THE WARRIORS : TRUE FACTS OF THE TIMELESS CULT NEW YORK CLASSIC
In the 1979 movie, inspired in part by Greek history, a peace meeting uniting New York City gangs turns sour when the charismatic gang leader who called the truce is suddenly murdered. With Coney Island troupe The Warriors wrongly blamed, all hell breaks loose and the group must fight their way home, with rival gangs and the police in pursuit. From legendary Hollywood director Walter Hill (48 Hours, Bullet to the Head) the movie would go on to become a surprise hit and one of his best loved films.
THE WARRIORS : TRUE FACTS OF THE TIMELESS CULT NEW YORK CLASSIC
1. The Warriors is loosely based on Anabasis, a historic tale of Greek mercenaries isolated behind Persian enemy lines who had to fight their way home.
2. The original novel by Sol Yurick, written 14 years earlier, challenged the romanticised view of street gangs from films like West Side Story, based on his experience as a New York City welfare department worker.
3. Due to gang violence at many screenings, Paramount completely removed advertising from radio and television and severely reduced print ads. 200 US cinemas even added security personnel.
4. Earning a positive response from younger audiences, by its sixth week the film had grossed over $16 million in box office receipts.
5. The film featured many real gang members and the iconic opening showing Cyrus’ speech utilised over 1000 extras.
6. Actor David Patrick Kelly improvised Luther’s famous “come out to play” taunt, one of the film’s most well known lines.
7. For a publicity photo, The Warriors gang logo was painted on a building, inadvertently over a real gang’s tag. The gang didn’t take lightly to this, so the producers paid them to appear in the film.
8. The bat wielding Baseball Furies gang was created by combining director Walter Hill’s love of baseball and the style of makeup used by the band Kiss.
9. Allegedly, US President Ronald Reagan was a fan of the film. He even phoned lead actor Michael Beck to tell him he screened it at Camp David, the President’s country retreat.
10. Rockstar’s eponymous hit video game adaptation, featuring most of the original cast, celebrated it’s 10th anniversary last year. Players could relive the classic storyline while learning how each character first joined the gang.
11. The movie has been referenced throughout pop culture, in TV series like The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, Black Dynamite and Luke Cage and in music such as Twisted Sister’s ‘Come Out and Play’, Pop Will Eat Itself’s ‘Can U Dig It’, Biohazard’s ‘Wrong Side of the Tracks’ and the entire theme of popular new Madrid based Heavy Metal band, Lizzies as well as Birmingham based band Copter’s rocket powered rock & soul live reinterpretation of the soundtrack (see below)
12. It was recently announced that The Russo Brothers (Captain America franchise) will collaborate with Paramount Television and Hulu for a re-imagined TV adaptation.
