Latest / All The Right Movies / The Warriors (1979) | Ep. 45 - Part 1
Transcript
- 0:04All the right movies. These are the armies of the
- 0:08night. I say the future.
- 0:11Is. Ours 100,000 strong now there
- 0:15ain't but 20,000 police in the whole town.
- 0:18They outnumber the cops 5 to one.
- 0:20It's all our turf. They could run New York City
- 0:27tonight they're out to get the warriors.
- 0:29The warriors rated R Coney Island St. gang the warriors
- 0:34travel up to the Bronx for a meeting of minds headed up by
- 0:37the enigmatic Cyrus of the gramercy rifts.
- 0:39The warriors get free and for cyrus's murder and have to bop
- 0:42their way back home as rival gangs line up to exact
- 0:46vengeance. A low budget and a cast of
- 0:48nobodies didn't stop the Warriors hit #1 at the box
- 0:50office before controversy struck.
- 0:52Since its release, it's become hugely influential in popular
- 0:55culture and is now a bona fide cult classic.
- 0:59My name is Luke and a couple of desperate dudes with me are
- 1:02Westie. We're going like everybody else.
- 1:05Nine guys, no weapons. I'm Matt.
- 1:08I'm sick of waiting for trains. ATR Ms. Heavy Muscle are headed
- 1:12up to the Bronx. Can you dig out?
- 1:36Hi everyone, welcome to All the Right Movies, the one and only
- 1:39podcast on classic and hit films.
- 1:40Full of magic. Whole lot of magic.
- 1:43Oh yeah. We're coming out to play this
- 1:47week as we tell you the insane behind the scenes story of
- 1:50Walter Hills. The Warriors a long time coming,
- 1:54got a time in the limelight. I'm surprised that it has, but
- 1:57I'm excited of. Course you are.
- 1:58You're not the only one who's surprised.
- 2:01And you are the only one who's excited, yeah.
- 2:07Well, we'll get into all of that.
- 2:09We'll, we'll hold it back for a bit, yeah.
- 2:11It's too good to pass up, even if it's not true, yeah.
- 2:15Now, before we get into all of it, it's time to tell you about
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- 3:58OK, so that's out of the way. Back to the show.
- 4:01It'll come as no surprise to most.
- 4:03This one was my choice, of course.
- 4:05Yeah. Yeah, so why do I want to talk
- 4:07about this film? I never watched it as a kid.
- 4:10I was aware of it because of the come out to play thing.
- 4:13My brother used to do an impression of it and he mimicked
- 4:16the bottles on his fingers with the weird voice and everything.
- 4:19But because I had no context, I thought he was doing a Freddy
- 4:22Krueger impression. The fingers.
- 4:23Thing. I mean, I've mentioned on many
- 4:26occasions how much Elm St. terrifies me, so I avoided the
- 4:29Warriors like the plague. Which is weird because I kept on
- 4:32going back to Elm Street, all the sequels and all the shit.
- 4:34There you go. Yeah, but.
- 4:36No warriors. So I didn't watch this until
- 4:38maybe 10 years ago, and I was instantly captivated.
- 4:42Set in New York, of course, so it's a big take, but the kind of
- 4:46urban wasteland thing appealed to me.
- 4:48The immediacy of that opening scene grabbed me by the balls
- 4:50and didn't let go. It's got such a strong identity,
- 4:54and I love the world that Walter Hills created.
- 4:56It's by no means perfect, and we're bound to have some fun
- 5:00with that over the course of the show.
- 5:01Yeah. Yes.
- 5:02Matt, we've talked about this before, but I'm particularly
- 5:05interested in what Westy makes of this whole thing.
- 5:08So with that, in my Westy the Warriors, where you're at with
- 5:12this film? I mean 10 years ago for you I
- 5:14thought this is like baked into your childhood.
- 5:17No, no, I was a fully formed adult and I took this to be
- 5:20heart. That's even worse.
- 5:21Yeah, I'm even more confused. Yeah, I was going to say, well,
- 5:24this one's new to me. And the fact that I remember
- 5:26kind of seeing it, but I just remember it being on and I've
- 5:28never actually seen it all the way through.
- 5:30I never sat and watched it. What a treat, Westy.
- 5:32And, and let it absorb the way that it has over the last few
- 5:36weeks. Let's be honest.
- 5:37I mean, I wish I'd have seen this younger.
- 5:39I wish I'd have seen it younger because there's so much I say in
- 5:42this that it's influenced other things.
- 5:44I did absolutely adore the soundtrack.
- 5:46I love the pace. There's a really great pace.
- 5:48There's a really great tone and there's a really great energy to
- 5:51the film. And I can see why it's so
- 5:53beloved by people, because when you tap into that energy, it's
- 5:55really hard to forget and it kind of stays with you.
- 5:58And it really is an uplifting film in that respect, where it
- 6:00has got this kind of electricity to it and this vibrancy to it.
- 6:04So I do get why people love it. I wish I'd loved it a little bit
- 6:07more, but then again, I could have hated it a lot more.
- 6:09So it's not to say that I completely disliked it.
- 6:11I really did enjoy it. But well, I've got a lot of
- 6:13things to talk about. Let's just leave it there.
- 6:15Yes, we are a lot of things to unpack.
- 6:18Yeah. And Matt, have you got more
- 6:20things to add to that? Well, I mean, you know, it's the
- 6:24worry. Isn't it?
- 6:25It's the worry, the one there's no doubt about that I.
- 6:27Mean, you put the pole up and I was just already expecting to
- 6:31talk about Jack Nicholson, one of his finest performances and
- 6:34no, sorry, I'm sadly talking about Michael, Beckon said.
- 6:36There's a turn of events. Yeah.
- 6:38Well, two world class performances there.
- 6:40Luke. Yeah.
- 6:41Luke's put the pole up and turned you into a popsicle.
- 6:43That's what he's doing, yeah. Exactly.
- 6:46No, there's not a big story on this one for me.
- 6:49Long term Pavement, we'll know. We did cover it a while back.
- 6:52It wasn't a film I was familiar with back then.
- 6:54And I'll repeat what I said, which is when I watched it back
- 6:57then, I was surprised because in my head I always had this
- 6:59packed. It was like a post apocalyptic
- 7:01drama set after nuclear Holocaust or something.
- 7:04I had no idea it was set in the contemporary world.
- 7:06So there were things I liked about it, the things I didn't
- 7:09understand about it. And I think given that the
- 7:12classic treatment means we can really get into those, which
- 7:14will be quite funny. And I'm just interesting to see
- 7:17how much this you can justify with a straight face look.
- 7:20Because this. Is an odd film.
- 7:22It's an odd film. Granted, it's odd.
- 7:26It's odd. It's got it's own unique style.
- 7:28I'm sure we'll get into all of that.
- 7:30Oh, we definitely will. The Warriors was Co written by
- 7:33David Shaber and Walter Hill, directed by Hill and produced by
- 7:36Lawrence Gordon for Lawrence Gordon's Productions and
- 7:38distributed by Paramount Pictures in the theatres on
- 7:41February the 9th, 1979. Shot on location at night in New
- 7:45York City, it stars Michael Beck as Swan, Oscar Worthy obviously,
- 7:49obviously also Deborah Van Volkenburg as Mercy, David
- 7:53Patrick Kelly as Luther, James Remar as Ajax and many many
- 7:57others. Not a bad performance between
- 7:59them. Just a collective 1.
- 8:01Yeah, OK gang, let's pop our way up to the buggy down Bronx for a
- 8:09conclave. That's going to be a real big
- 8:11item. Maybe we'll get to waste a few
- 8:12heads along the way. I wouldn't mind laying a little
- 8:14something down on the way back. You've got a one track brain,
- 8:17you know that? A blister in opening to the
- 8:51Warriors. Oh, boys have their colors on as
- 8:54they take the long ride up to Van Cortlandt Bark and Matt,
- 8:57you're going to take the reins. I am do you know what great
- 9:00start of this film? Great all great credits.
- 9:03The score starts off quite eevey but it just builds and builds in
- 9:07intensity till it becomes this massive # and rush of
- 9:10adrenaline. Love that POV shot where you
- 9:13rushing through the tunnel like a train.
- 9:14It's visually so resting and it grabs you immediately.
- 9:17The editing, that's incredible. The way it cuts between all the
- 9:20various gangs on the move, the instructions being given up by
- 9:23Cleon, the way it takes you back and forth, gets all the
- 9:26exposition, which is quite boring out of the way that is so
- 9:29much more interesting than you would think is possible.
- 9:31So the editing, camera work score all top notch here.
- 9:34And it is when we get our first sight of the other gangs as
- 9:37well. So you got the poppers with
- 9:39those knotty dresses, magnificent purple waist courts,
- 9:43fantastic feathers in their caps when you knew there was a book
- 9:48coming. I.
- 9:49Know what's coming? You have the high hats.
- 9:51The high. Hats.
- 9:53Who is thinking of forming a gang?
- 9:55In deciding on a unique identity?
- 9:57Who in their right mind puts their hand up and goes?
- 10:00Have we thought about being mimes?
- 10:01I bet no one's taking that idea. There's a reason no one's taking
- 10:05that idea. It's ridiculous.
- 10:08I've said it before, it makes Billy Crystal and Spinal Tap.
- 10:10Every time I see them walk through there it's similar kind
- 10:13of bad. Yeah, I mean, how these guys are
- 10:15supposed to strike fear into anyone else, I don't know, like,
- 10:17watch out, they might pretend to lock you in a phone box and
- 10:20that's about it. A phone box of emotion milk was
- 10:26a bad choice. So yeah, these credits the
- 10:30fantastic because it completely tells you what the rest of the
- 10:32film is going to be. Looks great kill soundtrack the
- 10:35content however. Oh, wow.
- 10:38I mean, I mean, is this the best it's going to get?
- 10:41Matt, don't let me down here. There's.
- 10:43No, it's not peak too early. It's not peak too early it.
- 10:45Doesn't peak too early, thank God.
- 10:46Thank God there's a shot of Coach.
- 10:49He's on the train. No dialogue, but I just love the
- 10:51way he's gesturing with such confidence.
- 10:53He's obviously telling Fox a tale about how he's picked up
- 10:56some chicks or busted somebody's head, and he's so animated.
- 10:59It's really, really great. The real St. gang in Coney
- 11:02Island were called the Homicide. No subtlety with that name.
- 11:07They weren't very happy with the Warriors cast wearing their gang
- 11:10colours on their turf, so the cast were limited to where they
- 11:12would go in costume in corny for fear of their heads being busted
- 11:16open, right? Right.
- 11:18Quite childish quite honestly. Gang warfare is quite Yeah,
- 11:24Originally, the film opened during the day with the scene
- 11:26between Cleon and his girlfriend, who tells them that
- 11:28she doesn't want to go up to the Bronx.
- 11:29Let's start with Greece. I don't want you to go clear,
- 11:34but just played by Pamela Potty. Mr. Sidney Potty, his daughter.
- 11:38Oh, wonderful. The next scene sees the Warriors
- 11:40lined up on the boardwalk with Cleon giving instructions to the
- 11:42Warriors before the set off. And editor David Holden, he
- 11:45recommended that he'll cut the scene because the vast majority
- 11:48of the film is shot at night, so couldn't from this scene to
- 11:51night time would be too jarring. And he'll agreed and went back
- 11:54to do the reshoots. And this ended up being the
- 11:56talking head footage which is into cut between the train
- 11:58shots. Oh right, nice.
- 12:00It would be quite a soft opening this wouldn't it?
- 12:02Just standing like a sunrise with his girlfriend saying don't
- 12:04go. But the reshoots were filmed one
- 12:06rainy night in Corny, and the shots are so tight in the actual
- 12:10film because they had to take cover from the rain in this tiny
- 12:12room, and they only had a single overhead light for the shots.
- 12:15So that's why it's right in your face.
- 12:18So those open credits set of Cyrus is this mystical shaming?
- 12:21So when we finally get up to Van Cortland Park, I'm on the edge
- 12:24of my seat waiting to see who this guy is.
- 12:26Has it been dropped from another planet to save us all?
- 12:29And then he shows up and I think he does live up to expectation.
- 12:33I think he's got a a good look. I think he exudes such.
- 12:37I'm going to edit out your right there, Matt.
- 12:39OK. You're all going to be like
- 12:40that. So you're not undermining
- 12:42things, OK, just. Keep me opinions to myself then.
- 12:46This is like Luke's fucking Netflix special, doesn't it?
- 12:49This will be a very short episode, Luke, if you're going
- 12:52to cut out. It's a solo.
- 12:53End of a multi negative. Yes, so I think he's got a good
- 12:56look. I think he exudes such an air of
- 12:58confidence and superiority. Yeah, I mean, he's just looking
- 13:01down on people immediately when he starts calling everybody
- 13:04suckers, right from the word gore.
- 13:06That's quite demeaning, isn't it?
- 13:07He's. Got an incredible, I think he's
- 13:08got an incredible presence. To be honest.
- 13:11It is quite laughable the way he looks in certain ways.
- 13:13But I mean, he's got a Christ like figure.
- 13:16He has, yes, he has. And it's very much kind of made
- 13:19that way. It really works.
- 13:21I think I was kind of taken about when he came on the
- 13:23screen, like I'm going to have to listen to what he says.
- 13:25Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, the first question put
- 13:28you on the backfoot. Can you count?
- 13:29It's a really strange way to start things off.
- 13:31It's really belittling as well. It's.
- 13:33Really. Belittling.
- 13:34Yeah. Suckers.
- 13:35Can you count? Well, yeah, you Dick.
- 13:38And count 1 asshole in here. And his plan seems to be quite
- 13:44sound. You know, he's done his maths.
- 13:46Yep. And everybody seems to be
- 13:47kneeling at his altar and maintaining the truce.
- 13:50He says that the Moon Runners are right by the van Kotlin
- 13:52Rangers. Nobody's wasting nobody yet.
- 13:54That is a miracle. So we know this is quite an
- 13:57historic summit that we're a part of here.
- 13:59Yeah, to maintain authenticity. While The Hill wanted to use
- 14:02real gang members in the film, they were used as extras in the
- 14:05conclave scene. So to keep things in check,
- 14:07he'll also infuse this being crowd with undercover cops just
- 14:12in case the natives started getting restless.
- 14:14This outrageous but by and large.
- 14:16But by and large they behave themselves.
- 14:17Jesus Christ, thankfully. It's as dangerous as getting the
- 14:20gang from the Warriors together. Yeah, exactly.
- 14:23It's actual. See why?
- 14:24Even more so? Because these are actual
- 14:26murderers. Yeah, yeah.
- 14:29But the neighbours didn't behave themselves.
- 14:30The the surrounding apartments shooting got disturbed by nearby
- 14:34residents who were being kept up in the early hours by the noise
- 14:36of the shoot and David Straight, the location manager, said.
- 14:39We actually paid them off so they would stop playing their
- 14:41stereos so loud and not screw up the soundtrack.
- 14:44Right, right. Because of all the commotion
- 14:46from various disruptive sources throughout the film, the entire
- 14:49dialogue in the film was looped in post production and I think
- 14:53that's as obvious as there. Yes, it is.
- 14:55Yes, the. Sound levels don't match, do
- 14:57they? No, it's as obvious as Jason the
- 14:59Argonaut it. Is it is, Yeah.
- 15:02And when filming this conclave scene, many of the non actors
- 15:05and extras left the set when they got bored which diminished
- 15:07the numbers for the same and as a result the film and schedule
- 15:10change to get the crowd scenes shot earlier on in the night.
- 15:13Yeah, when certain extras did leave the set, they often did it
- 15:17wearing their costumes because they preferred them to their own
- 15:21clothes, much to the chagrin of the costume department.
- 15:25So to combat this, every extra was given a raffle ticket after
- 15:28they returned the costume at the end of the shoot where one of
- 15:30them was in line to win a a brand new color TV.
- 15:34Which, you know, is all very nice.
- 15:35I mean, at the time, yeah. Unfortunately, the lucky winner
- 15:38was mugged on the way home with his brand new TV was taken from
- 15:41him. Really.
- 15:44Yeah. And Cyrus was supposed to be
- 15:49played by a gang member, but he disappeared the night before
- 15:52filming and nobody saw heard from him ever again.
