagers can't be harmed.

Especially in 1979, there is no way for a Riff patrol to know exactly which gang attacked its messenger. Every gang might have respect for the Riffs but not loyalty. If the chance is there, some gangs will attack. Also, I know the Riffs are big, but other gangs are too. The very nature of these guys is to challenge the powers that be.

good points aswell but the movie is quite firm on showing the size and power of the riffs so you would have to think that any gang big or small would be scared of the riffs ,just remember as tough as luther was all the way through the movie when it came time to face the riffs he cried out in fear

Luther was a weasel. Even when he jumped Cleon, he was a coward. He knew the Riffs would back him up. Cochise says that the Riffs are the biggest gang in the city but Cyrus himself tells of all the soldiers in the city. If the Riffs got too pushy, they would be seriously outnumbered. Imagine this fight: The Riffs vs. The combined powers of full-strength Warriors, Turnbulls, Savage Huns and Panzers.

It's possible that the Riffs had men scattered all throughout the turfs, incognito, somewhat of a really undercover way to keep tabs on gangs. And if a Riff emissary was wasted, this guy'd know who did it and where.

You have to bare in mind that after Luther shot Cyrus that the Riffs put out the word that the Warriors were to blame so it may be that the other gangs allowed the Riffs free roaming to search for the Warriors after all if you help the biggest gang in the city, or even better waste the Warriors for them then you'd go up in their estimation so I guess the gangs would be thinkingof the prestige of being the gang that gets them while not interfering in the Riffs plans. Another thought is a line were the leader of the Orphans says no Parle and no Permit. Cleon went to Cyrus after he'd been shot, but we do not see anything after he gets attacked by Luther and the Riffs so it's quite possible the emisarry's from the other gangs communicated with the Riffs to allow them access to their turf to persue the Warriors.

One thing does puzzle me though, how come The Rogues can be seen in different locations (mainly Luther making phone calls presumably back to the other Rogues), does this mean the truce was kept for that night and the only people that were targets were the Warriors? or were the other gangs too busy looking for the Warriors to bother with the Rogues??

Something that should be considered here is the subway. In a city like NYC every gang turf could have a subway station on it. So, a messenger could travel most of the way on the subway, which is reasonably neutral ground. Even in the height of The Warriors' run for Coney they felt relatively safe once they got to the subway.

Granted you would still have to worry about cops and there is still the possability of attack at each station. All I am saying is that the subway could minalize risk.

Based on the whole beginning premise of the film (i.e. The Conclave & the general truce) I think it would be counter-productive for any gang to waste one (1) of The Riffs' messengers. Had one (1) of the messengers to whom was sent to confer with a gang about the Conclave been wasted, then I would seriously think that The Riffs would have made a lot of heads roll as payback for the killing of one (1) of their own that was sent out on such a peaceful mission.

Sure...it could have been possible that some gang could have wasted the messenger, but I HIGHLY doubt that would have happpened out of nothing more than respect for Cyrus, The Riffs and the Conclave that was to take place that night...