The Warriors
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50 free The Warriors trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Warriors turned a simple idea into one of the great cult films: a Coney Island street gang, wrongly blamed for a murder at a citywide gang summit, has one night to get home across a New York where every rival crew is hunting them. Released in 1979, it was attacked by critics, caught up in real-world controversy, and then adopted by generations of fans who still know its costumes, its radio dedications and its taunts by heart. This quiz covers the whole journey. There are questions on the plot and the gangs the Warriors meet along the way, the subway stations and train rides that shape the chase, the actors and what became of them, the music on the soundtrack, the novel and the ancient Greek story behind it, and the film's long afterlife in games, books and music. It is written for fans who have seen the film more than once, but casual viewers will find plenty they can work out. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave knowing a little more about how the film was made.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which US president phoned the lead actor of The Warriors to say he had screened it at Camp David?
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was a fan of the gang thriller, even though its early screenings had been linked to vandalism and three killings.
Q 02In The Warriors, what does Luther clink together on his fingers as he taunts the gang from a car?
Beer bottles
Beer bottles picked up under the boardwalk were the actor's own idea, after his first suggestion, two dead pigeons, was turned down.
Q 03Which actor was wanted for the role of Vermin in The Warriors but joined the sitcom Taxi instead?
Tony Danza
Tony Danza was the filmmakers' choice, but the sitcom got to him first, so the part of the gang's bearer went to Terry Michos.
Q 04Which gang chases Swan and three other Warriors from the 96th Street station into Riverside Park?
The Baseball Furies
The Baseball Furies lose the brawl that follows, and their look proved so memorable that one of them became an action figure in 2005.
Q 05Which guitarist sings In the City, the song that closes The Warriors as the gang walks the beach?
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh recorded it for the soundtrack, and his band the Eagles liked it so much that they cut their own version for The Long Run that year.
Q 06Which Broadway composer co-wrote a 2024 concept album retelling The Warriors with an all-female gang?
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lin-Manuel Miranda first saw the film on VHS at the age of four, and two of its original actors lend their voices to his album.
Q 07In The Warriors, Luther's gang rolls up to the final beach showdown in what kind of vehicle?
A Cadillac hearse
A Cadillac hearse from 1955 carries Luther and his crew to Coney Island, where they lie in wait for the Warriors at dawn.
Q 08Which screen legend did the director of The Warriors want to narrate an opening on its Greek roots?
Orson Welles
Orson Welles was ruled out when the studio refused to pay for the idea, so the director read the narration himself for the 2005 cut.
Q 09Dorsey Wright, the first leader of the Warriors, later spent 30 years in which New York job?
Transit conductor
Transit conductor was a fitting second career for a man whose best-known film is one long night ride home on New York's trains.
Q 10Which publisher released the 2005 video game of The Warriors, with film actors voicing their old roles?
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games set the first half of its brawler in the months before the film, showing how the Warriors rose to power.
Q 11In The Warriors, which gang does Luther lead, the one that really shot Cyrus at the summit?
The Rogues
The Rogues get away with it for most of the night, until a witness from another gang tells the Riffs what he saw.
Q 12Which Warriors leader is beaten down by the Riffs at the summit after Luther blames the gang?
Cleon
Cleon is given a girlfriend, Lincoln, in an opening scene that was cut from cinemas and put back for television showings.
Q 13In The Warriors, where does Cyrus gather delegates from the city's gangs for a midnight summit?
Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park is only the setting: the crowd scene was actually filmed in Manhattan's Riverside Park.
Q 21Which actor played Swan in The Warriors, then starred opposite Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu?
Michael Beck
Michael Beck was born in Memphis and trained at a London drama school, and he returned to voice Swan in the 2005 video game.
Q 22Which actor played the loud-mouthed enforcer of the Warriors and, later, the father in Dexter?
James Remar
James Remar hung around Coney Island before filming began to find a real-life model for his swaggering character.
Q 23Which actor made his film debut as Luther in The Warriors and later joined the cast of Twin Peaks?
David Patrick Kelly
David Patrick Kelly based the villain's taunting voice on a next-door neighbour he suspected of being a gangster.
Q 14In The Warriors, the Turnbull ACs try to run the gang down in what kind of modified vehicle?
A school bus
A school bus full of Turnbull ACs is the first threat on the long trip home, and the Warriors shake it off only by boarding a train.
Q 15In The Warriors, what does Swan throw to hold off a rival gang before his crew runs for a station?
A Molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail ends the standoff, and it so impresses Mercy that she walks out on her boyfriend's gang to follow the Warriors.
Q 16In The Warriors, which all-female gang lures three of the crew to its hideout and then attacks them?
The Lizzies
The Lizzies give the game away mid-ambush: it is from them that the three learn the whole city blames the Warriors for the killing.
Q 17In The Warriors, the leader of the overalls-wearing Punks gets around the station on what?
Roller skates
Roller skates mark out the gang's leader, Vance, in a station brawl that lets Mercy prove herself in a fight.
Q 18Which Warriors scout is thrown in front of a train while struggling with a cop on a platform?
Fox
Fox was written out in a hurry: the director had fallen out with the actor and told the stunt team to improvise the character's death.
Q 19Which of the Warriors leaves the others for a woman on a park bench who is really an undercover cop?
Ajax
Ajax's arrest later got a sequel of its own: the 2009 mini-series Jail Break follows the gang's attempt to break him out of prison.
Q 20In The Warriors, what does Swan throw into Luther's forearm to make him drop his gun on the beach?
A switchblade
A switchblade disarms Luther moments before the Riffs arrive, clear the Warriors of the killing and close in on the real culprit.
Q 24Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Mercy in The Warriors, went on to play a daughter for five seasons of which sitcom?
Too Close for Comfort
Too Close for Comfort cast her as daughter Jackie Rush from 1980, a year after her screen debut as the girl who follows the gang home.
Q 25Which actress plays the radio DJ in The Warriors and later the Chief in the Carmen Sandiego shows?
Lynne Thigpen
Lynne Thigpen is seen only from the nose down as she broadcasts the bounty on the Warriors and, at dawn, its cancellation.
Q 26Which future Oscar winner for The Fisher King plays the cop who arrests one of the Warriors?
Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes Ruehl made the park-bench arrest years before her Academy Award and her Tony for Lost in Yonkers.
Q 27Which actor, fired after clashing with the director, asked for his name to be left off The Warriors?
Thomas G. Waites
Thomas G. Waites still goes uncredited, though three weeks after his sacking he won a part beside Al Pacino in ...And Justice for All.
Q 28The lead in The Warriors was spotted when the director screened a film to consider which actress?
Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver had made a drama in Israel called Madman, and it was her male co-star who caught the director's eye.
Q 29Which director made The Warriors and later reunited two of its cast in the buddy-cop hit 48 Hrs.?
Walter Hill
Walter Hill also co-wrote the script and shot it through the summer nights of 1978, working from sundown to sunrise.
Q 30In The Warriors, which gang, snubbed by Cyrus's summit, blocks the crew's way through Tremont?
The Orphans
The Orphans rank so low that they were left off the guest list, and their leader's girlfriend goads them into a confrontation.