"...and miracles is the way things ought to be."

In light of Rockstar games's new video game coming out paying homage to the 1979 classic "The Warriors", I felt it was my duty to salute the greatest man in that movie, and I would argue one of the greatest people in cinema history- Cyrus.

For those of you who haven't watched "The Warriors" stop reading this right this second and go watch it, because you don't know what you're missing! Netflix it, blockbusterize it, whatever. Just do it. Watch the trailer in the meantime. It's so good you'll want to stab you own eyes for not having seen it before.

Those of you who have seen it undoubtedly remember the man I'm talking about. In the movie, Cyrus, the charismatic leader of the baddest gang in New York, arranges a meeting in The Bronx to spread his ideas to the other gangs of the city. His goal is to get the gangs to all agree to a truce, and form one giant gang to overthrow the police and run the city themselves. Obviously what he says is pretty insane, and if I was a mild mannered citizen of 1970's Manhattan I would probably be against it. The whole idea of gangs running New York (other than the NYPD) sounds pretty intense. But the way he delivers his speech gives me chills. He's like a 70's version of Barack Obama with James Brown hair. His oratory is so great I cry a little inside every time I hear it. Here is the transcript..(And I've linked some of the text to a few awesome audio samples of it..)

figure A: Cyrus "droppin science"

Cyrus -" Can you count suckers? I say the future, is ours! If you, can count."

Crowd Member - Come on Cyrus, we're with you!
Crowd Member - Go ahead bro!

Cyrus - "Now look what we have here before us. We've got the Saracens sitting next to the Jones Street Boys. We've got The Moonrunners, right by The Van Cortlandt Rangers. Nobody is wasting nobody. That is a miracle, and miracles, is the way things ought to be."

[Crowd cheers]

[Cyrus climbs up the platform]

Cyrus - "You're standing right now with nine delegates, from a hundred gangs and there's over a hundred more. That's 20,000 hardcore members, 40,000 counting affiliates and 20,000 more not organised but ready to fight. 60,000 soldiers! Now there ain't but 20,000 police in the whole town. Can you dig it?

[Small crowd cheer]

Cyrus - Can you dig it?

[Louder crowd cheer]

Cyrus - Caaaaaan yooooou diiiiigg it?

[Crowd roar and cheer]

Cyrus - Now here's the sum total. One gang could run this city. One gang! Nothing would move, without us allowing it to happen! We could tax the crime syndicates, the police, because we got the streets suckers! Can you dig it?

[Crowd cheer and police cars roll quietly into the park]

Cowboy - "Right on!"

Cyrus - "The problem in the past has been the man turning us against one another. We have been unable to see the truth, because we've been fighting for ten square feet of ground. Our turf, our little piece of turf. That's crap brothers. The turf is ours by right, because it's our turn. All we have to do is keep up the general truce. We take over one borough at a time. Secure our territory, secure our turf, because it's all our turf!"

[Crowd cheer and more police cars roll into the area]


Wow. I mean Wow!! Doesn't that make you want to run out, put on a ridiculous costume and join a group of ruffians to commit mayhem and civic urest? All I know is there isn't a day in my stupid life where I don't realize that a: I can count, and b: I'm a sucker. If only we could all realize that the power to change this world is all around us..In fact, it is us. We as a collective force can do anything. And Cyrus knew this. Sadly, he is struck down by an assassin's bullet at the end of his speech. And in one quick flash of gunfire, a great man dies and a legend is born..

But let us not ever forget his words.