- 15:54And Roger Hill was then drafted in his last minute replacement.
- 16:01So that guy has been murdered? Yeah, he's dead, I would
- 16:03imagine. Clearly.
- 16:04Concrete boots, Yeah. Roger Hill, who ended up playing
- 16:07Cyrus, said that he had played Hamlet three months prior to
- 16:10filming this scene, which was sufficient preparation.
- 16:13Can thou dig it? Wonderful.
- 16:20I really like Roger Hill's delivery in in those lines, like
- 16:23we've been fighting for 10 square feet of ground.
- 16:26I really like the way that he pronounces things that he's in
- 16:28the nations and obviously you've got that iconic can you dig it
- 16:32line, which in the mix doesn't sound like him.
- 16:34The third one that he says, yeah, it sounds like somebody
- 16:37else has dubbed it in. Probably it's very possible.
- 16:40And I mean, speaking about the the whole Jesus symbolism and
- 16:43the Christ mythology, especially related to this guy.
- 16:45I mean, Cyrus is just such a powerful figure, I think in all
- 16:49of this. And there's so much respect
- 16:50from, but that platform, the build from that is shoddy beyond
- 16:53compare, isn't it? That's going to fucking go.
- 16:56And he just tumbles into it and it smashes open.
- 16:59But it's just, there's so many things here.
- 17:02The police arrived just silently and it just builds the tension.
- 17:05There's a fantastic whip pans that create this, the
- 17:08transitions between the crowd getting more and more riled up,
- 17:12which looks really, really good. And there's one of my favorite
- 17:14shots in the whole film is that just really close moving camera
- 17:18of just that gun being passed through the crowd.
- 17:20I don't know who it's going to. And then there's that really
- 17:22great reveal of Luther. You need to think.
- 17:24It's just absolutely wonderful film, Megan, because it just
- 17:27builds the tension and that sound ramps up and then that
- 17:30gunshot goes off. And I'm like, yes, this is
- 17:33directed by Walter Hill. Absolutely 100.
- 17:36Percent. Because that gunshot is just
- 17:38reverbing into the night as he falls backwards like Christ
- 17:41through a shortly made wooden floor.
- 17:43And I was like, right, yeah, I know where I am with this.
- 17:45Now. I kind of wait for this to
- 17:46continue because I want to see, yeah, I want to see more of this
- 17:49because this is exactly what I signed up for, and this is
- 17:52exactly what I was expecting. So for me, this was a scene that
- 17:54really needs to hit home. And it really does.
- 17:56I think it's beautifully directed and it's beautifully
- 17:58shot. Yeah, I think it sets up Luther
- 18:00well as well. He's got the brass balls to kill
- 18:02the one and only in front of 1000.
- 18:04Pages that close up with his face when the gun comes up, it's
- 18:07just like, oh, you don't trust him immediately.
- 18:09And it's a great performance as well.
- 18:11Craig Baxley was the stunt coordinator who would go on to
- 18:14direct action Jackson of all things very nice, and he wanted
- 18:17to bring in a stuntman from LA to do the stunt after Cyrus get
- 18:20shot. The stereo wouldn't stretch the
- 18:22budget and Baxley said, the only two Blackstone men in New York
- 18:25at the time. But they didn't want to do it.
- 18:26And I'm going to quote Baxley directly here for this next part
- 18:29of the story. OK, so there was only two
- 18:32Blackstone men in New York. They didn't want to do it.
- 18:35So he said I had to do it. I came out with Afro Sheen in my
- 18:38hair, black skin and my blue eyes.
- 18:41I thought I was going to get killed.
- 18:45Just let your soul go. After he fell down he got mobbed
- 18:52and he thought he was in for it but they picked them up and they
- 18:54were cheering. Thankfully, he didn't get.
- 18:56Killed Jesus, not another disappearance on my hands.
- 19:00So when you're president of the biggest gang in the city, you
- 19:03don't have to take any shit. That is, unless you get shot by
- 19:06a lunatic. Sad times for Cyrus.
- 19:08Yeah, absolutely. So with Cyrus wasted, chaos
- 19:14ensues as our heroes flee the scene.
- 19:16Wester, you're picking up the action.
- 19:18I think this is just a wonderful sequence as it just continues
- 19:20the modernist. It shows the scale of the
- 19:22conclave. Like we've said, it shows them
- 19:23Koreans work and it shows everything and have the panic.
- 19:26Everybody's running in different directions.
- 19:28It's really great timing of the police reveal because Fox has
- 19:31seen what's going on. Luther's got the gun on him.
- 19:34Is it going to go? Lights, come on.
- 19:36Classic. Love it.
- 19:37Seen it a million times since. But I think, again, if I'd
- 19:39watched this as a kid, I'd be like, wow, I didn't expect that.
- 19:42That was incredible. How did that happen?
- 19:44Not as an adult, no. Not like me then.
- 19:50Because I would have, I would have expected that 1,000,000
- 19:53miles, seen it too many times for you.
- 19:56Like I've seen them stay. The police are there.
- 19:58So here we go, right. The lights are going to come up.
- 20:00I did expect more from Fox, but we'll get into that later
- 20:02because he says absolutely fuck all about anything.
- 20:04But we'll get into that. I'm sure there's reasons.
- 20:08But it's just this bit that gets me is just how cool Cleon is and
- 20:11the way that he goes up and he tries to chill out.
- 20:13He tries to just get involved and did standing over Cyrus and
- 20:16then Luther's like that's him. The Warriors did it, the
- 20:20Warriors and then the riffs come on to Cleon, right?
- 20:23He's absolutely. He's like Shaft.
- 20:25He's just he's. Got some Kung Fu moves,
- 20:28Brilliant. And then all the risks do is
- 20:29just get on top of him and just elbow drop him.
- 20:31Just death elbow, loads of elbows.
- 20:34And loads of static elbows. So watching The Rockers, it's
- 20:38from like WWF, there's like loads of like massive elbows in
- 20:42there until he's dead. It really adds to this whole
- 20:45madness of the scene. And I think it's great the way
- 20:47Fox has just stood there. And I still love that guy.
- 20:50He likes windows. So I still love that guy, of
- 20:52course. And I still love the, you know,
- 20:54the whole point in the finger and you're just like, oh shit,
- 20:57out of everybody. It's the people that we're with
- 20:59that we like who are in the shit now, and we've got to stick with
- 21:02them through this. And it really adds to that
- 21:04tension and it's really, really well done again.
- 21:07OK. I'm loving the positives,
- 21:08Westie. Yeah, get them out the fucking
- 21:11way. And in the ensuing chaos after
- 21:15the shooting of Cyrus, to maintain relative control, the
- 21:18extras were asked to move in circles within circle, circle
- 21:21Sundrig rings running in the opposite direction to each
- 21:23other. And to make it even more simple,
- 21:26extras were given the One Direction which was follow the
- 21:29guy in front. Nice.
- 21:31Like a more simple but effective Yeah, we'll look out for it.
- 21:34When you watch it next, it's clear to see an effective,
- 21:37controlled amount of confusion. So after this bit the fled the
- 21:40scene, you get the bit which I want to talk about, which is the
- 21:43hideout in the graveyard. And what they're saying gets
- 21:45really right is the fact that they're all just sweating the
- 21:48bollocks off here. You can feel like the humidity
- 21:51in the air, you can see how much the sweating.
- 21:53And I think one of the things the worries just get right, it's
- 21:56it is that visceral sense of like clammy summer nights.
- 21:59You can really feel that in the air.
- 22:01You know that heat where you underwear sweats and it crawls
- 22:03up there anyway? It's hot, OK.
- 22:05Yeah, yeah. Anyway, it's hot.
- 22:07Anyway, it's hot. So yeah.
- 22:09So location, self fantastic, surround by the tombstones, the
- 22:13grace, there's a lot of foreshadowing going on, a lot of
- 22:15symbolism, which I really like, and it sets up the simplicity of
- 22:18the narrative going forward. And all that is really nicely
- 22:20done. But it's also the scene where I
- 22:21started to get a bit concerned about going forward with this
- 22:24film because if these are our main characters, the people
- 22:27we're supposed to identify with and root for, it's already feels
- 22:30a bit like him because we'll get to the performances in a bit,
- 22:32but I'm already looking at Swan going, this guy, this guy's in
- 22:36charge really seriously. This is the guy everyone's
- 22:38backing really. Like, you don't get like any
- 22:41sense of leadership from him. And everyone's saying a Jack no
- 22:44Swan's war chief. Swan's war chief.
- 22:46I'm on the Ajax's side, to be honest.
- 22:48Like, why? You know, James Raymour has
- 22:51something about him, I think. Yes, he does.
- 22:53Because you have these counters called Ajax and Swan and they
- 22:56say no, I want to be war chief. I want to be war chief.
- 22:59This is the first bit where I feel.
- 23:01This. Should be set in the future,
- 23:03like the language doesn't feel right for the times, like these
- 23:05kind of terms and these kind of names.
- 23:07So it's an interesting scene because it starts to set up some
- 23:10of the problems I have with it as well.
- 23:12I think it's quite interesting to put the W on a gravestone
- 23:15kind of sound. It's really interesting.
- 23:17Yeah, yeah. Great.
- 23:18Yeah, yeah. Like you're saying,
- 23:20foreshadowing the warriors in the cemetery, some of the warm
- 23:22make at home alive. There's loads of that like that.
- 23:25So the scene directly after this map where we meet Masai and we
- 23:28get to understand the scale of the Gramercy Riffs operation.
- 23:31I love it. They've got a huge network and a
- 23:34professionally enough outfit that when Cyrus gets blown away,
- 23:37they've got a born leader waiting in the wings ready to
- 23:39take over and exert his authority.
- 23:41And it's Maasai who's amazing, A formidable prospect.
- 23:45I love him. Edward Sewer, who plays Maasai,
- 23:47was incorrectly tagged in the end credits as an unnamed
- 23:50Gramercy riff, while Dennis Gregory, an unnamed Gramacy
- 23:53riff, was credited as Maasai. Oh, right.
- 23:56Ouch. Shame, because I think Sewer has
- 23:58got some unique, some could say bizarre delivery in his lines.
- 24:04He's that incensed that Cyrus has been killed, that he's
- 24:07talking with all of his neck muscles contracting.
- 24:10Yeah. It's called something he's They
- 24:12talk with his teeth, isn't he? I want them alive if possible,
- 24:15if not wasted, but I want them. And because we're introduced to
- 24:21this outfit in this scene, we get those glorious transitions
- 24:24throughout the film where Maasai is getting regular updates from
- 24:26the guy with the great hair. I think, again, it shows how
- 24:29deep the network runs and it reinforces the world that we're
- 24:33in. For me, I love it.
- 24:34Definitely. So send the word.
- 24:36The riffs, along with every other gang in the city, are
- 24:38after the Warriors. That's that real live bunch from
- 24:41Corny. And I do mean the Warriors.
- 24:47The director. Walter Hill's first outing on
- 24:52the podcast. We have talked about a couple of
- 24:53his films on our double feature show though, so yet another
- 24:56reason to sign up to become a patron of ATRM.
- 24:59Absolutely, Absolutely. There are many of.
- 25:00Them how many more do you need? 10,000.
- 25:03More. So Hill's work as director on
- 25:06the Warriors, Westie, what do you like?
- 25:08I mean, I like a lot of what Hill does.
- 25:10I think it's, again, I love a confident director.
- 25:12I've said that time and time again that it's becoming a
- 25:14cliche, but I think he's got a very distinct style that comes
- 25:17across in this. I think it it does have a very
- 25:20comic book feel, which I think is what he was going for.
- 25:22I think the locations really, really work.
- 25:24And I think his location work here is is what stands out for
- 25:27me and how difficult this must have been to shoot and how
- 25:30authentic he makes it seem. I mean, in the fight scenes,
- 25:33they're a little bit laughable now, but I think it's 79.
- 25:35You would kind of go, I could save myself in that fight and I
- 25:38would have a good goal and kind of you could put yourself in
- 25:41that space. I think you can you can really
- 25:43experience the location, you can experience what he's trying to
- 25:47put across. I think it's just the
- 25:48multicultural ISM that he brings to each of the gangs is that
- 25:52there's nobody stereotype. There's nothing to do with race
- 25:54here. There's nothing to do with
- 25:56sexism. There's nothing to do with like,
- 25:58oh, there's the bar. I mean, there's there's sexism,
- 26:00but it is 79, but it's done in the way that it's it's a trap
- 26:03lead. Do you know what I mean?
- 26:03I think Hill knows that and he's playing on stereotype in a
- 26:06really wonderful way and in a really refreshing way.
- 26:08And it's just the way that he uses the location to reinforce
- 26:11that stereotype and puts you in that space.
- 26:14And there's no but he's better than what Hill to put you in a
- 26:16space and make you feel like you were actually there.
- 26:18And I feel You really, really accomplishes that in this film.
- 26:21Yeah, incredible use of location, Yeah.
- 26:23And part of the reason for those amazing locations in the film
- 26:27that was down to location managing David St.
- 26:29He was born and raised in New York and had previously driven a
- 26:31Cup around the city. He said my job was to take
- 26:34production at the most dangerous parts of New York and see if we
- 26:36could survive. My instinct was to go dark and
- 26:39dangerous. And he really did.
- 26:41No wonder that I've bothered about the performances.
- 26:43Everything's won't take and out. Yeah.
- 26:45Get to get the fuck out of. Here, that's a real fire.
- 26:48Let's get the fuck out of here. And with your wonderful
- 26:51comments, Westie, here comes our first question from an ATRM
- 26:54patron. Oh, OK, great.
- 26:56If you sign up on Patreon, you can ask us a question for the
- 26:58film we're talking about. Our first comes from Jamie
- 27:01Beckett. Hello, Jamie.
- 27:03Hello, Jamie. Jamie and Jamie says there is an
- 27:05incredible sense of place in The Warriors.
- 27:07Agreed. Great.
- 27:08What are the classic films have a similar sense of place in
- 27:11other cities as this does in New York?
- 27:14That's over to you. I've got three.
- 27:16First one I'm going for is London in the long Good Friday.
- 27:20I mean, that is practically a character in itself in that
- 27:23film. Yeah, it could.
- 27:24Not be set anywhere else. A second one, and I feel there
- 27:27might be a bit of a crossover here again, but I'm going for
- 27:30Venice and don't look now just because it's the complete
- 27:32incredible contrast to how Venice is usually seen.
- 27:36The City of love, except it's crumbling into disrepair, decay
- 27:40and horror. Outright horror.
- 27:41And then the last one for me is Tokyo in Lost in Translation.
- 27:46Very nice because. That is so disoriented and as it
- 27:49is for Charlotte, the character, and that it does feel like she
- 27:51stepped into an alien landscape almost.
- 27:54Brilliant, excellent. A few for me that really stood
- 27:56out a couple of when I was growing up that really made us
- 27:59want to visit the places. I think Dirty Harry is such a
- 28:01beautiful look at San Francisco and then so Married an Axe
- 28:04Murderer is such a San Francisco film as well.
- 28:07Highlights that it's as silly as it is for me, the definitive New
- 28:11York films. Taxi Driver.
- 28:12I think it always will be. I think it's just the way that
- 28:14shot is just so enigmatic and just it just really plays a
- 28:17role. Yeah, Heat for downtown Lai,
- 28:20kind of see anything else comparing to that one we've
- 28:23talked about very recently. If you want to sign up Pierre on
- 28:25is get Carter, which I think highlights Newcastle really,
- 28:28really well. And it still looks the same now.
- 28:30So if you want to see what Newcastle looks like.
- 28:33Crab House. It's exactly, it's not crab
- 28:34house, just crab. The one that's a real stand out
- 28:37for me is 7, which is not meant to be anywhere and kind of looks
- 28:41like everything, but was actually shot in California,
- 28:43shot in LA. But it has a real anonymity to
- 28:45it. And I think that's Finch's
- 28:47genius, where you can make something be a place and have a
- 28:49presence, but not actually sure where it is.
