Who was Luther from the Rogues gang talking to on the phone?
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dominicd — 10 years ago(December 29, 2015 04:32 PM)
.so who did he keep phoning in and explaining the details of the night?
I presume it was the radio DJ. But briefly watching it again after all these years, and in a cursory check of the cast, "
Luther
" was the same "
Luther
" in Eddie Murphy's 48 Hours (1982) and this unforgettable and funny and amusing scene
"
What's happenin' Luther. I'm sorry about the door, man. It looked real painful when you slammed into it
" - Reggie Hammond- DominicD
"
Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.
" - A. Hitchcock
- DominicD
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Stevicus-2 — 10 years ago(December 29, 2015 06:19 PM)
when the movie ended I expected a big reveal of a conspiracy, collusion actually of maybe one of the warriors and Luther to kill Cyrus, but nothing. so who did he keep phoning in and explaining the details of the night?
I tend to agree with those who say that it might have been someone who paid Luther to kill Cyrus.
A couple things stand out:- After Luther gets off the phone, his main sidekick asks him "Are we set?" It's not clear what that referred to, but it could mean they were expecting some sort of payment or favor in return for killing Cyrus.
- Luther was being uncharacteristically nice and respectful over the phone, at least in contrast to how he was with everyone else. Whoever it was, Luther apparently either feared and/or respected that person.
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adresher-1 — 10 years ago(December 30, 2015 10:50 AM)
While we will never know for certain, I just do not buy the Luther was paid to kill Cyrus based on the phone call.
When he is on the phone he never indicates or says the job is done. He also says that they just got back from the event in the Bronx and that is was a mess. If he is talking to someone who paid them to kill Cyrus, that would know and not need to be said.
As for the "are we set." I believe he is simply asking if the Riffs are looking for the Warriors and if they found them.
At the end of the film when Luther is asked why he killed Cyrus he simply says "No reason." When the Riffs show up he just says "No, it wasn't us it was the Warriors." If he was about to be killed I think he most likely would have pleaded for his life by telling them he will tell them who paid to have Cyrus assassinated.
Luther was someone who simply "wanted to watch the world burn," as someone else put it. -
Stevicus-2 — 10 years ago(January 11, 2016 07:26 PM)
When he is on the phone he never indicates or says the job is done. He also says that they just got back from the event in the Bronx and that is was a mess. If he is talking to someone who paid them to kill Cyrus, that would know and not need to be said.
True, although if someone did pay him, they may not be aware that the Rogues made it out and were above suspicion. If they were paid off by someone who was connected, then whoever it was would be able to monitor the radio station and likely get whatever information the cops knew. But they would still need to know the Rogues' status, and Luther may have felt compelled to report in.
Plus, Luther would need to know whether the cops are after him, so whoever he was talking to provided him with that information.
The thing that really gives a clue is the manner in which Luther is talking to the person on the phone. He says "Take care of yourself" to whoever it was and seemed far more nice and respectful than he otherwise shows in his interactions with others. To say "take care of yourself" would not be the kind of thing he would say to his girlfriend or his mom or his social worker or a DJ. He wouldn't say that to someone he knew on a peer level, but rather, to someone he considered more powerful, someone higher up on the food chain. Someone more powerful than the head of the biggest gang in NYC.
At the end of the film when Luther is asked why he killed Cyrus he simply says "No reason." When the Riffs show up he just says "No, it wasn't us it was the Warriors." If he was about to be killed I think he most likely would have pleaded for his life by telling them he will tell them who paid to have Cyrus assassinated.
True, he does say "no reason" when Swan asks him, but if he was paid by someone else to do it, he certainly wasn't going to tell Swan about that or who it was.
I was thinking that he might have pleaded with the Riffs for his life, although they didn't really give him much of a chance to say anything before they started pummeling him. It would have required some pretty fast thinking on Luther's part, and he didn't strike me as a particularly fast thinker.
Even if he had told them that someone paid him, they probably would have killed him anyway. And if he survived, he would probably be killed by whoever it was who paid him.
Then there's the question of whether they would even believe him if he had confessed. He already shot Cyrus and tried to pin it on the Warriors. They knew he was guilty of Cyrus' murder, and he had been caught in a lie. Anything else he might have told them would have been suspect. -
Robbmonster — 10 years ago(January 10, 2016 08:49 AM)
If you search around you might be able to find an old post with someone theorizing that Luther was speaking to his mother, and the scene has been re-written to fill in the blanks of the conversation.
Seriously funny stuff.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds -
mobocracy — 10 years ago(February 07, 2016 04:15 AM)
My in-Universe theory is that Luther was an informant to the cops who told them of the meeting in the Bronx and was either pressured to kill Cyrus and frame another gang for the killing.
This ties into my other theory is that he's supposed to represent Mithridates from the historical account of The Ten Thousand the Warriors is based on.
Mithridates actually killed Cyrus (the king's brother and leader of the revolt in Persia) in the Battle of Cunaxa, but was paid off by the king, Artaxerxes, to deny it and let the king claim he killed Cyrus. He was goaded into bragging he actually did it and killed for it.
