# Coolest gang on film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672 "2009-10-29T23:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/1 "2009-10-29T23:39:24Z")
Inspired by the Bloods/Crips poll. Thanks Kayaker. My vote goes to the Ducky Boys from the Wanderers. IIRC all the other gangs were terrified of them and had to band together at the end to take them on. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/2 "2009-10-29T23:42:22Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Inspired by the Bloods/Crips poll. Thanks Kayaker. > > My vote goes to the Ducky Boys from the Wanderers. IIRC all the other gangs were terrified of them and had to band together at the end to take them on. The Warriors, from the movie of the same name, or, the Baseball Furies, also from the same movie. The Baseball Furies were wimps(according to Ajax), but they had the makeup, the uniform, and the bats. Looked like the Yankees lineup from Hell. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/3 "2009-10-29T23:43:32Z")
I’d have to say the Jets from _West Side Story_, just 'cuz any gang who can look like _that_ while singing Sondheim deserves props! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/4 "2009-10-30T00:04:14Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I’d have to say the Jets from _West Side Story_, just 'cuz any gang who can look like _that_ while singing Sondheim deserves props! 😉 So they were like a \*Queer Eye for the Straight Gang \*gang? I’ll gp with the gang in _A Clockwork Orange_ – I think they were the Droogs? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/5 "2009-10-30T00:51:55Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I’d have to say the Jets from _West Side Story_, just 'cuz any gang who can look like _that_ while singing Sondheim deserves props! 😉 Nah, the Sharks looked and sang just as well, plus they were better dancers. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/6 "2009-10-30T01:04:16Z")
But the Jets had a better song. The Droogs were the first totally psychotic and nihilistic gang. The Crips, Bloods, and Tony Montana have more social conscience. Some of the newer Mexican narco gangs are closing in on the Droogs, though. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/7 "2009-10-30T01:07:55Z")
I don’t think they were really a ‘gang’ called the Droogs…it was just Russian for ‘friends’. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/8 "2009-10-30T01:08:50Z")
The Bowery Boys from the old Cagney films. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/9 "2009-10-30T01:18:28Z")
Definitely not the rival motorcycle gang from The Wild One. It’s not hard to see why Brando’s outfit became universal shorthand for cool, while porkpie hats missing the top and fake beards never quite caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/10 "2009-10-30T01:30:37Z")
The gang made up of many and identical and seemingly endless Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving) in _The Matrix Reloaded_. They can’t sing like the Jets but they can wear each others clothes like nobody’s business. Plus he proved he could sing already in _Priscilla Queen of the Desert_. I also liked Cat’s gang in _Cat Ballou_, particularly if you include the minstrels (Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole). Kid Shelleen’s transformation from out-of-shape pathetic drunk to slick gunfighter (though even drunk he was a great shot) is one of my favorite scenes, as is the final rescue. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/11 "2009-10-30T01:34:33Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > So they were like a \*Queer Eye for the Straight Gang \*gang? ::sniff; sniff:: is that the scent of a new reality show in the air??😉 ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/12 "2009-10-30T02:04:23Z")
The Goonies. 'nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/13 "2009-10-30T02:09:44Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > The Warriors, from the movie of the same name, or, the Baseball Furies, also from the same movie. The Baseball Furies were wimps(according to Ajax), but they had the makeup, the uniform, and the bats. Looked like the Yankees lineup from Hell. Which gang tied a guy to a tall bridge, a rope to his winky, a rope to a big rock and threw the rock off the bridge ? Thats the gang I vote for. You dont see that kind of creativity these days in a gang. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/14 "2009-10-30T02:18:45Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I’d have to say the Jets from _West Side Story_, just 'cuz any gang who can look like _that_ while singing Sondheim deserves props! 😉 They were singing Leonard Bernstein (with Sondheim’s words), and since Bernstein is a far superior and more sophisticated composer, that’s the hard part. I’ll go with the original East Side Kids. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Green\_Eyed\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Eyed_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/15 "2009-10-30T02:19:10Z")
_The Newton Boys_ was a “meh” movie with Matthew McConaughey. However, at the end of the movie the showed a couple of clips from _The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson_ with interviews of a couple of the real Newton Boys. In those clips, which probably lasted less than 2 minutes, you saw the charm of the gangsters that was utterly missing from the movie. At least one review I read said those interviews at the end were the best part of the movie. I think would have to agree. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/16 "2009-10-30T02:31:06Z")
_Wolverines!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/17 "2009-10-30T02:36:36Z")
Ocean’s 11, if they’re a gang. I especially enjoyed the Mormon Twins. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/18 "2009-10-30T02:42:52Z")
Warriors are pretty cool I guess. Not too many great gangs on film though. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/19 "2009-10-30T02:44:36Z")
Dead Rabbits! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672/20 "2009-10-30T03:02:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Which gang tied a guy to a tall bridge, a rope to his winky, a rope to a big rock and threw the rock off the bridge ? That explains how Richard Beymer was able to hit those high notes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coolest-gang-on-film/515672.md?page=2)