- 28:51So I think that's a really nice contrast to the other ones on
- 28:53the list. I think a film that we've talked
- 28:55about our double feature show recently and we're getting
- 28:58Patriot plugs left, right and centre here, but training days,
- 29:01LA locations are pretty spectacular for me.
- 29:03Yes, Yeah. Brilliant.
- 29:05You all give a sense of danger and on ease.
- 29:07Much like this film. Yeah, the film that I really
- 29:10love, but it's it's certainly not for the faint hearted is
- 29:13Miss 45, the able Ferrara film from 1981.
- 29:17That's the second feature after Driller Killer that's also set
- 29:20in New York, where you can feel the filth and the grime under
- 29:23your own fingertips as Zoe learned Exact's beautiful
- 29:27revenge on the city. It's visually striking, Just
- 29:30like I said, watch with caution if you're interested.
- 29:33Check that one out if you do. Yeah.
- 29:35Yeah, don't at me. Or maybe do see what happens.
- 29:41What's happening to what you're saying about the location,
- 29:43Westie? I think that along with the few
- 29:45other elements, those give the Warriors such a unique visual
- 29:48identity. Unlike any of that.
- 29:49I can't think of another film really like this.
- 29:52I think it's uniquely the Warriors in most departments.
- 29:56Just look at those costumes. So strike and so individual.
- 29:59I mean, they had to be to be able to differentiate the gangs.
- 30:01I mean, you've got the minds, of course, you've got, you've got
- 30:05the Savage Huns, you've got the electrical eliminators.
- 30:07They're amazing. They're all amazing.
- 30:09And Hill and his crew have put in so much attention to detail.
- 30:12The majority of prayers he needs to go to Bobby Mannix, who was
- 30:15the costume designer. Walter Hill's brief to her for
- 30:17the costumes was Don't think anything's too weird.
- 30:21Brilliant. I'd love a brief like that I'd
- 30:22never get. Yeah, but I think Hill is such a
- 30:26great director of visuals. Think of that conclave scene,
- 30:29which is huge, with the aura of Cyrus and the crowd full of
- 30:33different identities, the fact that it's all shot at night, but
- 30:37it's brimming with colourful energy.
- 30:39When I think of the Warriors, I see it in neon, not darkness,
- 30:43because it feels like full of life and vibrancy.
- 30:46Lots of red, lots of yellows, lots of greens.
- 30:48Hill isn't one of the great visualists, Ridley Scott, a
- 30:51Kubrick or anything like that, and his films could be dismissed
- 30:54as pulpy crap by certain sections of people.
- 30:57Snobs, snobs, let's call it. Let's call it as.
- 31:00It is. That's right, yeah.
- 31:02But it's very cinematic and very appealing to me.
- 31:04I think the visuals alone in this this film is enough to make
- 31:06you just sit up and pay attention.
- 31:07Yeah, definitely. And in Hill's mind, the film
- 31:10takes place in a distorting future.
- 31:12Which, yes, that's absolutely what I think as well.
- 31:16And at the beginning of the film, you wanted a legend that
- 31:18said sometime in the near future that got nixed by Paramount
- 31:22because they felt it was too much like Star Wars.
- 31:24And Hale said. I thought the movie was close to
- 31:26being incomprehensible without that because it always seemed to
- 31:29me to be a science fiction movie.
- 31:31I mean, the man said it right there.
- 31:33In the near future or a long, long time ago too much like Star
- 31:40Wars. It's the opposite, mate.
- 31:42The absolute opposite. Direct, opposite.
- 31:46Neil's original concept for the film was to divide the film into
- 31:49chapters and start each one with a splash panel like the comic
- 31:51book, he said. I don't think you can understand
- 31:54the movie without understanding my infatuation with the American
- 31:57comic book. But his plans were scuttered
- 31:59because of the budget was low and the post production deadline
- 32:02was really, really tight. Yeah, so the white transitions
- 32:06that are used in the original cut of the film were kind of his
- 32:09replacement of the comic book aesthetic to denote that
- 32:11difference scenes were happening at the same time.
- 32:13So it's like a page turning then.
- 32:15Yes, exactly. Yeah, as well as the comic book
- 32:17aesthetic, Orson Wells was prepped and ready to do a short
- 32:20narration for the film. The film.
- 32:25Drunk as a skunk, I would imagine.
- 32:26No, we're talking. Wells would have done any old
- 32:29shit as long as it kept him in. Jane at that.
- 32:31Time 79. Yeah, definitely.
- 32:34Obviously Awesome Wells would have cost Paramount bulk at
- 32:36that, and Hill didn't get his intro either.
- 32:39But he did get to tinker with the film in 2005 and put his
- 32:42original ideas in the director's cut version of the film.
- 32:45And Hill himself provides the voice over for the opening.
- 32:48Oh, OK. OK.
- 32:49So Matt, what are your thoughts on Hill as director here?
- 32:53Really strange mixture because in one hand it's classic Walter
- 32:55Hill and it's very on Walter Hill at the same time because
- 33:00it's very visually striking. There is, I think, a strong John
- 33:04Carpenter look and feel to this because the visual is absolutely
- 33:08the very clean. There's no scene in this that
- 33:10looks cluttered or looks like it hasn't been thought through the
- 33:14prism of how can this film be taught in the most visual manner
- 33:17possible to the point where it's one more sense.
- 33:19I think this could be a silent film and you could still tell
- 33:22what's happening like 90% of the time because it's very.
- 33:26Precinct 13 isn't it? Very precinct 13.
- 33:28It is. It is, yeah.
- 33:29Yeah. And that that's the visual
- 33:31clarity that Hill brings. There's no on it.
- 33:33It's really streamlined, really well paced, all classic Walter
- 33:36Hill. But on the other hand, I always
- 33:38think Walter Hill of bringing some grit to a film and being
- 33:41tornly consistently picks a 26 with it and he nails it.
- 33:45This has jumbled and it doesn't have the the grid and what it
- 33:48is. It's really quite camp a lot of
- 33:50the time it is. It's really.
- 33:52Close it is. Like a lot of.
- 33:53Hunky young guys wandering the streets stripped to the waist or
- 33:56leather waist courts. There's nothing wrong with the
- 34:00Philippine camp, don't get me wrong, But I'm just not sure
- 34:02Walter Hill wants this to be camp, or as camp as it gets.
- 34:05Yeah, I think just on one hand it's very Walter Hill, and on
- 34:07the other, I'm just not sure what's going on.
- 34:09And he used to seem to have lost control of it a bit.
- 34:12Yeah, I can see where you come with that.
- 34:13And I can understand why people would be put off by the kind of
- 34:18tone which undermines the reputation that it has, because
- 34:22it's got a bit of a reputation, a badass reputation.
- 34:24The Warriors was based on the 1965 novel, the same name by
- 34:28Saul Urich. Or on that.
- 34:29Later producer Lawrence Gordon came across the book by chance
- 34:33at a bookstore. He read the back and was bought
- 34:35in immediately. And around the same time,
- 34:37director Otto Preminger, who directed An Anatomy of Murder
- 34:40among other things, was also taken by the novel and wanted to
- 34:43do a movie adaptation, which was entirely faithful to the book,
- 34:46right? Right.
- 34:47The day before signing the contract, Lawrence Gordon came
- 34:51in with a better offer to usurp Preminger.
- 34:53Wow, did they just read the? Back.
- 34:58That sounds good, all right. And Gordon then hired David
- 35:01Shaber to adapt it into a screenplay.
- 35:04Shaber had worked on TV and Broadway, and coincidentally,
- 35:07his only movie credit at that time was adapting the story for
- 35:10the stage musical Such Good Friends for the Big Screen.
- 35:12And that film itself was directed by Otto Preminger.
- 35:15Small world. Small world.
- 35:17All right, there you go. Can you believe it?
- 35:18Haven't worked with Walter Hill in his first few films It's Hard
- 35:20Times and The Driver. Gordon sent him a copy of the
- 35:23screenplay and the book. He'll like what he read but
- 35:26didn't think any studios will be interested.
- 35:28So his and Gordon's attention moved to a western movie called
- 35:31Last Gun, written by Hill and Roger Spotterswood.
- 35:35Amazing financing fell through on that.
- 35:38So they went back to the Warriors.
- 35:39Gordon persuaded Paramount to stump up the cash and they felt
- 35:43there was a useful market they could tap into with this film
- 35:46that could really get the teeth into it.
- 35:47I would have loved to have seen that.
- 35:48West No. Definitely.
- 35:50That's good, beautiful, Hill said.
- 35:52We've got the green light in April or May 70 years and we
- 35:54were in theaters in February 79. So it was an accelerated
- 35:57process. Yeah, that's despite Hill
- 35:59shooting around 150,000 feet of film, the equivalent of about 30
- 36:03hours. He didn't make the job easy for
- 36:06his editing team. One of them, David Holden,
- 36:07affectionately called Hill the Blanket because he covered
- 36:10everything. Amazing.
- 36:13Love that. Yeah, that name hasn't caught
- 36:15and we need to revive that. Yeah, the blanket.
- 36:17It sounds like nice it. Sounds comfy, yeah.
- 36:21Who you on set with? The blanket should be wonderful.
- 36:26The film went over budget and over schedule as a result of the
- 36:28permanent night shoot, Hill said.
- 36:30The movie was shot in the summer of 70 years and we were all LA
- 36:33guys, so we didn't understand how short the nights were in New
- 36:36York City in the summer and in the contracts at the time, the
- 36:39crews lunches were an hour and it took long to reassemble after
- 36:42that, so we're basically shooting a work day that
- 36:44amounted half a day in Hollywood.
- 36:47An hour lunch? Wow, that's amazing.
- 36:49An hour lunch at 3:00 AM. So a lot went on during
- 36:54production, which meant it went over budget and over schedule
- 36:57and kind of explains the ramshackle nature of it.
- 37:00And that's my excuse paper and over the cracks here.
- 37:03First up is the whole Thomas G Waits debacle.
- 37:06Waits played Fox in The Warriors.
- 37:09The structure of the narrative was changement shoot largely
- 37:11because there was a spat between Hill and Waits which ended in
- 37:14Waits being fired halfway through filming, a huge decision
- 37:18which could have completely derailed production and has done
- 37:21in the past many times on many, many projects.
- 37:23Yeah, there are different reports as to why Thomas Waits
- 37:26was given the boot. Allegedly, he repeatedly left
- 37:28the set to get high, and when he returned, he was very disruptive
- 37:31in the shooting script. Fox was the hero of the piece,
- 37:34and I'm kind of see this as why he doesn't see anything through
- 37:36the film. It kind of makes sense.
- 37:38Was he pissed off? Yeah, so Fox was the hero of the
- 37:41piece and ended up that with mercy at the end.
- 37:43This all changed mid shoot when Hill thought that Beck and Van
- 37:46Valkenburg had great on screen chemistry.
- 37:49I don't know, it seems like he's just thrown under that train for
- 37:52no reason whatsoever. I think that's an excuse.
- 37:54Yes, that's. Been done in retrospect.
- 37:56Absolutely an excuse chemistry there like.
- 38:00They don't at all. Not at all.
- 38:02Yeah, and the way the story was rewritten didn't appeal to wait,
- 38:05who wasn't a fan of the violence, he said.
- 38:08We saw the shooting and we were labeling over the Saints with
- 38:11all this violence, and I was getting really fucking
- 38:13frustrated because I could see this was almost obscene with
- 38:16violence. It wasn't what I signed up for.
- 38:19I signed up to be a part of the love story and difficult
- 38:21circumstances that changes these people.
- 38:24What a load of shit, how aggressive that it's not what I
- 38:27fucking want to do. I want to be the fucking love
- 38:29story. I don't need a fucking gang film
- 38:31with violence. Of course you do man.
- 38:33You just call. The Warriors, it's about gangs.
- 38:37That's a lie as well, he'll apparently told Craig Backs to
- 38:42the stunt coordinator. You have to come up with a way
- 38:44to kill this guy. I don't give a shit how you kill
- 38:46him. Just kill him.
- 38:48And when it happened, Waits said it was like someone cut my soul
- 38:51out and left a shell. Editor David Holden said that
- 38:54Tom Waits had a a bad attitude which threatened the harmony of
- 38:56the Warriors cast, so the decision was made to drop him.
- 38:59They made-up the scene where Fox gets thrown onto the tracks and
- 39:02killed. It's not even Waits in that
- 39:04scene. It was his stunt double and they
- 39:06filmed and cut around his double.
- 39:07And I don't really think that it sticks out that it isn't.
- 39:10Thomas Waits, if you didn't know.
- 39:12If you didn't know, no, I mean, it is.
- 39:13He is shot in the back, isn't he?
- 39:15Yes, he shot from the. Time and you'd already see him
- 39:17but. Yeah, but he has got about an
- 39:19extra £20 on him or something like that.
- 39:21Yeah. And it's and it's in slow MO.
- 39:23I thought he would have done it a little bit quicker just to so
- 39:25it's not as obvious, but yeah. It's just the fact it doesn't
- 39:28get remarked on. Like no one mentioned what
- 39:30happened to Fox. Yeah, who seems quite important.
- 39:33No remorse. No sadness, no tears.
- 39:35Yeah, Now Hill has expressed a lot of regret at the whole
- 39:38situation and that he accepted some of the blame lay on his
- 39:42doorstep, which is fair enough, he said.
- 39:43I'm not proud of this at all. I think had I been a better
- 39:46director, I might have gotten through to him better, But he
- 39:49was well. But we felt beginning to be like
- 39:51a disruptive force, So what was he supposed to do?
- 39:54You know what? I mean, yeah, you can tell that.
- 39:56Waits is apologetically reflected on his involvement of
- 39:58the incident as well, he said. It was entirely my
- 40:01responsibility. It was sort of difficult at the
- 40:03time, probably gave the director a little more trouble than I was
- 40:06worth. Walter let me go, which I don't
- 40:08blame him for. I had a tendency to be
- 40:09argumentative unnecessarily. Yeah, I think he was happier in
- 40:13the thing anyway. Yeah.
- 40:14Michael Beck said the cast were taken aback by this decision to
- 40:17get rid of weights. They were where there was a
- 40:20conflict of some sort going on, but not to the extent that was
- 40:23eventually revealed. And it was explained to him that
- 40:26it made more sense for the character of Swan to end up with
- 40:29Mercy, considering their burgeoning.
- 40:31Alleged chemistry, Chemistry, chemistry.
- 40:37Now, despite how upset Waits was at the decision, he was
- 40:39contractually obliged to loop dialogue.
- 40:41So once filming wrapped, he had to do just that.
- 40:44Come in and loop his dialogue. Devastated.
- 40:47A pain in the ass out, yeah. Yeah, but he did ask for his
- 40:50name to be removed from the credits.
- 40:51Yeah, but you know, like you said, Westie, you went on the
- 40:54star in the Thing a few years after this.
- 40:57We love him in that he's in injustice for all as well.
- 40:59He's had a decent career. Yeah.
- 41:01Yeah, we mentioned in the conclave scene there was some
- 41:03disruption, but trouble did follow production around as they
- 41:06move from location to location. And I think it's important to
- 41:09give some context here about the state of the city of New York in
- 41:11the late 70s. The Son of Sam had been
- 41:14terrorized in the streets less than 12 months before the film
- 41:16was shot. The city was in severe economic
- 41:19decline. Gangs did own the streets at
- 41:21night. There were 17133 murders in
- 41:241979, the 7th most on any year on record.
- 41:28Compare that to 386 last year, 2020. 3.
- 41:32And police presence was limited because budgetary cuts, so much
- 41:35so that people were urged not to go out at night.
- 41:38Right, So bad situation. Despite this, Hill tried to
- 41:41befriend the New York street gangs as much as he possibly
- 41:43could. It did all go off without any
- 41:46incident. Mostly.
- 41:47One scene had to move location because the surrounding
- 41:49abandoned buildings were sworn by gang members jeering and
- 41:51shouting from broken windows because the gangs hadn't been
- 41:54paid to shoot on their turf. And often gang members would
- 41:58come up to the actors and try to start some shit.
- 42:00They got taken care of by security before they got to the
- 42:03cast. But Terry Michaels, who plays
- 42:04Vermin, said They would say you think you're tough and we just
- 42:07say no. We're just actors.
