No wonder this became such a huge cult film because 45 years later its vision is unmatched. Walter Hill hyper-stylizes the movie, using weird gimmicky outfits, lingo, ritualistic masculinity, the stylings of 70s exploitation films and lonely dark streets and subways to create a hermetically-sealed and utterly convincing alternate world of fierce cult-like gang-armies without the need for any exposition. His impeccable visual sense makes this an incredible movie to look at. It also has an archetypal force to it and some of the structure of an ancient epic, with Swan a stoic Odysseus trying to keep his men safe as they swing from trial to trial on their journey home to Coney Island. And Barry de Vorzon’s score is perfect, keeping the movie moving with a combination of synthy foreboding and funky guitar.
My only real issue with it is the uncomfortable and unpleasant misogyny, but outside of that? This movie is cool as hell
