Some films smash box office records, others use their mega-budgets to achieve cinematic and economic history and, in some cases, others just rely on the quality of the story, the power of the images, and the audience that watches it. The Warriors is the latter.

The cult film, an American action thriller film based on Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel of the same name, was released in 1979 and has continued to gain notoriety to this day. The film remains an exaggerated tableau of its surroundings.

The story centres on a New York City gang who must make an urban journey of 30 miles (48 km), from the north end of The Bronx to their home turf in Coney Island in southern Brooklyn, after they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader.

During the seventies, New York was on the brink of collapse. Bankrupt and with crime running wild, the film allowed a spectator’s view of the cities crumbling morality to be explored within the confines of ‘cool’. It portrayed the city, and those who are in it, as manic, violent and willing to risk it all – all except The Warriors.

The Warriors are the bastion of morality in this flick and their fateful journey home has come to represent the good of this world trying to find the people who need it most. Trying to bring the light home. While the storytelling far reaches beyond the gang warfare premise, the film’s allegoric nature is only trumped by its effortless style.

As talks of a lucrative TV deal with Hulu continues to swirl and with the news of the soundtrack being released on vinyl, we thought we’d take a look behind the scenes at one of the most iconic cult films from the ’70s.

Take a look below with images via the official Warrior site and ask yourself “CAN YOU DIG IT?”

(All images in this article have been sourced via The Warriors Movie)