- 42:10But Vermin thinks he's tough in this He's.
- 42:12Like he thinks he's an actor as well.
- 42:18There were instances where gangs threw bricks at the cast and
- 42:21crew, and most were only a scene that was set to be shot in Ave.
- 42:24A in Alphabet City. That's the Lower East Side.
- 42:26It had to be moved locations because there was a double
- 42:29homicide around the block of that night.
- 42:31Yeah, OK. Yeah, scary stuff.
- 42:33A lot of gangs were engaged by the production, but not all
- 42:36gangs in New York were. Many of those that weren't part
- 42:39of the shoot sent death threats to crew members and on one
- 42:42occasion thousands of dollars of equipment was damaged by a gang
- 42:44when production went to lunch. And that's the hour for you.
- 42:47Just do half an hour like we do, you'll be absolutely fine.
- 42:50So after the destruction, a gang called the Mongrels were hired
- 42:53for £500 a day to protect the gear.
- 42:55Unbelievable, producer Frank Marshall said.
- 42:58In those days, it was really about fists and being macho.
- 43:01I think the worst thing that could have happened was somebody
- 43:03would have pulled a knife. It was exciting and dangerous.
- 43:06You could never make this movie today for more than one reason,
- 43:09Frank. Yes, exactly.
- 43:11For more than not, that's not it.
- 43:16So considering the multiple problems on set and resistance
- 43:19from Paramount, it's a wonder Hill came out with anything even
- 43:21semi coherent. Detractors of the film may say
- 43:24that he didn't, but you can't deny that it has a unique style
- 43:27and identity all of its own, and the majority of that is because
- 43:30of Walter Hill. Yeah, the cast.
- 43:38A cast of nobodies in The Warriors, and we're unlikely to
- 43:41be talking about any of them at length ever again.
- 43:43No, So let's make it count. A huge casting call was
- 43:47completed in New York, James Remar, who plays Ajax, said.
- 43:50I think they auditioned every actor in the city.
- 43:52Due to the low budget. Hill was looking for unknowns
- 43:54only and only New York actors were cast to give the film
- 43:57authenticity. And the first one is Michael
- 43:59Beck, AKA Stiff Steve, who plays Swan.
- 44:05He's the hero of the piece, Westie.
- 44:08Michael Beck is in great nick and his hair hasn't changed
- 44:12since The Warriors came out. If you look at him now, he looks
- 44:15like Jon Bon Jovi. Now he does.
- 44:18He's hairs the same in case people don't recognize him.
- 44:21That's how successful his career was after The Warriors.
- 44:24He did some terrible films, some of which I'm ashamed to say I've
- 44:26seen. I mean, is he one of the best in
- 44:28the film? But that's not that's not really
- 44:30saying much. He's probably got them all
- 44:33screen time, which makes you feel like he's one of the best
- 44:35in the film, but that doesn't really come across.
- 44:38And I just wish with the whole heart that Cleon had survived
- 44:42and got us through this instead. Totally.
- 44:44And with this guy's number two, we would have been great that
- 44:46imagine that, you know, if he's not against the orphans with
- 44:48Cleon and this guy's number two, he would have been he's a
- 44:52perfect, strong silent type. And it feels like he's just been
- 44:55pushed to the front, doesn't quite know how to, because he
- 44:57just says to everyone, yeah, keep talking, yeah, what we're
- 44:59going to do. And then he just reacts.
- 45:01I mean, it's, I know it's not about you.
- 45:02It's not about what you say. It's about what you do.
- 45:04And that's what Swan is. He's just, he's reacts.
- 45:07Exactly. And it's not about.
- 45:09It's not about. He's got no opinion.
- 45:10He's just got action. No.
- 45:12And his actions always work and they're always good.
- 45:14And he makes the right decision. And he's looking out for
- 45:15everybody when he needs to look out for everybody.
- 45:17And he just wants to get them home.
- 45:19And he's got morals and I think Beck plays that really well.
- 45:22I think he plays it with like a real confidence of self and like
- 45:25a real confidence of the character and knows that he does
- 45:27not really have to say much. But at the same time, there's no
- 45:30real subtlety to the character. There's no subtlety to the
- 45:34performance. He's like, it's just one of
- 45:36that. You know what that if you get a
- 45:37toy where it just it just pivots at the waist and just just
- 45:42smashes every every other toy. It's got no intricacies that it
- 45:45doesn't bend at the elbow. And then he man toys and there's
- 45:49twenty man toys. They just punch people in the
- 45:51face. You want to see he's like, can
- 45:53your fingers move? No, your fingers are just fists.
- 45:56And that's all I am. And I've got this bald haircut
- 45:58and that's it. I think honestly, it's the way
- 46:00that he looks and he buys into the confidence of this character
- 46:03not having much intelligence and just being street smart.
- 46:06And being street smart means being reactionary.
- 46:08And that's all he is. And if that's all he needs to
- 46:10be, he does that really, really well.
- 46:12I would like to see a little bit more from him.
- 46:14That's fine if you are in an actual gang and you're not
- 46:16performing on the big screen to be to entertain people.
- 46:20But that's the point, isn't it? The lines are blurred.
- 46:23He kind of believes that he is. I think that's the whole point.
- 46:27I think we need to play down our expectations here because of the
- 46:30material. It's not Cuckoo's Nest, is it?
- 46:33It's not Chinatown. No, you're not going to put De
- 46:35Niro in this role. Well, on that, Westie, yeah, I
- 46:39was going to save it till later, but Tom Mckittrick plays the
- 46:43role of cowboy. Yes, there's a wild suggestion
- 46:46floating around the Internet that Robert De Niro's approach
- 46:49for the role, but he declined it.
- 46:51Of Cowboy. You believe that?
- 46:52Yeah, I can. Believe he declined it, Yeah.
- 46:59More believably, Tony Danza was in the frame to play a vermin
- 47:03but declined so he could work on TV show Taxi.
- 47:05Right, that makes sense. Danza doesn't want to be in it.
- 47:07Yeah, There's no way that De Niro was even a realistic
- 47:10thought. Not at all, no.
- 47:13So Walter Hill was the writer producer on Alien, the original
- 47:16Alien, and when it came to casting Sigourney Weaver for
- 47:19that film, Hill screened a film that she'd appeared in called
- 47:22Madman from 1978. Michael Beck also starred in
- 47:25that film, which ultimately landed the role of Swan in The
- 47:28Warriors. Must be some performance.
- 47:30I've never seen that. I need to check that out in that
- 47:31case. The cast had to say in shape for
- 47:34the shoot. Beck would wake up at 1:00 PM
- 47:36after his night shoot, go for lunch, then straight to the gym,
- 47:39Marcelino Sanchez, who plays Rembrandt, said.
- 47:42Sometimes I wonder if this is a motion picture or a marathon.
- 47:45Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of run.
- 47:46There's a lot of running, there's a lot of workouts, yeah.
- 47:49A lot of sweat. And after the success of The
- 47:51Warriors, Michael Beck's next film was opposite Olivia Newton
- 47:54John in the much maligned Xanadu.
- 47:57Xanadu, xanadu xanadu. Well.
- 48:01OK, now. Beck said something needy as
- 48:03good as that Westie. What did he say it was?
- 48:05The Warriors opened a lot of doors for me in film, which
- 48:08Xanadu then closed. What is in it?
- 48:11Best thing that's ever come out of his mouth.
- 48:17And as we're talking about the leader of our crew, it's time
- 48:20for our second Patreon question. This is a combination of a few
- 48:23questions we had. The initial one came from John
- 48:27Rapash. Hi, John.
- 48:27Hello, John. John.
- 48:28John said you and the boys are forming a gang to take back the
- 48:31streets. What do you call yourselves?
- 48:33What type of get was needed to look the part?
- 48:37Liam Moore asked a similar question.
- 48:39He said if the ATRM were a gang in the movie, what would your
- 48:41look be? Costume, hair, weapons, Maxim,
- 48:43Shira, Ryan Shibu asked a similar question about gang name
- 48:46and gimmick. Yeah, shout out to all of you
- 48:49fellas. Thanks for your questions.
- 48:51So we'll be doing a combination of the questions.
- 48:52Yeah, OK. Westie, over to you.
- 48:55Well, I'm going to keep it movie themed and I'm going to keep it
- 48:57my favorite movie themes. So I've got two different gangs.
- 49:01So join what you want. If you want to pick it up, run
- 49:04with it. Just I've got two different
- 49:05ones. Yeah, if you want to pick it up,
- 49:07run with it. If you want to send it right
- 49:08back, send it right back. The first one is the space
- 49:11unders. Send it right back.
- 49:14That's I've thought you would, you're not invited.
- 49:17So it's just loads of cobbled together leather, loads of boots
- 49:21and that and just looking like, you know, bounty hunters from
- 49:24Space Hunter, basically adventures in the Forbidden
- 49:26Zone. If you haven't seen that film,
- 49:27would just look like Peter Strauss in that film and go
- 49:29around fucking people up. And the second one is the
- 49:32Hungarian art house bastards. They were just dressed as 1920s
- 49:35peasants and where you'd all dress in black and white and
- 49:37just carry buckets of feces. I don't think either sound
- 49:43appealing to be honest, but I'll go for the space hunters.
- 49:45OK, there you go. You see, you said that right
- 49:47back too quick, didn't you? There you go.
- 49:50And now you're a Hungarian peasant.
- 49:52Who's laughing now? Yeah, you see exactly.
- 49:54The Hungarian Outhouse bastards. It's with Bellator as the
- 49:56leader. You know, like what it takes us
- 49:58to get back to Coney Island. Fucking five days it.
- 50:01Would have been all in one shot though.
- 50:03Weston. It would be one shot, you're
- 50:05absolutely right. OK, well this is a tricky one
- 50:07for me, but I've used the 70s New York set as inspiration,
- 50:10obviously. Not again.
- 50:12Yeah, and I think what's missing from the roster of St. gangs in
- 50:15this film is Disco. Yeah, this is slap bang in the
- 50:18middle of the era. Of course, Disco would be dead a
- 50:20year later, so we might have to rebrand, but for now, we are the
- 50:23hot pants. I'm out.
- 50:26No, you're not, Westie. Come on, we're wearing one piece
- 50:28sequins, jumpsuits, silk. Might you liking the sound of
- 50:32this already? Disturbed more than anything.
- 50:35Disturbed. OK, right.
- 50:38I think it's just the right level of camp to fit into the
- 50:40world of the Warriors. We've got big, luxurious hair.
- 50:43We'll travel on white horses, like Bianca Jagged when she made
- 50:46an outrageous entrance to Studio 54.
- 50:49OK, right. We've got horses.
- 50:51That's dramatic. Don't.
- 50:51Watch Pants on horses. We don't really.
- 50:53I mean, I wouldn't be threatened by this guy.
- 50:56I would. I think we'd be more threatened
- 50:58by us than the high hats I. Don't know, like at least
- 51:02they've got integrity. The hot fences on white horses.
- 51:05Brave farts. Wonderful.
- 51:11What about you? The streets are a jungle.
- 51:14Let's face it, in this film, yes they are.
- 51:16We would be the performing monkeys.
- 51:18We'd be dressed up in gorilla suits with baller hats and would
- 51:22have big butterfly Nets. Have either of you got any any
- 51:25respect for who we are at all? It's outrageous.
- 51:28There's the hunts in the performing monkeys.
- 51:30There's space on this. Yeah, you said we were covered
- 51:32in feces. Self respect.
- 51:34We had buckets, man. We could.
- 51:36Cover all the people in feces. All right then.
- 51:37That's upset. It'd be fine.
- 51:40Then I can. Because we just live in.
- 51:41The trees and swing from branch to branch.
- 51:44Brilliant. I can see us in the get UPS that
- 51:46the the gorillas have at the end of Trading Places very much.
- 51:51Like that very similar vibe. Well, thank you for the
- 51:55question, fellas. John, Liam, Maxim, Ryan.
- 51:59I don't know if that's satisfied.
- 52:01I don't think it would have. Been surprised we did, sorry.
- 52:04The Hot Bands, the Space Hunters and the Performing Monkeys.
- 52:08Yes. Yeah, make a choice.
- 52:10So not the most memorable of lead performances from Michael
- 52:12Beck. And I think we'd all agree that
- 52:15it's a shame that Thomas Waits wasn't in the lead.
- 52:17Yes. Yes.
- 52:21Next up, another unknown. I'm talking about Deborah Van
- 52:23Volkenburg, who plays Mercy. Now, I don't think I'm being
- 52:26controversial here, and I don't think she gives the best
- 52:28performance in the film. But no, no, it's not
- 52:33controversial. But it's a very low bar.
- 52:36It is I. Do think that she holds her own
- 52:39though. But I think Van Volkenburg has
- 52:41got something quite beguiling about her.
- 52:43She's got good screen presence. I think she looks like a star as
- 52:46well now. I like her when she completely
- 52:49messes things up for the Warriors just as they've smooth
- 52:52things over with the Orphans. Yeah, chicken noises, asking for
- 52:55one of their vests, shithousing them out of the entire scene.
- 52:59As they're walking away as well, I'm expecting one of them to
- 53:01like snap at any point. Yeah, as they're walking away,
- 53:04why don't you Dick heads just walk back home?
- 53:06Fucking hell. Steady on, love.
- 53:08We're doing it, man. You know, we're out.
- 53:12She's a hard ass from the outset and doesn't take no shit.
- 53:14And I do really like that about the character.
- 53:17There's no and there's no heirs and graces with mercy.
- 53:19Yeah, but I mean, I just don't know what she's doing with the
- 53:22orphans in the 1st place. Is she a prostitute?
- 53:24It's kind of viable. It's it doesn't specifically see
- 53:27in the film, Swan suggests. Sol roads point to that.
- 53:32You know, it's the oldest profession.
- 53:33Nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I mean, but if you if you
- 53:36look at it and you want that character to be something and
- 53:38cling on to them, then there should have been a new gang that
- 53:40hadn't been invited, that only had a few members.
- 53:43But it kidnapped her and she was being held captive and they were
- 53:46like really starting to build. And then the Warriors wiped them
- 53:49out as they were a new gang and she got the Warriors.
- 53:51That would have been fucking brilliant.
- 53:53But yeah, it is confusing. It's very.
- 53:55Confusing. I don't think that Mercy is that
- 53:58well written. She's just a hanger on and
- 54:00doesn't get much to do to be honest.
- 54:02I don't know why she stays with the Warriors in the 1st place.
- 54:05I don't know where she belongs. She just gets dumped into this
- 54:09story. I don't really understand her
- 54:11situation. I've really disliked that scene
- 54:14with her and Swan on the subway tracks.
- 54:16The dialogue's pretty awful, the performance is not that much
- 54:19better, and I really don't understand why Mercy would be
- 54:21interested in Swan when she's pleading with him.
- 54:24It's that's horrific, that isn't it.
- 54:27But I do like it when he's giving her some shit and she
- 54:29says, what kind of crap is this? She's still, she's still giving
- 54:32it back. So there's quite a few negatives
- 54:35there. But I really don't think that's
- 54:37on Van Volkenburg, to be honest. I think she really does stand
- 54:40out. And when it comes to some kind
- 54:42of redemption for Mercy, when I think she realizes that her life
- 54:45could be better than she's making out, she comes to that
- 54:47conclusion on the train when she sees that prom couple.
- 54:50Yeah. And that's done without
- 54:51dialogue. I think she sells that well,
- 54:52Yeah. That's a really great team.
- 54:54Yeah. So overall, I think Van
- 54:56Volkenburg Mercy a stand out of the remaining crew that make it
- 54:59back to corny. But you know, low bar, yeah.
- 55:03I mean, she definitely brings that character out of the
- 55:05shadows. That character could have been
- 55:07absolutely none avoid and forgotten and she makes a kind
- 55:09of stick in your head. Yes, Van Volkenberg got totally
- 55:12dinged up during filming. The only person who sustained
- 55:15injuries. Hardly surprising considering
- 55:17she gets manhandled throughout the whole film.
- 55:19Yeah. Well, during the subway scene
- 55:21where the police show up while Mercy and Fox are running away,
- 55:24Fox has hold of Mercy's arm. And as we've said, we had
- 55:27sustained double plate Fox in the scene and he didn't let go
- 55:30of Van Valkenburg's arm when they fell to the ground and so
- 55:33he ended up breaking her wrist. Jesus.