If you follow the kind of tortured logic of the Warriors being a retelling of the Ten Thousand, the cops represent the king of Persia, Artaxerxes, and Cyrus the revolutionary trying to overthrow his brother Artaxerxes is the Cyrus in the movie. Mithridates is Luther, the actual killer of Cyrus, and if he had just kept his mouth shut about the killing he'd be alive. -
LeonardPine — 10 years ago(March 09, 2016 11:39 PM)
Seen this film god knows how many times. Watched it last night and it's the first time I wondered who he was talking to on the phone!
Come on here and there's a thread about it!
Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions"? -
gressos — 9 years ago(July 29, 2016 03:21 PM)
I thought about it right after seeing this thread,although it works as a mystery and,as my numerous viewings of the movie prove,it works quite alright.I agree with the other users that the person on the other side of the line must have been someone that Luther respected or felt he had to report to for his actions.Since I have not read the book(but I heard that Luther's character was created by the filmmakers)I can only guess that Cyrus'killer surely was looking after some sort of power.I am not sure over what territory-I always had a funny feeling through the years I've been watching the film that the Rogues were also a Coney gang who wanted Warriors out of the way,since they bothered to follow them all the way to the ocean.Now I am thinking I was maybe wrong,they were not necessarily from Coney,but surely Luther had something personal for them(maybe during the killing he was led to entrap the Warriors because he was seen by one of them,but later on the phone he says that ''they deserved it'').So who was that person on the phone?Well,he could very well be a gun salesman or a gang member who also benefited from Luther's deeds.We'll never know how much and in what way he could benefit.Surely,Luther didn't at the end.But I keep wondering what impact would the film have if it considered some vital details like that or remain more faithful to the novel.Just the same,Hill made a picture that became part of million people's lives,including me.
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RHLens — 9 years ago(September 04, 2016 10:55 AM)
To OP, So many theories
My preferred is that it is Luther's contact who had put him up shooting Cyrus. Trouble with that theory, is who is the contact? somebody in the police department or somebody within the Mob? Or could be someone who works for both. The motive for having Cyrus shot is clear - neither the police nor the Mob would want all the gangs to unite. The reason for having the telephone updates is because they are anxious - they want to know that the Warriors (the witnesses) are killed off. Would have been good to find out who the 'contact' was, also guess that they would have eventually killed Luther afterwards - but all that would have been a different 'story' to the movie. -
wiking5 — 9 years ago(January 09, 2017 09:14 PM)
I always figured Luther was reporting in to the Riffs. He's polite because he's speaking to a liaison of the most powerful gang in the city. I figure Luther thinks the Nomads are "set" because they're the ones who initially fingered the Warriors as the killers of Cyrus.
"We all have it coming kid." -
therealman — 9 years ago(January 17, 2017 11:30 AM)
There are a lot of theories along these lines but there is nothing in the film to suggest this.
Luther had no idea he was going to blame the shooting on The Warriors or likely any other gang. He happened to see Fox(?) standing there so fingered him.
While the cops and mob would have reasons to want Cyrus dead this would be a dangerous place to have it done. Also, his message already got out. They also would probably want all the Riffs not just Cyrus dead as his second in charge could still try to see the plan through.
It would seem, to a rational person, to be a suicide mission, to kill Cyrus in front of all those people.
I have always maintained Luther is talking to his probation officer. It was very common at the time for gang members to have probation officers with whom they would have to check in with. Luther acts tough but still has to answer to this authority figure.
The conversation, what we hear of it doesn't sound like he is checking in with who put him up to it. It is a little more matter of fact. "That Cyrus had an accident."
Most likely probation officer or just another gang member. I think it is a probation officer who is a little shady and is giving Luther some information. -
Stevicus-2 — 9 years ago(January 18, 2017 02:06 PM)
While the cops and mob would have reasons to want Cyrus dead this would be a dangerous place to have it done. Also, his message already got out. They also would probably want all the Riffs not just Cyrus dead as his second in charge could still try to see the plan through.
It would seem, to a rational person, to be a suicide mission, to kill Cyrus in front of all those people.
Perhaps, although if someone wanted to send a strong message to the gangs about the futility of trying to organize en masse like that, this would have been a good way to do it. Right out in the open in front of all the gangs. As far as it being a suicide mission, that may not have been the case, considering that Luther almost got away with it (but for that one witness who came forward towards the end).
Luther had no idea he was going to blame the shooting on The Warriors or likely any other gang. He happened to see Fox(?) standing there so fingered him.
At the beginning, they didn't know who shot Cyrus, although I would suspect Luther had planned on blaming the shooting on whoever might have been handy. He saw Fox standing alone just after he shot Cyrus, and he was about to shoot Fox when the cops started rolling in and all hell broke loose. A few minutes later, he saw Cleon standing over Cyrus' body and started yelling "I saw him! He shot Cyrus. The Warriors did it! The Warriors did it!" That's when Luther charged at Cleon and got instantly pummeled, then the rest of the Rogues came charging in and also got pummeled by Cleon. But then the Riffs joined in and pummeled Cleon to death.
That's something that Luther could not have planned. If the Riffs had merely captured Cleon and let him live, Cleon might have been able to convince them that the Warriors were innocent. They could have also captured Luther and found the gun on him.