What seems to be a teen sex comedy – the film started out as a sequel to Malibu High – becomes a violent vigilante movie after Tiffany Carrigan (April Dawn) is gang-raped and murdered on her way home from her first ball by a biker gang in a van, spurring her brother Kevin (James Van Patten) to seek revenge by taking up arms by night.
He teams up with a gang of his like-minded Phi Delta Tai frat buddies – Fred (Mike Norris), Scott (Tom Reilly) and Jorge (John Alden) – who set about brutally punishing any miscreants they catch in a criminal act.
Ernest Borgnine is Tiffany and Kevin’s cop dad, Lieutenant Bob Carrigan, who is partnered up with Richard (Shaft) Roundtree.
Also appearing are Nels Van Patten, Anne Lockhart, Mike Norris (Chuck’s son), Dick Shawn, B-movie scream queen Linnea Quigley – and an animation sequence.
If Young Warriors was supposed to illustrate how taking vengeance and doling out illegal justice was a bad thing, it was somewhat scuppered by adhering to so many conventions of the decade’s action cinema, therefore of course there is a car chase, a shootout and even an exploding helicopter.
There are also synths, drum machines, mullets galore and a dog in sunglasses and a hat, but no happy ending.
The director and producer were both in their early 20s.
Lt. Bob Carrigan
Ernest Borgnine
Sergeant John Austin
Richard Roundtree
Beverly Carrigan
Lynda Day George
Kevin Carrigan
James Van Patten
Tiffany Carrigan
April Dawn
Lucy
Anne Lockhart
Scott
Tom Reilly
Stan
Ed De Stefane
Fred
Mike Norris
Jorge
John Alden
Professor Hoover
Dick Shawn
Ginger
Linnea Quigley
Heather
Britt Helfer
Roger
Nels Van Patten
‘Ice Test’ Monty
Jimmy Patterson
Priest
Bernard Bloomer
Officer Womby
Gregory Bennett
‘Brick Test’ Frank
Randy Woltz
Director
Lawrence D Foldes