- 55:36So you'll notice that after this scene, when Mercy reappears,
- 55:38she's wearing a jacket that she found.
- 55:40Like I said earlier on, this was to cover the cast on her arm,
- 55:43but she says they're looking for someone in a pink top.
- 55:45Yeah, looking for somebody in a pink tap.
- 55:49That's terrible, terrible dialogue replacement for
- 55:51whatever it needed to be. What's the excuse?
- 55:54They're looking for someone in the pink tap.
- 55:55Write it down. All right, just say that.
- 55:59So what about this blue jacket? Are they not now looking for
- 56:01somebody in a blue? Jacket and a pink top because
- 56:03you can still see. Another scene in the subway when
- 56:09Swan throws the baseball bat at the copper's legs when he cocks
- 56:12just before throwing the bat, he caught Van Volkenburg Square in
- 56:15the face. She was rushed to hospital.
- 56:17She got three stitches in her face.
- 56:18Still got the scar. It's.
- 56:20A good throw to the leg as well, though that's right off the
- 56:22shin. Right.
- 56:23Painful one. Really painful.
- 56:25Van Volkenburg was cast after persistence from her agent.
- 56:28Originally, Hill was looking for a Puerto Rican actress for the
- 56:31part. When he cast her, he told Van
- 56:33Volkenburg that she was the unobvious choice.
- 56:36That's a beautiful thing to say, isn't?
- 56:38It and she didn't shoot any of her scenes until around a month
- 56:40into the film and schedule, but before she made her first
- 56:43appearance to spend a week on set to get into the groove of
- 56:46the night shoot. And she said there's a tribal
- 56:48feeling about this film. And I really felt close to all
- 56:51the guys, even if it wasn't needed.
- 56:53I wanted to be on set because I belonged with my fellow actors.
- 56:56There's a camaraderie, isn't there, between everybody, Yeah.
- 56:59When filming the subway tunnels, Van Volkenburg, Beck and the
- 57:02crew had to negotiate their way through an inch and a half of
- 57:05black steel dust generated through years of wheels grinding
- 57:08on the tracks. And they were also accompanied
- 57:11by giant subterranean rats, which are commonplace in the
- 57:14subway system. I saw one last year, Navy shape
- 57:17my pants. Absolutely massive.
- 57:21Andrew Lasdlo's favorite scene in the whole film is that kiss
- 57:23between Swan and Mercy in the train tunnel.
- 57:25He said that it was timed with the passing train as the
- 57:28reflection created a machine gun like effect of flashes.
- 57:32And editor David Holden said the shot was worth the price of
- 57:34admission alone. It's a good shot.
- 57:37Repurpose it for a different scene because it's an aggressive
- 57:41kiss. It is.
- 57:44So not necessarily Katharine Hepburn Van Volkenburg, but she
- 57:49is memorable as mercy. Definitely.
- 57:54Finally on our cast list, an outrageous performance from
- 57:57David Patrick Kelly. Who plays the heinous Luther
- 58:00Matt. Yeah.
- 58:01What on earth can you say about this performance?
- 58:04Yeah, he really wants to be Sean Penn, doesn't he?
- 58:07He's kind of got the Sean Penn look, but I mean, he.
- 58:09Does look like him, yeah. You know what, what's going on
- 58:11in general? I mean the acting.
- 58:14What's going on in general? I just don't understand like the
- 58:17acting, it's either wood and odds.
- 58:18Ridiculous like this. There's no happy medium.
- 58:21No one's gone. I'll try this at A7.
- 58:23It's either 3 or 11 and there's not a lot you can say about this
- 58:27performance other than it's just ludicrous.
- 58:29There's no attempt to give any line any attempted.
- 58:33Suddenly it's all aimed at the back streets, you know.
- 58:36Can't quite hear you, David. A little louder, please.
- 58:38It's weird, isn't? It and you know sometimes that
- 58:40kind of performance can work you know Gary Oldman and Leon choose
- 58:44the scenery like no tomorrow it still works this doesn't work
- 58:49well he just comes across as a noisy buffoon and at the end
- 58:52when swan asks him why he killed Cyrus you know no reason I just
- 58:57like doing things like that I mean come on after all this and
- 59:01there was no grand plan to any of it and again that kind of
- 59:05thing can work in different hands the joke in The Dark
- 59:07Knight famously doesn't have a grand plan he just makes things
- 59:10up as he goes along but the writing is obviously
- 59:13substantially better this is no joker here it's.
- 59:16No, he's not turning around, going.
- 59:17I just want to see the world burn as he.
- 59:19It's like it's not happening. Yeah.
- 59:20Exactly. I'm just amazed that he looked
- 59:23at every line delivery he gave. So went, yeah, that's fine,
- 59:26David, More please. More of that.
- 59:27Move on. Print it.
- 59:30There's a scene where his second in command, Cropsy, asks him why
- 59:34he's smiling, and he says because I'm having a good time.
- 59:39It's a ludicrous delivery, like all of them.
- 59:42It's insane. David Patrick Kelly was cast
- 59:44after Lawrence Gordon and Walter Hillsong in a Broadway player
- 59:48called Working. He played quotes a hippie that
- 59:51espoused peace and love but was extremely passive aggressive,
- 59:54which they thought fit the profile of Luther.
- 59:57Although I think it's just more straight up and down aggressive.
- 1:00:00There's no passage. There's nothing passive about
- 1:00:01this performance. There's nothing passive, no.
- 1:00:03For what? For what?
- 1:00:08When he went in for his second meeting, Hill told him, I think
- 1:00:11you are the spirit of this movie, really. 40% proof.
- 1:00:18It was during this viewing of Kelly on Broadway that brought
- 1:00:21Lynn Figpin to the attention of Hill and Gordon.
- 1:00:24She was also in working and she got cast as the DJ in the
- 1:00:27Warriors. Yes, a much better performance
- 1:00:29than David Patrick Kelly. Yes, yes.
- 1:00:30And only, only half her face. Yeah.
- 1:00:32Yeah, well, Kelly was a fan of Kurosawa and Toshiwa Mufuni
- 1:00:38films, and he said he wore the headband for Luther in homage to
- 1:00:42Mufuni, which I'm sure he's delighted when he heard that.
- 1:00:46He's fallen well short. He has, yes.
- 1:00:48I mean, he was completely in character at all times during
- 1:00:52the shoot, according to Jewel Wise, who played Cropsey.
- 1:00:54Like you said, he's second in command.
- 1:00:56It was until the very last day of film and when he brought his
- 1:00:58Co stars Irish soda bread. In the case of beer, probably to
- 1:01:01say sorry. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:01:03Sorry for me performance. There's some bread.
- 1:01:05Sorry about that. So there's some bread in the
- 1:01:08case of beer. For what?
- 1:01:10Sorry for. You can dial it down.
- 1:01:14Now thank. You.
- 1:01:15I think Kelly has got quite lofty opinions of what's going
- 1:01:19on in this film and more specifically his performance.
- 1:01:22Hill said that he told him that he had a Richard the Third
- 1:01:25quality, which Kelly used as inspiration for the part he
- 1:01:28said. I was reading Hubert Selbly's
- 1:01:30Last Exit to Brooklyn and Sartre is nausea for this kind of
- 1:01:33existential epiphany that he's got going on in there.
- 1:01:36That's amazing. What are you talking about?
- 1:01:39That is the best. That's one of the best quotes
- 1:01:41I've ever heard. Sartre.
- 1:01:43And they're like. Existential epiphany.
- 1:01:45Epiphany. I've just had one of them.
- 1:01:48That was amazing. Well, regardless performance
- 1:01:53that we said, I was a working theatre guy, very much into the
- 1:01:57theatrical avant-garde. The people that influenced me in
- 1:02:00movies were theatrical innovators who were great at
- 1:02:03making Jessie's mythic. What I was trying to do with The
- 1:02:05Warriors was tweak the method acting conventions of that time.
- 1:02:09But I broke one of the chords of method acting, which is not to
- 1:02:12judge your character. I mean, he's looking at a
- 1:02:15different performance. He's.
- 1:02:17Living in a different world. It's even a different script.
- 1:02:21Yeah, lofty, lofty opinions. Lofty performance, yeah.
- 1:02:26Yes, yes. Well, of course there are
- 1:02:27memorable performances elsewhere in the film.
- 1:02:29We'll be talking about James Remar as Ajax a little later.
- 1:02:32Yeah. So unknowns are plenty in the
- 1:02:34Warriors cast, none of them knocking it out of the park.
- 1:02:37Van Volkenburg has great presence.
- 1:02:39Kelly is deranged. In fact, he's almost mute.
- 1:02:43Slightly off casting, I think, with Dorsey Wright, who played
- 1:02:46Cleon, and Thomas G Wade, who played Fox, wasted early on.
- 1:02:50Definitely the best performers in the film.
- 1:02:51Yeah, this episode of All the Right Movies are sponsored by
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- 1:04:14The middle. With gangs mobilizing, the
- 1:04:19Warriors have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
- 1:04:21Matt, it's over to you to start off the second act.
- 1:04:24Yes, because here we go. Best part of the film for me,
- 1:04:27the DJ mobilizing the gangs. You've brightened up a little
- 1:04:31bit, haven't you? Hasn't.
- 1:04:33He, for this bit to come along, got through.
- 1:04:35The actors don't have to worry about those anymore.
- 1:04:37Yeah, they're done, Matt. They don't need to worry about
- 1:04:39them anymore. The Phone Under the Train Tracks
- 1:04:41film is firing on all cylinders in this scene, and it might seem
- 1:04:44fairly obvious, but all the same, it's such a neat trick to
- 1:04:47it takes such an upbeat, joyous song like Nowhere to Run, not
- 1:04:50changed in terms of tempo or delivery.
- 1:04:52It doesn't become like a downbeat or miserable version,
- 1:04:55but in context, the lyrics just take on a completely different
- 1:04:59meaning and it actually becomes quite a threatening song.
- 1:05:01And I really, really like that. Yeah, I love that.
- 1:05:04I love that. Yeah.
- 1:05:04And then if you mix that in with all the images of the various
- 1:05:07gangs taken to the streets, getting ready for the battle,
- 1:05:10that incredible shot of the Warriors where they've ducked
- 1:05:13into the shadows while the police go past and the bathed in
- 1:05:15red from the lights, it's fantastic stuff.
- 1:05:18I do think this scene promises something that it doesn't
- 1:05:21deliver, to be honest, You know, because this scene makes us
- 1:05:23think the streets are going to be overrun by these gangs.
- 1:05:26The Warriors are going to run into someone in every three
- 1:05:28corners. There's going to be a huge
- 1:05:30brawl. The vast majority of these we
- 1:05:31never see again. Yeah, Yeah.
- 1:05:34Which is a shame. I'd like to see more of these
- 1:05:35gangs later on in the film because this scene, I think it
- 1:05:38really has some menace to it. The edit in the sensational and
- 1:05:41honesty. I think The Warriors is at its
- 1:05:42best when there's no dialogue. As soon as the Countess are
- 1:05:45talking, the film falls apart. So this scene, no dialogue, just
- 1:05:48the music, Hill's visual style, the editing, it's brilliant.
- 1:05:51We mentioned in the the last segment, but Lynn Thigpen, who
- 1:05:55plays the DJ, when she finally came to see a cut of the film,
- 1:05:59she was devastated that in all of her scenes it's just a close
- 1:06:01up of her mouth. She didn't realize because it
- 1:06:04was shot in a full close up with a full face.
- 1:06:07Obviously she didn't appreciate that her voice is incredible and
- 1:06:10how influential that single shot would become on future.
- 1:06:13Absolutely. Yeah, Yeah.
- 1:06:15Well, after we see the extent of the threat the Warriors are
- 1:06:17facing. I love it when the fellas have a
- 1:06:19brush with the Turnbull ACS. I really like the visuals here.
- 1:06:22The Warriors are lined up in single file awaiting orders.
- 1:06:26But obviously Ajax is getting restless with his requisite
- 1:06:29horrific language. Don't miss that when he goes.
- 1:06:33The actress, who played the Temple of Seas, went to a nearby
- 1:06:35hamburger joint in costume. Many parents of the restaurant
- 1:06:38thought they were a real gang and fled the scene of fear of
- 1:06:40being beaten up. They are the most threatened and
- 1:06:44looking gang in the whole film. They are chains, really.
- 1:06:47Mad Max, isn't it? Yeah.
- 1:06:49I mean, it's hardly surprising considering when filming this
- 1:06:52scene under the L train here, the class got pissed on from
- 1:06:55above by a street gang. Oh, really?
- 1:06:57Pissed on from a great height? Wow.
- 1:06:59Yeah, Hill said. It seems funny now, but it was
- 1:07:03not at the time. And then the lads make a run for
- 1:07:07it. It's kind of like a microcosm of
- 1:07:09the entire film. They're running from point A to
- 1:07:11point B, trying desperately not to get their heads kicked in.
- 1:07:15Yeah, I think it's a good action sequence, showing that the
- 1:07:17streets are crawling with gangs out for only one thing.
- 1:07:20You may not get the rumbles and the action that you want to see,
- 1:07:23Matt, but I think that it does do a good job of making the
- 1:07:27streets seem very dangerous for the Warriors.
- 1:07:30Yeah, you don't expect all of them to get on the train either.
- 1:07:32That is a really tense sequence. It is, yeah.
- 1:07:35It's a really good. One of them is going to trip,
- 1:07:36like one of them would trip and fall and someone but one of them
- 1:07:38will get pulled back and be taken to the rips or whatever.
- 1:07:41And you know, it never had never happened that way, which I
- 1:07:43really like. That keeps the pace of the film
- 1:07:45going, that they all make it at this point.
- 1:07:47So I'll go for the bit after the fire.
- 1:07:49They have to go off the tree and this train is done for.
- 1:07:51And then we'll come to the rogues at the new stand or the
- 1:07:53sweet stand or whatever it is where the suites available at
- 1:07:56midnight. I mean, fantastic.
- 1:07:58Would have loved that as a kid. I would have been like, this is
- 1:08:00the best film I've ever seen. That's why people chocolate,
- 1:08:04chocolate at midnight. But it's it's it's really good.
- 1:08:07Yeah. I think Kelly's really great
- 1:08:08here. I'd honestly really like his
- 1:08:10performance. I know I kept a bit quiet during
- 1:08:12that whole point when you're talking about.
- 1:08:14I do really, really enjoy it because I think he's having so
- 1:08:16much fun. And he really.
- 1:08:18Injects this energy and every time he's on the screen, you
- 1:08:21don't want him to be on the screen, but you want to hear
- 1:08:23what he's got to say. Oh, you got to do you think he's
- 1:08:24going to do something that you just don't expect?
- 1:08:27He's got this real energy, this electricity to him.
- 1:08:30And it really works here because on the phone to somebody, but
- 1:08:33don't know who he's on the phone to.
- 1:08:35And this is, again, a huge missed opportunity for the plot
- 1:08:39to become a little bit more complex, just to become a little
- 1:08:41bit more indrogate, just to become a little bit more mature,
- 1:08:45I guess. And that he's talking to who he
- 1:08:47described as being the boss, although we never actually know
- 1:08:50who he's talking to. And they could have come to the
- 1:08:52point where the torn the Lutheran is totally calmed and
- 1:08:56said as the fire worked. Yeah, the fires worked, right.
- 1:08:58If we stop them. Yeah, Right.
- 1:08:59Well, they did this and right. Well, I don't know.
- 1:09:01But the field, the essays failed.
- 1:09:03All right, So it's our turn, right.
- 1:09:05So let's go for it. And then he could have lost his
- 1:09:07mind and just be like, right. It's it's up to us now because
- 1:09:10we own this place and I think it's just a really missed
- 1:09:13opportunity where I was expecting a lot more from this
- 1:09:15scene. But what I do get is again, just
- 1:09:18he'll having loads of fun, just Kelly having loads of fun and
- 1:09:21just really bringing home this ambiguity to the film, which
- 1:09:24someone could look at and go that's really clever because
- 1:09:26they're not giving you all the clues.
