Production note The movie is based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel.
Production note The film opened in roughly 670 theaters and later became notorious for theater disturbances and violence.
Production note Roger Hill reportedly got genuine cheers from the extras during Cyrus's speech.
Production note Thomas Waits's character Fox was reportedly written out after a feud, with a stunt double replacing him.
Production note The film was shot partly at Hoyt-Schermerhorn and other New York subway locations.
Production note They say the production had to pay off gangs for certain filming locations in the five boroughs.
Production note The wall-to-wall rain-soaked street look was an intentional cinematography choice.
Production note In the book, none of the characters were white, and the film was altered for commercial reasons.
Production note Tony Danza was originally considered for Vermin but ended up doing Taxi.
Production note Mercy's jacket was used to hide an injury after she hurt her wrist during filming.
Mad Max Used as a comparison for similarly rough, transitional late-70s action filmmaking.
Escape from New York Cited as another action-thriller that feels similarly transitional.
West Side Story Bill compares the movie's gang structure to a musical without the songs.
48 Hours Discussed as another Walter Hill film with a major crowd reaction and similar action energy.
Dirty Harry Referenced as representative of earlier 70s action movies.
Enter the Dragon Cited as another major action reference point from the era.
John Wick Used as the modern benchmark for clean fight choreography and networked world-building.
Scarface Used as an example of a cult film that gained stature through cable/VHS.
Revenge of the Nerds Sean compares the final arrival of the Riffs to a crowd-reinforcement scene in this movie.
Predator Referenced for its iconic macho victory framing.
The Graduate Used to describe the anticlimactic feeling of returning home after the long night.
Die Hard Mentioned as part of Lawrence Gordon's later action-movie production legacy.
Point Break Mentioned as another Lawrence Gordon-produced action classic.
The Rock Referenced as a later wrestler/performer whose charisma resembles Cyrus.
Crip / Bloods Used in a personal anecdote about pretending to be in a gang as kids.
