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Feb 9, 2024 · Newsletters. The Warriors: The 1979 cult hit that shows an ultra-violent NY. Alamy. Released during a period when New York was "the poster child for disrepair and abandonment", dystopian film The ...
- Gregory Wakeman
The Warriors has become a cult film, and some film critics have since re-examined it. As of December 2023, the film garnered an 88% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 51 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "As violent as it is stylish, The Warriors is a thrilling piece of pulp filmmaking." [32]
Nov 29, 2021 · Walter Hill's The Warriors is a beloved cult classic today, but the fantastical crime movie was the source of some controversy upon release.
May 23, 2017 · The Warriors is, crudely summarised, the story of a gang-infested New York erupting into a night-long orgy of violence, vinyl, and anarchy. The film opens with nine delegates, each representing over one hundred gangs across the city, arriving at Van Cortlandt Park for a midnight assembly. Cyrus, leader of the Gramercy Riffs and grand patriarch ...
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Cyrus, the leader of the most powerful gang in New York City, the Gramercy Riffs, calls a midnight summit for all the area gangs, with all asked to send nine unarmed representatives for the conclave in Van Cortlandt Park. The Warriors, from Coney Island, Brooklyn, are one such gang. The eloquent and intelligent Cyrus tells the assembled crowd that ...
Michael Beck as SwanJames Remar as AjaxDorsey Wright as CleonBrian Tyler as SnowDevelopment
Film rights to Sol Yurick's novel were bought in 1969 by American International Pictures but no film resulted. Rights were then obtained by producer Lawrence Gordon who commissioned David Shaber to write a script. Gordon sent the script to director Walter Hill with a copy of Sol Yurick's novel. Hill recalls, "I said 'Larry, I would love to do this, but nobody will let us do it.' It was going to be too extreme and too weird." Gordon and Hill were originally going to make a western but when the...
Casting
The filmmakers did extensive casting in New York City. Hill had screened an independent film called Madman for Sigourney Weaver to cast her in Alien and it also featured Michael Beck as the male lead. The director was impressed with Beck's performance and cast him in The Warriors. Hill initially wanted a Puerto Rican actress for the role of Mercy, but Deborah Van Valkenburgh's agent convinced the film's casting directors to see her. The filmmakers wanted to cast Tony Danza in the role of Verm...
Shooting
Stunt coordinator Craig R. Baxley put the cast through stunt school because Hill wanted realistic fights depicted in the film. In preparation for his role, James Remar hung out at Coney Island to find a model for his character. The entire film was shot on the streets in New York City with some interior scenes done at Astoria Studios. They would shoot from sundown to sunrise. The film quickly fell behind schedule and went over budget. While they shot in the Bronx, bricks were tossed at the cre...
Theatrical run
The Warriorsopened on February 9, 1979 in 670 theaters without advance screenings or a decent promotional campaign and grossed USD $3.5 million on its opening weekend. The following weekend the film was linked to sporadic outbreaks of vandalism and three killings - two in Southern California and one in Boston - involving moviegoers on their way to or from showings. This prompted Paramount to remove advertisements from radio and television completely and display ads in the press were reduced t...
Critical reception
A mild commercial success on its initial release, the film was panned by many critics as exploitative and superficial. In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave it two out of fours stars and said that, despite Hill's cinematic skill, the film is implausible in a mannerist style that deprives the characters of depth and spontaneity: "No matter what impression the ads give, this isn't even remotely intended as an action film. It's a set piece. It's a ballet of stylized male viol...
Home video
In 2005, Paramount Home Video released the "Ultimate Director's Cut" DVD of The Warriors. Aside from a remastered picture quality and a new 5.1 surround remixed soundtrack, the film has been re-edited with a new introduction and comic book-style sequences between scenes. In July 2007 the "Ultimate Director's Cut" was released onto Blu-ray.
Over the years, The Warriors has developed a significant cult following. At Seattle's Grand Illusion Cinema, programmer Zack Carlson remembers, "people were squeezed in, lying on the floor, cheering". Entertainment Weekly named The Warriorsthe 16th-greatest cult film on their "Top 50 Greatest Cult Films" list. The magazine also ranked it 14th in th...
While The Warriors was adapted from a novel (itself adapted from the Ancient Greek text Anabasisby Xenophon), the film has been adapted into a number of other products as well. The film's soundtrack was released in the same year as the film. In 2005, Mezco Toyz released Warriors action figures, including Swan, Cleon, Cochise, Ajax, Luther, and a Ba...
The Warriors are mistakenly fingered for the killing of a gang leader. ... Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/28/24 Full Review Mikey A This cult classic will forever be an essential ...
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Feb 9, 2019 · 'The Warriors,' Walter Hill's misunderstood examination of gang violence in '70s-era New York City, premiered on Feb. 9, 1979. ... Instead, the film emerged as a cult favorite.