- 1:09:27But at the same time, I think that they just didn't really
- 1:09:29care about an underlying plot. They just kept it was just about
- 1:09:34this computer game and they just kept going forward with it and
- 1:09:36they didn't have to explain anything about it.
- 1:09:39It's great, but at the same time it's a really missed
- 1:09:41opportunity. Yeah, I agree with you.
- 1:09:43Yeah, I do, in a certain respect, agree with you as well.
- 1:09:45That Kelly does bring a kind of unpredictability.
- 1:09:49Yeah, to his performance. You never know.
- 1:09:51You never know what he's going to do next.
- 1:09:54What about the money you owe? Yeah, for what?
- 1:09:57And then? All of this shit that you've
- 1:09:59just told him, you dickhead. In the Rogues, he might notice
- 1:10:03have a hearse as their wheels, and apart from the driver's
- 1:10:06seat, there were no other seats in the car.
- 1:10:08Troll Weiss, who plays Cropsy, drove and the rest had on
- 1:10:11crates. Yeah, I don't think the budget
- 1:10:13stretched as far as seat, seat a prerequisite for a car.
- 1:10:21Just a car with Satan can't even find out.
- 1:10:24No, no, just one. So the boys escape the Turnbulls
- 1:10:27by the skin of their teeth. They talk the talk, but so far
- 1:10:30they ain't walked the walk. So the fire has derailed the
- 1:10:35Warriors and they're back on the streets.
- 1:10:37They're encountered with the legendary baseball Furies is
- 1:10:40coming up, but first they're up against the crew.
- 1:10:42So far down they ain't even on the map.
- 1:10:45Real low class. That's right, it's the Orphans.
- 1:10:48Yeah. When they run into the orphans
- 1:10:50and they have that parlay to get permission across their
- 1:10:53territory. In terms of writing and and
- 1:10:55probably acting as well, I think this might be the best scene in
- 1:10:58the film. I mean, my eternal issue with
- 1:11:01the film, which is how ridiculous are some of these
- 1:11:04gangs that doesn't get alleviated by seeing the
- 1:11:06orphans. I mean, no one did.
- 1:11:08No one takes them seriously. What a bunch of scruffs.
- 1:11:11Everyone else has put some effort into how they look and
- 1:11:14they're just standing in these like sweat stained T-shirts and
- 1:11:18jeans. It looks like they've just been
- 1:11:20released from prison. Yeah, they just look like they
- 1:11:22need a good wash the horrible, and we've talked about them a
- 1:11:25bit already, but the person who's great here is Thomas
- 1:11:28Waits. This feels like it was the first
- 1:11:30scene shot when Fox was going to be a major player because.
- 1:11:33Yeah. Absolutely.
- 1:11:36He's actually acting. I mean, he dominated when Swan
- 1:11:40gets him to come over to do the parlay and the look he has in
- 1:11:43his face when the lady says the orphans have a heavy Rep mess
- 1:11:47with us and you'll find that out.
- 1:11:48And he's just rolling his eyes at him.
- 1:11:50And then when he reads out the clipping from the newspaper,
- 1:11:53yeah, that's really heavy. The orphans, right?
- 1:11:55Oh, youth worker. She talks about you guys all the
- 1:11:58time. Like can barely keep the sarcasm
- 1:12:02out of his voice, which completely goes over the often.
- 1:12:04Said because the 2nd and he laughs.
- 1:12:07We ain't gone. Not one.
- 1:12:09That must be because you guys are so bad they're afraid of
- 1:12:11you. In this same just dominated.
- 1:12:15He's brilliant, he's grumpy, he's the same for me.
- 1:12:18It's very funny. It's really well done.
- 1:12:20Yeah, I mean, why would any gang carry clippings of their
- 1:12:23handiwork around? Them.
- 1:12:25To mothers. It's so hard, we are.
- 1:12:29Yeah, so after the gang gets split up and Fox buys it,
- 1:12:32unfortunately, Unfortunately, Swan, Cowboy, Snow and Ajax
- 1:12:36encounter probably the most iconic gang in the film outside
- 1:12:39of the Warriors, the baseball Fury's.
- 1:12:43And this is such effective costume design and makeup for
- 1:12:45me. They look so menacing in their
- 1:12:48war paint. They have a simple but effective
- 1:12:50weapon in the baseball bat, and those boys can run.
- 1:12:53Yes they can. The Furies are made-up with
- 1:12:55stunt performers. Steve Chambers and Leon Delaney
- 1:12:58were among the group and said that when they were brought in,
- 1:13:01they were expected to run at full speed, take after take
- 1:13:04after take. The end of the vomiting, the
- 1:13:08claim that the film makers were under the impression that
- 1:13:10stuntmen were superhuman beings, which I mean, you kind of think.
- 1:13:14But how it just keeps a lot? Yeah, it's a lot, yeah.
- 1:13:17But when they ended up vomiting, film makers thought, well, we
- 1:13:19need to get somebody else in. So the New York Rd. runners,
- 1:13:22like a running club from New York, were drafted in to help
- 1:13:25with the Fury's chase scene, right?
- 1:13:27They ended up working just one night, no stunt work, just
- 1:13:30running full tilt, take after take after take after take,
- 1:13:34until they threw up, right? And then they were fired.
- 1:13:38There's an amazing moment here when they're asking if they've
- 1:13:40lost them. And then the Furies appear in
- 1:13:42the shot as the music starts pulsing away and Cowboys says
- 1:13:45holy shit. It's a great visual from the
- 1:13:48film with an incredible sense of menace with that music Did.
- 1:13:51We lose these fucking clowns and watch.
- 1:13:53Look, holy shit. And then we get into Riverside
- 1:14:02Park and there's some outstanding wide shots of the
- 1:14:04Warriors kind of coming down the stairs on the lower level with
- 1:14:07the Furies above them. Yeah, it's a great chase.
- 1:14:09Yeah. And I do like when Ajax gets
- 1:14:12what he's been looking for all night.
- 1:14:13Cowboys tired. And that's the only excuse Ajax
- 1:14:16needs to bust some heads. He's sick of running from these
- 1:14:19wimps. Yeah.
- 1:14:20So when a Jackson Cowboy are running in that moment, if you
- 1:14:23look closer, you can see James Ramos slapping Tom Mckendrick
- 1:14:26the ass a number of times. Remod did this to encourage
- 1:14:29Mckendrick to run a little bit faster.
- 1:14:32It's clear as day. It is clear as day.
- 1:14:34He's done it about three or four times.
- 1:14:36Come on. I must say, Ajax loves asses,
- 1:14:40doesn't he? He does.
- 1:14:41He thinks Cleo was caught by the cops with a nightstick of his
- 1:14:44ass. He threatens to shove the
- 1:14:45baseball. Fury's back so far they're asked
- 1:14:47to turn into a popsicle and he's tapping Mckittrick's ass left,
- 1:14:51right and centre. Protesting a bit too much, isn't
- 1:14:54he just. Yeah, he definitely is.
- 1:14:57The Furies came about because of Hill's love of both baseball and
- 1:15:00the rock band. Kiss Gene Simmons in baseball
- 1:15:03colours and you've got yourself the Baseball Furies going to
- 1:15:05hell. And there was an Uptown gang
- 1:15:08called Second Base New York who wore leather jackets, not
- 1:15:11baseball outfits. But they are referenced by the
- 1:15:13DJ when she says that the Warriors are on second base.
- 1:15:16Yeah, I mean, this taps into a theory I got when I was watching
- 1:15:19it for the fifth time this week. And it's just like the whole
- 1:15:22thing seems like an Algary for a baseball game.
- 1:15:25It's like the leave home. Every single station they get to
- 1:15:27is a home plate that they have to pass with a challenge in
- 1:15:30which to do it. The fun.
- 1:15:32They get to the baseball theories and even she says
- 1:15:35they've passed second base and then when they get home, they
- 1:15:37get home. They were home run, but some of
- 1:15:39them have actually been struck out and they don't all make it
- 1:15:42back as a team. So I think it's got this whole
- 1:15:44kind of baseball now due to the whole film.
- 1:15:46It definitely has. Yeah.
- 1:15:47Yeah. It's a great point, Yeah.
- 1:15:48When editor Billy Webber came to cut this fight scene, he'll give
- 1:15:52him a few instructions. He said, don't you know, don't
- 1:15:54worry that they're trying to kill each other.
- 1:15:56Just make it as fun as possible. And if possible, make it like a
- 1:15:59Kurosawa film. Really fun now.
- 1:16:05Lords of Rain in black and white.
- 1:16:06Yeah, Webber said. He thinks he made it look like
- 1:16:08your Jimbo. Did he?
- 1:16:13It looks more like game night, yeah.
- 1:16:18And during the Furies battle, Michael Beck got a little bit
- 1:16:21too into it with his baseball bat.
- 1:16:24You have to bear in mind these weren't props either.
- 1:16:26They are genuine baseball bats at the wheel.
- 1:16:28And he slammed it into the midway for one of the Furies
- 1:16:31ended up breaking three of the guy's ribs.
- 1:16:33And Beck didn't find this out until a reunion in 2015.
- 1:16:37Wow. Yeah, it's amazing.
- 1:16:39I mean, if you if you look at it, it's quite a lot of it's the
- 1:16:41guy with the red face, right? Yes.
- 1:16:43He really, really clatters and goes down straight out of the
- 1:16:47frame. Yeah.
- 1:16:49Looks fun though it. Is fun, yeah, obviously.
- 1:16:55But I think it's a standard sequence in the film.
- 1:16:57Personal theatre for me. You love it.
- 1:16:58Yeah. So after this, we get the moment
- 1:17:01where it is just the most outrageous part where Ajax just
- 1:17:04sees this woman on the bench and says, you know, you can go ahead
- 1:17:07if you want, but I'm going to get a little exercise after
- 1:17:10everything that he's been through.
- 1:17:12And I think this is just reaffirming the fact that he's
- 1:17:14just trying to prove to the rest of the warriors that he's not
- 1:17:16gay, he's not attracted to like the rest of them.
- 1:17:19And he's trying to push them away.
- 1:17:21And it's just so evident because then when he goes away, he
- 1:17:24doesn't understand how to talk. He talks about like a child.
- 1:17:27It's almost like, it's like, like a mother figure.
- 1:17:29And then when he's there with her and she's like a battle of
- 1:17:32the chicks, like all those muscles, she's like she's, you
- 1:17:34know, the automated bots that people get when they pay a £5 to
- 1:17:37go to some kind of dating site and they've just got that answer
- 1:17:40that they want. I bet the chicks lack those
- 1:17:42muscles are. Yeah, I'm getting involved in
- 1:17:44this one. This is an automated but
- 1:17:46obviously, but it's just perfect.
- 1:17:47But it just, it just plays them like player for player just so
- 1:17:51generically. And then when he gets involved,
- 1:17:53he's just so in there. It's disgusting.
- 1:17:56It's horrible. It's really it's if he's never,
- 1:17:59ever been with a woman before, there's if he doesn't understand
- 1:18:02what he needs to do, how he needs to do it.
- 1:18:05And it's just really, really forceful.
- 1:18:07I'd love it when he gets handcuffed to that bench because
- 1:18:09I'm like, thank fuck for that. He's got what he deserves.
- 1:18:12But I just do. I do think he's a very confused
- 1:18:14character, but the amount of times that he says the word that
- 1:18:17is just abhorrent. And the amount of times the the
- 1:18:19amount of times that he tries to disprove he's masculinity by
- 1:18:23being in charge, it doesn't really work.
- 1:18:25No it doesn't. He is trapped, and I think he's
- 1:18:28trapped in his own sexuality, and that's as deep as I'm going
- 1:18:30to get with the Warriors. And I think that's just a real
- 1:18:33testament to me watching the film and getting something out
- 1:18:35of it. But it's there if you look for
- 1:18:37it. It really is.
- 1:18:38Yeah, I I completely agree with you, Westie, and I think it's
- 1:18:42quite poetic that he gets found out and gets arrested trying to
- 1:18:46cover up his sexuality. Yeah, exactly.
- 1:18:49Yeah. And Hill has said that he would
- 1:18:50have loved to bring Ajax back into the picture after his
- 1:18:53fragrance with the police, but couldn't come up with a way to
- 1:18:55do it, which is totally understandable.
- 1:18:58Yeah, I I just think this is the right way to go for age actually
- 1:19:01gets what he deserves. Yeah, I mean, if Cleon goes out
- 1:19:03that way, and Cleon's a really strong character, this guy can
- 1:19:06go out this way dead easy. Not a problem.
- 1:19:08And to get into character, James Raemar hung around Coney Island
- 1:19:12to get a feel for the various reprobates that filled the
- 1:19:15streets. And you approach someone working
- 1:19:16on one of the games on the boardwalk and asked him what
- 1:19:19kind of cats hung out in corny, and he was told the worst kind.
- 1:19:24There's your inspiration in this scene.
- 1:19:26Sonny Landon plays the cop who takes Ajax out first.
- 1:19:29It's blinking. You'll miss him, but he must
- 1:19:31have done 3, right? Because he'll brought him back
- 1:19:32for 48 hours a few years later. Oh yeah, yeah.
- 1:19:36Irwin Keys plays the copper who clocks Ajax.
- 1:19:38He was actually in line to play the character of Ajax, but he'll
- 1:19:42thought he was maybe a little bit too old.
- 1:19:45Which? Considering he looks about 45,
- 1:19:47then yes, he's far too old to play an 18 year old.
- 1:19:52That's Mercedes real as well, isn't it?
- 1:19:54Playing the police woman. It is.
- 1:19:55It is, yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it's quite a
- 1:19:57shock to see. I think it was only a second or
- 1:20:00third rule really. But I mean, it's always a joy.
- 1:20:03Yeah, yeah, absolutely. She's fantastic in the film.
- 1:20:05Yeah, she is. She's great so Ajax's nights in
- 1:20:08the park all over for a while and the Warriors numbers are
- 1:20:11dramatically diminishing and Corny is still miles away.
- 1:20:14The. Crew.
- 1:20:22Two credited writers on the Warriors.
- 1:20:23A first time write. An effort from David Shaver with
- 1:20:26rewrites coming from the big man Walter Hill.
- 1:20:29Yeah. Matt, what do you think of the
- 1:20:31writing on the Warriors? I just don't have any idea how
- 1:20:34this would work as a book to begin with because it's all
- 1:20:37visual. It's one long pursuit.
- 1:20:39It's a lot of getting off trains, getting on trains,
- 1:20:41waiting for trains, and the things that people remember from
- 1:20:44this film, all visual. The look of the gangs, the feel
- 1:20:47of the city, the graffiti, how one down Coney Island is.
- 1:20:51None of that to me feels like it comes from the page, apart from
- 1:20:54the barest of descriptions. And if I didn't know it came
- 1:20:56from a book and you said where do you think it was adapted
- 1:20:58from? I just said something like it
- 1:21:00feels like something from 2000 AD or something like that.
- 1:21:04Nice. Yeah.
- 1:21:05I mean, it was a really popular novel as well, wasn't it?
- 1:21:07It's really. It was.
- 1:21:08Yeah, it was. Which is bizarre to me because I
- 1:21:11think it's such a visual experience.
- 1:21:13It's not something where you dig in the right now.
- 1:21:15And that's why I think it feels confused, Why I was confused.
- 1:21:18Why isn't this a dystopian sci-fi film?
- 1:21:20Because it feels like it should be, you know, because you have
- 1:21:23all these ganks scavenged in the streets and living in these
- 1:21:25gloomy subterranean bases and they're driving around and burnt
- 1:21:28up cars. It's got a real Mad Max feel to
- 1:21:30it at times. It has, yes.
- 1:21:32Which makes feel really strange when things happen like the cops
- 1:21:36arrive or the go to in you stand because that's real world stuff
- 1:21:40and it doesn't feel like it's a. Functioning city.
- 1:21:42It's a. Functioning.
- 1:21:43City and the telephones work. Phones work, yeah.
- 1:21:46Yeah, it. Doesn't feel like it belongs in
- 1:21:48the world of the warriors. So I'm just kind of left with
- 1:21:51more question than answers really.
- 1:21:53You know, again, the place there's there's simply been an
- 1:21:55assassination and a ride a few blocks where, but they're all
- 1:21:58just pissing about in the park open to like catch someone try
- 1:22:02to assault Mercedes rule. So I don't know if it's the
- 1:22:04material itself or just something is being lost in
- 1:22:06translation. It just feels very muddled to
- 1:22:09me. Yeah, right.
- 1:22:10OK, yeah, I I, you know, I get that and and I may be in love
- 1:22:14with the film, but I certainly can see where it's feelings are.
- 1:22:18And and I agree with you on that one, Matt.
- 1:22:20Yeah, well, I'm in love with the the linear narrative.
- 1:22:23I mean, it's very, very simple. There are no concerns afforded
- 1:22:26to frivolous subplots. They've got no place in this
- 1:22:30world in this film. And they're writing.
- 1:22:32It's about our boys getting from A to BA straight line, which is
- 1:22:35mirrored in the film because that's what the warriors have to
- 1:22:37do. Just walk that straight line
- 1:22:38down to corny and you can tell what Hill is saying when he said
- 1:22:42he wanted to give a kind of like a fantasy element.
- 1:22:45Just one look at the costumes tells you that it's very tongue
- 1:22:47in cheek. Take the high hats, for example,
- 1:22:50and we've had a laugh about them.
- 1:22:52But start thinking about logistics of those guys going
- 1:22:54about their day-to-day life and the whole thing falls apart.
- 1:22:57How do they communicate with each other?
- 1:22:59How could they possibly be an effective gang if they have to
- 1:23:01mime everything? Yeah, but I think all of that
- 1:23:04tells you right away that you don't need to take any of this
- 1:23:06too seriously. Yeah, exactly.
- 1:23:08But within this almost too simple narrative is a film
- 1:23:12that's got so much detail in world building.
- 1:23:14The number of gangs conceived for the film is nobody's
- 1:23:17business. They all have a unique identity,
- 1:23:19something similar to what you were seeing at the Top Westie.
- 1:23:22They all hail from a different part of town and are influenced
- 1:23:25by their surroundings and their ethnic heritage.
- 1:23:27Yeah, definitely. The world is written so
- 1:23:28tantalizingly for me. I just need to see more of it
- 1:23:31from these different gangs perspective.
- 1:23:33I think it's it's an untapped gold mine of an idea and a
- 1:23:37world. This is the cinematic universe
- 1:23:40that I can get behind. This is five seasons, 20
- 1:23:43episodes season on HBO TV Bonanza.
- 1:23:46Let's get it made. Absolutely amazing.
- 1:23:48Yeah, I could definitely, definitely tap into that, where
- 1:23:51the gangs just represent where they are, where they're from.
- 1:23:53Yeah, I'd love that. I've mentioned this word a lot,
- 1:23:55but it's got such a strong sense of identity.
- 1:23:58It comes from the location, the narrative, the costumes, the
- 1:24:00gang names. It's also evocative to me.
- 1:24:03It's not perfect writing, but it's so cinematic.
- 1:24:06I really love. It, yeah, I think the writing
- 1:24:08for me is, is the pace and the way that it is just quite
- 1:24:11breakneck and it does know where it's going, but sometimes it
- 1:24:15doesn't know how it's getting there or why it's really moving
- 1:24:19in that direction. And I think it's great that it's
- 1:24:22based over a single night. Like you said earlier on, I
- 1:24:24think films like that are great where you've got that real
- 1:24:27tension and how is this going to end?
- 1:24:29And I know that I'm going to see the end of it, that it's not
- 1:24:31going to play out ambiguously and this is going to, but I am
- 1:24:33going to have to get, the sun's going to have to come up at some
- 1:24:35point. And The thing is, with the
- 1:24:37writing, I'd honestly 100% think there's good dialogue in here.
- 1:24:41It's just badly delivered. Right, OK.
- 1:24:44I think if you look at Swan with the punks and Mercy comes up and
- 1:24:48says they're after you and he says another one he asks and
- 1:24:51then looks at them and says, and now they know that I know.
- 1:24:54Yeah, it's that's a really good bit of dialogue.
- 1:24:56If that was delivered just with a little bit more subtlety, a
- 1:24:59little bit more confidence. And imagine if we had the likes
- 1:25:02of the dialogue now and it's even all of Cyrus's dialogue.
- 1:25:06Keep it exactly the same, but give it a Denzel and training
- 1:25:09day. Yeah, now.
- 1:25:11You don't him, just him saying how can you dig it?
- 1:25:14But I think there's some really, really good writing in here.
- 1:25:18And it's just a little bit confused.
- 1:25:20I think it's just been, it's, it's been like a comic book
- 1:25:22that's been torn up and the pages are just kind of in the
- 1:25:24wrong order. Yeah, loads of great little
- 1:25:27bits, but nothing substantial as a whole.
- 1:25:29And I think that's a real shame. But that's not a reflection on
- 1:25:32the writing. I think it's just a reflection
- 1:25:33on how the writing was construed.
- 1:25:35Yeah, as mentioned, The Warriors is based on the 1965 book of the
- 1:25:39same name by Saul Urich. The book and the film drew
- 1:25:42inspiration from Xenophon's and Abassus, a story from Greek
- 1:25:45mythology about the Battle of Canacsa between Athens and
- 1:25:48Sparta and the subsequent 1000 mile March to the sea undertaken
- 1:25:52by a mercenary army who was surrounded by rivals.
- 1:25:56Yeah, like 300 isn't. It exactly.
- 1:25:58Yes. Yes.
- 1:25:59This inspiration for the film made it into the prologue for
- 1:26:02the directors cut in 2005 that we talked about.
- 1:26:05Yeah. Urich's research for the book
- 1:26:07included interviewing gang members of varying size and
- 1:26:10ethnicity in New York. He thought the gang members were
- 1:26:13telling them things that he wanted to hear, so to get a more
- 1:26:16accurate description of their activities, body language, you
- 1:26:18know, speech patterns, he hired a busted up truck, punched holes
- 1:26:22in the sides and spied on the gangs outrageous lengths
- 1:26:27dismissively. Uric said.
- 1:26:29It's not my best book. I wrote it as a kind of joke.
- 1:26:32It took me 3 weeks to write. What a Dick.
- 1:26:36Still loved the book immediately and wanted to make it even less
- 1:26:39realistic for the big screen by setting it in the near future
- 1:26:43with the certain West Side Story feel, albeit without the songs.
- 1:26:46And he said he was drawn to the extreme narrative simplicity and
- 1:26:49stripped down quality. Yeah, in the book there were
- 1:26:52almost no white characters. Hill wanted to carry this on
- 1:26:55into the film, but Paramount beat audit for commercial
- 1:26:57reasons. They didn't want an all black
- 1:26:59cast. I do think it is probably
- 1:27:01representative of New York and the different ethnicities and
- 1:27:05different cultures that the city is famous for.
- 1:27:07I still think it is representative of the city.
- 1:27:10That's what I love about it, how multicultural the gangs are.
- 1:27:13I mean, I love all the gangs, and there are 21 identifiable
- 1:27:16gangs in the film. We've talked about quite a few
- 1:27:19of them. There are dozens more listed in
- 1:27:21the official screenplay who are either not identifiable or just
- 1:27:24not on screen at all. Just a long list of gang names.
- 1:27:27There's about 50 of them. Favourites of mine include the
- 1:27:30Glen Hill Dancers, just like the Solid Gold Dancers from
- 1:27:33Scrooged. Nice you want to see some?
- 1:27:36Got some booty for you? The.
- 1:27:41Boogie for you, the hot pants. Yeah, the hot pants.
- 1:27:47See. It fits in, doesn't it?
- 1:27:50I regret me decision. It does.
- 1:27:53And there was another prominent gang in the original screenplay
- 1:27:56who were cut at the last minute. The Dingoes and the Dingles were
- 1:27:59a gay gang who wore blonde wigs, leather fetish gear complete
- 1:28:03with Chrome spikes and out Dobermans.
- 1:28:05And they had an important part in the narrative as they were
- 1:28:08responsible for kidnapping Swan before he breaks free at the end
- 1:28:11for the corny showdown. Wow, so at the end of Armed and
- 1:28:14Dangerous these guys sound like. Whoa, that is a deep cut,
- 1:28:18Westie. Is that Eugene Levy?
- 1:28:21Eugene Levy and Joan, wow, it's a difficult watch that film if
- 1:28:25you haven't seen it because you laugh at the end, you laugh all
- 1:28:28the way through, to be honest. But Hill has since expressed his
- 1:28:30disappointment and not filming the Dingoes.
- 1:28:32This was down to budgetary cuts from Paramount.
- 1:28:35Hill said the Dingoes weren't villainous.
- 1:28:37It was not a scene that was negative about the gay gang.
- 1:28:40I thought it was just another way of staying ahead of the
- 1:28:42times. Swan was their prisoner and he
- 1:28:44got away. But they have their dignity.
- 1:28:46Yeah, I think he he argued that like all the gangs were after
- 1:28:50the Warriors, and the Dingoes finally captured one of them
- 1:28:53because of the misinformation there wasn't that they were just
- 1:28:56a heinous gang. Originally cast in The Dingoes
- 1:28:59were John Snyder, who ended up playing the gas station
- 1:29:02attendant in the film, and another actor who would have
- 1:29:05played one of the Dingoes remarkably, Kevin Bacon.
- 1:29:09Amazing. Oh wow, really?
- 1:29:11Yeah, I would have paid to have seen that.
- 1:29:12Snyder and Bacon love it. Other changes were made to the
- 1:29:16fate of some of the warriors in the film.
- 1:29:19Three of them don't make it back home.
- 1:29:21Cleon, Fox and Ajax. But originally, Vermin and Core
- 1:29:24Cheese got bumped off as they bopped their way to Corney as
- 1:29:26well. Coaches was supposed to get
- 1:29:28cornered in the park by the Furies and wind up dumped in the
- 1:29:31Hudson River. David Harris, who plays coaches,
- 1:29:33said. It came down to the studio.
- 1:29:35The coaches doesn't die. Wow, came from up above.
- 1:29:38Well, I actually I think David Harris is great.
- 1:29:41As coaches, he's great. Yeah, yes, really good.
- 1:29:43And Terry, my cost, as we've said, plays Vermin.
- 1:29:46And he said that to set himself apart from the strong roles that
- 1:29:49the likes of Michael Beck had. He played his part more comedic.
- 1:29:52He said. I sort of play in Vermin based
- 1:29:54on an old Hercules cartoon character, this half man, half
- 1:29:57animal. I was able to end up half my
- 1:29:59role extended. I think Vermin was supposed to
- 1:30:02be killed off but he became funny.
- 1:30:04Well, that's one way of putting. This a lot of high opinions of
- 1:30:08themselves in this film, isn't it?
- 1:30:10Yeah, the Lizzies was supposed to bump vermin off in that
- 1:30:13scene. Right, right.
- 1:30:14So Urich wasn't a huge fan of the film.
- 1:30:16He liked the speed of the opening, but once Cyrus started
- 1:30:19talking, it fell apart for him, he said.
- 1:30:22For me, the best moment of the movie was my name flashing up
- 1:30:24and covering the whole screen. Ego much?
- 1:30:28Yeah, the best bit of the film. Maybe not the most sophisticated
- 1:30:35piece of writing, but the world of the Warriors stuff full of
- 1:30:38colourful characters is incredibly memorable.
- 1:30:41Yeah, it sticks with you, absolutely.
- 1:30:45Now we have a banger of a score from Barry Devoson and a good
- 1:30:49soundtrack with, in my opinion, a few unusual numbers, but we'll
- 1:30:52get to that. Actually, let's get to it now.
- 1:30:55I think Devoson score is great. Synthesize heaven with some
- 1:30:59awesome guitar licks. It sounds like rock music full
- 1:31:02of East Coast muscle and it gives the images a raised pulse
- 1:31:05and a sense of frenzied urgency for me.
- 1:31:08We've talked about the opening scene with the Talking Heads,
- 1:31:10the Furies chase, where the score is at its strongest.
- 1:31:13Love is Couldn't Love It Anymore.
- 1:31:15The pop songs in the film a little off for me.
- 1:31:18I really like the two numbers during the Lizzy scene.
- 1:31:21Love is a Fire and Moving too slow in the city at the end is
- 1:31:24great. But I've really got a question.
- 1:31:27The inclusion of. I do take your point, Matt, that
- 1:31:30it does take on additional meaning, but consider Martha
- 1:31:33Reeves and the Vandellas and then we get this one, a paper
- 1:31:36thin cover of Nowhere to Run despite Luther Vandross doing
- 1:31:38the back. And I just think it sounds a bit
- 1:31:40too much like Muzak. Yeah.
- 1:31:42It's not budgetary though. Probably, but I think they could
- 1:31:46have done differently. I think there's a few of the
- 1:31:48songs in there. Echoes in My Mind is Too Soft
- 1:31:51and Last of the Agent Breed wouldn't be out of place playing
- 1:31:54at the end of a Rambo film. It's horrific that one the last
- 1:31:59track on the on the soundtrack album.
- 1:32:01I just don't think that these reflect the time this film was
- 1:32:04shot. In 1978, New York City was the
- 1:32:06epicentre of disco and punk rock, and hip hop was just about
- 1:32:09to sneak through all at the same time.
- 1:32:12I don't think the hip cuts of The City will be listening to
- 1:32:14anything else but one of these, and the fact that the film could
- 1:32:17be seen as a near future could excuse this.
- 1:32:20But some of the songs that are included are from the future,
- 1:32:22from the past. For me, I don't hear this.
- 1:32:25I just think it's a massive missed opportunity.
- 1:32:28The guy who curated the soundtrack was Kenny Vance.
- 1:32:30He'd been on the music scene since the 50s.
- 1:32:33So he's, you know, he's got an unbelievable pedigree.
- 1:32:35He sings on the track in Havana that plays the candy stand.
- 1:32:39And I think fans should have just he's curating the music.
- 1:32:43Go to CBGB's, These are all in New York.
- 1:32:45Go to Max's Kansas City, Pseudo 54 Uptown to the block parties
- 1:32:49in the streets of the Bronx. Get a feel of what music is
- 1:32:51actually going on. Get tracks from unsigned artists
- 1:32:55and we'll be having a totally different conversation.
- 1:32:57Yeah. Take nothing away from divorce
- 1:32:59on score, though. I love that.
- 1:33:01It's amazing. Oh yeah.
- 1:33:02Yeah, I mean, I'm the same. I'm a big, big fan of the score.
- 1:33:06I think the score's got a really good energy to it.
- 1:33:08It's got a real pace to it. I love when them high hearts
- 1:33:10come in. I love the bill to it's guitars
- 1:33:12because they just sit in the center there and there's some
- 1:33:14little bits of organ in there and then there's a wonderful
- 1:33:17drum fills, which seemed to me like the same white pan
- 1:33:20transitions that he uses Visually.
- 1:33:22You just kind of sweep over a great dialogue, especially in
- 1:33:28the opening sequence that cuts into the music and the music
- 1:33:30kind of sits side by side with it.
- 1:33:32But again, with you, I mean, I don't know if In the City works
- 1:33:35for me. Is that the ultimate song when
- 1:33:37you've escaped all of this and you're one of the best gangs and
- 1:33:40you've got Joe Walsh do any solo number and then it's on an
- 1:33:43Eagles album later. Because that happened to like it
- 1:33:45because it was on a film. Yeah.
- 1:33:46It just, it doesn't really sit with me.
- 1:33:48But you've got, like you said, there, songs that should be in
- 1:33:50it. Rocket to Russia came out in in
- 1:33:5377. Right, so you've.
- 1:33:55Got the Ramones in there, and as soon as if the baseball fuse
- 1:33:58turned up with the Ramones track, yeah, you fucking forget
- 1:34:01about it. Yeah, I want to be sedated.
- 1:34:03Judy is a punk. Anything like that?
- 1:34:05Anything like that you would have just would have really
- 1:34:08worked. So I mean this the disco
- 1:34:09movement could have come into the hip hop stuff.
- 1:34:10But again, I think this is very budgetary.
- 1:34:12I think there's what can we get and who can we get to display
- 1:34:15this? He's hit home with nowhere to
- 1:34:17run because them lyrics do take on it.
- 1:34:20But again, I mean, the thing that really shines for me in
- 1:34:22this is the soundtrack is the actual soundtrack by Barrett Von
- 1:34:26and it's it is it's an exceptional work and it would
- 1:34:29still be popular now. It still stands up.
- 1:34:31So I think the soundtrack itself wasn't really of its time, or
- 1:34:35maybe it was of its time but wasn't ahead of its time.
- 1:34:37But the score definitely, definitely is ahead of its time.
- 1:34:40Yeah, yeah, I agree. Matt, what do you think,
- 1:34:43Hatrick? Yeah.
- 1:34:44Pretty much the score is one of the elements that resonates the
- 1:34:47most strongly and I don't really have any issues with it.
- 1:34:50It's a bit John Carpenter with the EV since, but then it
- 1:34:53becomes a lot more funkier than anything he ever did, obviously.
- 1:34:57But then again, like Condor ripped, did you not think
- 1:34:58Compton ripped it off in the opening, the big trip in Little
- 1:35:00China? It's like, yeah, it's like I
- 1:35:07missed that trick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, possibly.
- 1:35:09Yeah. And it's got some, you know,
- 1:35:10nice crunchy Catholics in there. Yeah.
- 1:35:13I do like that version of Nowhere to Run, but I think of
- 1:35:15the original songs, Love is a Fire, that was the real stand
- 1:35:18out for me. It's brilliant.
- 1:35:19Yeah. I think that's a great one.
- 1:35:20Yeah, it is. It's great.
- 1:35:21Sounds a bit like Pat Benatar or like early heart or something
- 1:35:24like. That yeah.
- 1:35:25Early heart. Yeah, definitely, definitely.
- 1:35:27I mentioned in Havana it's credited to Kenny Vanson is my
- 1:35:30old Miranda. Unbelievably, some of the bacons
- 1:35:33on that song are provided by a very unusual source.
- 1:35:37Do you know this? I do not, no.
- 1:35:41It's Chevy Chase. Chevy Chase?
- 1:35:43Wow. Well, I haven't mentioned Chevy
- 1:35:45Chase in a long time, no. No, you didn't think it would
- 1:35:48copier, did you? I.
- 1:35:50Didn't think it would copier at all.
- 1:35:52Yeah, I, I mean, I had to do a lot of digging because I I
- 1:35:56really don't believe this, but it it appears that this is the
- 1:35:58real Chevy Chase. He's Chevy chasing.
- 1:36:00You're not. But there's still something
- 1:36:02niggling in my mind that this can't possibly be true because
- 1:36:05Chevy chasing and back ends on this Latin inflected salsa
- 1:36:09number. The whitest man in the world
- 1:36:10when he was at the height of his fame.
- 1:36:13Makes perfect sense to me. That's definitely something
- 1:36:16Chevy Chase would do. You can call me out, but he's on
- 1:36:19the video. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:36:20It's something he would do just to kind of piss people off, I
- 1:36:23think. This song so low key.
- 1:36:25Nobody knows this song outside of the confines of this film.
- 1:36:28They've got the budget for the budget for Chevy Chase, the
- 1:36:32greatest comedian at that time. Yeah, because he probably said
- 1:36:34he'd do it for free for the lot. Yeah, and I do know that Chevy
- 1:36:39Chase does have the voice of an Angel.
- 1:36:41He's got perfect pitch, apparently, so it may well be
- 1:36:44true. And he is credited on, you know,
- 1:36:46like Discogs and the Wikipedia site.
- 1:36:48He's also listed on the record. Have checked and double checked.
- 1:36:51It says Chevy Chase. Amazing.
- 1:36:53Great National Lampoon's as well.
- 1:36:55Great. National Lampoon's.
- 1:36:56Gripper. So I think on the whole, great
- 1:37:01music accompanying the Warriors, adding to its unique sense of
- 1:37:03identity. Absolutely.
- 1:37:08Rounding off our crew list, we have cinematography by Andrew
- 1:37:11Laszlo. Matt, do you want to take the
- 1:37:15lead on this one? The unsung hero of the film, I
- 1:37:18think because whatever other problems I have with this film,
- 1:37:22how it looks isn't one of them. Every frame is memorable.
- 1:37:25Every shot is so balanced in terms of depth, in terms of
- 1:37:28shadow. It's dark, but it's never dimly
- 1:37:31lit. You can always make out what's
- 1:37:32going on. And obviously part of this is
- 1:37:34that incredible location shooting and he just really,
- 1:37:37really seems like soak up the rain that's on the streets, in
- 1:37:40the humidity, in the air and. Especially that cemetery scene,
- 1:37:43how dark that is and how moist it is because you know exactly
- 1:37:46what's going on exactly. I mean, if I had to pick a
- 1:37:49favorite shot, I think I would go for when the warriors get to
- 1:37:51Coney Island and roll in silhouette because he's shooting
- 1:37:54it directly into the sun, right, Brilliant, nice, But again, it's
- 1:37:57it's just so well dressed because it's not over bride.
- 1:37:59That just saying looks absolutely incredible.
- 1:38:01And it's a cliche thing of every famous picture in this film.
- 1:38:04And I think if you didn't have the score and if you didn't have
- 1:38:07Lazlo, I don't know what kind of film you would have here.
- 1:38:10I think this is just a massive influence on everyone who tried
- 1:38:14to shoot in New York afterwards, especially at night time New
- 1:38:16York. I think it's a massive influence
- 1:38:18on Taxi Driver. I think it's a massive influence
- 1:38:20on Calendar. I think it's the massive
- 1:38:22influence on Michael Mann. Especially if you look at The
- 1:38:24Thief like it's just a one of them films where it's just, it's
- 1:38:27very confident in its delivery of the visuals and nothing looks
- 1:38:30lit. Everything looks like it was
- 1:38:31just shot the way it was shot. Everything looks like natural
- 1:38:34light in the location, which gives the locations, as I said
- 1:38:36earlier on, their their real place to shine.
- 1:38:39And it seems that the warriors are just in the light where the
- 1:38:41location allows them to be in the light and which gives it
- 1:38:44very naturalistic look. But at the same time, it's lit
- 1:38:47enough, like Matt said, where you're not bogged down with it
- 1:38:50and it doesn't look like it was overly done.
- 1:38:52I think it's just absolutely brilliant.
- 1:38:54And he's a brilliant, brilliant cinematographer.
- 1:38:56And he was an influence on himself because I mean, after
- 1:38:58this he shot Sudden Comfort and then he shot First Blood.
- 1:39:02And he's just done so much in this film where like you're
- 1:39:05going to shoot a night exterior, you're going to look at last
- 1:39:08those work on the Warriors and you're going to say, I'm going
- 1:39:10to do it like that. And it's got that neon look.
- 1:39:13It's got that bite with neon since it all works.
- 1:39:16And like Matt said, I think the only thing that lets this whole
- 1:39:19film down is actually the dialogue.
- 1:39:20If this was a silent film with a soundtrack with songs that we
- 1:39:24could suggest, the Ramones, the soundtrack, they're reflected
- 1:39:27the time if you get Vozan score in there and if you get the
- 1:39:31visuals by Laszlo and the direction from Hill without the
- 1:39:34clunky dialogue would have an absolute masterpiece on my
- 1:39:36hands. Yeah, I agree.
- 1:39:37Yeah, you've said it a few times, but missed opportunity, I
- 1:39:40think, Westie. Yeah.
- 1:39:42But this certainly isn't that opening shot of the Wonder
- 1:39:45Wheel, the purple piercing through the nighttime sky and
- 1:39:48the rumble of the train as opposed to Silver Ave.
- 1:39:50OH. Just dissolve into the light as
- 1:39:52well from pure darkness. And just the wonder wheel lights
- 1:39:55up. Fantastic stuff.
- 1:39:56Yeah, wonderful. You just want to go there.
- 1:39:58Yeah, it looks like the most Big Island and attractive places.
- 1:40:02Yeah. And what I think Laszlo does
- 1:40:03magnificently is contrast the daytime and nighttime in Corny.
- 1:40:06You've got those alluring images at the start and at the end the
- 1:40:10place looks like a complete crap house.
- 1:40:12It looks really cold. Whereas the night time looks
- 1:40:16hot. Yeah, it's just really cool.
- 1:40:18So he's using all of the Reds and the oranges to kind of make
- 1:40:21this warmth in this fire, like the hell of the city.
- 1:40:25And then there's like this cold, almost purgatory of when they
- 1:40:28get back home. Is this what we're fought for?
- 1:40:29It's not heaven. We're not.
- 1:40:30You haven't made it out, really. It's just this cold place.
- 1:40:33He hasn't got a lot of time. Andy shooting 35 mil, Andy
- 1:40:36shooting available light. And there's gangs threatening to
- 1:40:38kill people. So he's done an incredible job.
- 1:40:44And filming at night did prove to be tricky for more than one
- 1:40:46reason. Laszlo had a torrid time with
- 1:40:49light and in particular light sensitive St. lights were
- 1:40:51switched off by the light and rigs used for shots.
- 1:40:54They've got over this little problem I tape and over the
- 1:40:56sensors on the street lights. So they just kept on shooting.
- 1:40:58Yeah, because it was all on location as well.
- 1:41:00You're at the mercy of the city itself.
- 1:41:02The majority of shots are underexposed because it was
- 1:41:05nowhere near enough money in the budget for sufficient light, and
- 1:41:07Laszlo was able to make internal shots of the subway.
- 1:41:10Like you said earlier on Westie, it's bright because he was
- 1:41:14working in a smaller space and he stole spare bulbs from the
- 1:41:17subway system to light those carts.
- 1:41:20Which he knows that for the contrast, though, and I think
- 1:41:22you've underexposed the outside shots.
- 1:41:24So it just looks a little bit more grimy.
- 1:41:26And I think that's that's on purpose.
- 1:41:27Again, it's just, you know, necessity.
- 1:41:29He also wet the streets that they were filming on for a
- 1:41:32couple of reasons. The first one was to reflect the
- 1:41:34lighting set up. Making it seem brighter, yeah.
- 1:41:38And the second one was continuity because they were
- 1:41:39dealing with thunderstorms during the night on certain
- 1:41:41days. Brilliant.
- 1:41:43Right and during the baseball few he's chasing the park last
- 1:41:46law install lighting into the branches of the trees above the
- 1:41:49actors and if you know they're there, they're very easy to see.
- 1:41:52And he also got creative and concealing additional lights
- 1:41:55elsewhere. Others were hidden behind fake
- 1:41:57signs like bar, restaurant to make the scene more dynamic.
- 1:42:00Nice. Yeah, yeah, they're just hidden
- 1:42:02in places where they look like they should be naturally, but
- 1:42:05they will put there to make the sets pop.
- 1:42:08The images pop looks great, so great all around.
- 1:42:11Work on the Warriors with the crew doing a bang up job to make
- 1:42:14the film stand out among the crowd.
- 1:42:16Special mention should also go to Bobby Mannix and her
- 1:42:18outstanding costume design. Oh, absolutely, 100% of me.
- 1:42:25The end. Into the third act, the boys get
- 1:42:30separated. They have an almighty fight with
- 1:42:32the punks in the bathroom, but we'll get to that in a moment.
- 1:42:35Yeah, First up, Vermin, Core Cheese and Rembrandt kick back
- 1:42:38with the Lizzies, but the chicks are packed.
- 1:42:41I mean, this is just outrageous for a number of reasons.
- 1:42:45The gang have been split up and they're running for their lives.
- 1:42:48Every gang they meet wants to kill them.
- 1:42:50So what's the best thing to do? Be completely exposed in the
- 1:42:53middle of the city with a group of strangers offering easy sex
- 1:42:56no questions asked? Get it straight in there.
- 1:42:59Why not? At least Rembrandt is a little
- 1:43:04suspicious. Kochi's asks where the dudes
- 1:43:07are, but Vermin is an absolute shambles with dialogue.
- 1:43:11Like when I got off that subway, I saw you and I thought, oh
- 1:43:15baby, throw it my way. What on earth are you talking
- 1:43:18about, Vermo? This is ridiculous.
- 1:43:22And then when he gets in there, it looks like you're the winner.
- 1:43:30But like I've said, there are two bangers on the jukebox.
- 1:43:32The girls have got plenty of drink, plenty of smokes to go
- 1:43:35round a pool table. A very alluring dance, sexy
- 1:43:39enough to entice any stoic warrior.
- 1:43:42So, you know, fantastic. And the Lizzies tap right into
- 1:43:45that Greek mythology that Hill was inspired by for the film.
- 1:43:48For me they are the Sirens from Greek mythology.
- 1:43:52Yeah, very much. Luring the warriors in with
- 1:43:55their sexuality before they pounce.
- 1:43:57I saw him first. I see him first.
- 1:44:01Turn him into a horny. Toad.
- 1:44:03A horny toad. Pete, that's all brother, where
- 1:44:10are thou? For people who don't know what
- 1:44:12would just call him. Randomly.
- 1:44:16And when the Lizzie's family revealed themselves.
- 1:44:18I'd love that line when Rembrandt screams shit the
- 1:44:21chicks are packed. It's so good.
- 1:44:23And then it's absolute pandemonium.
- 1:44:26Gunshots being fired with scant regard for anyone's safety,
- 1:44:29knives being slashed through the air.
- 1:44:31Renban takes one in the arm, Vermin smacks one of the girls
- 1:44:34right in the mush, and coach he slams a chair into another one
- 1:44:38of them. Madness.
- 1:44:39And then they bust through that door, making their escape.
- 1:44:42It is a funny scene. It's obviously not to be taken
- 1:44:44too seriously, but I absolutely love it.
- 1:44:48Of course you do. That's great, and I think the
- 1:44:51Lizzies are great. The actress is.
- 1:44:53Playing the girls are great. Yeah, really good.
- 1:44:56I mean, it's all kicking off now because you go from this fight
- 1:44:58to the fight in the bathroom, which I want to talk about
- 1:45:01because this action sequence, I mean, it really crunches and
- 1:45:05it's the same way. Even the weed aspect of it works
- 1:45:08because the thought of gangs on roller skates, again, not
- 1:45:11particularly intimidating, but that lone guy following them
- 1:45:14down through the station actually works really well.
- 1:45:17Yeah, creepy. I think if you call yourselves
- 1:45:19the punks, maybe try to look like punks, Yeah instead of the
- 1:45:22roller skates and dungarees combo.
- 1:45:24Rugby tops. Rugby tops.
- 1:45:26The Bay City Rolling Skates. Thing is, up by this point, I
- 1:45:33think I've given up trying to reconcile the idea that these
- 1:45:36are tough St. gangs. Yeah, with.
- 1:45:37What they actually look like, Yeah.
- 1:45:39And honestly, I do mean this is a compliment.
- 1:45:41A lot of the film feels like very 1960s Batman TV series to
- 1:45:45me, the way they just kind of keep running these outlandish
- 1:45:48gangs. Yeah, it needs more Dutch
- 1:45:50angles, doesn't it it? Needs more Dutch angles until
- 1:45:53only kicks off in the bathroom. You really could have like Biff
- 1:45:56and pow and bow shooting out on screen.
- 1:45:58Crack crack. Yeah she be don't.
- 1:46:01But the music is great in the scene and thing this is seen
- 1:46:05finally you get that grit that I associated with Walter Hill.
- 1:46:07You know, fists are flying baseball bats and the good heads
- 1:46:10getting slammed in the wall, knives out, elbows in the face.
- 1:46:14Even Mercy getting in on the ACT with that cheeky little hair
- 1:46:17pull and shoulder bite and that one guy.
- 1:46:19I mean, I don't think your teeth of that song absolute by through
- 1:46:22denim give him a. Gore worth a try?
- 1:46:25But the best bit is that guy who gets looked in the face so hard
- 1:46:29it spins him round, sends his face cracking into the wall, and
- 1:46:32then when he turns back around, gets a baseball bat in the gut.
- 1:46:35Yeah, it's great. And that baseball bat is hit so
- 1:46:37hard it splinters into. I mean that is one.
- 1:46:40Unlucky guy. I mean, even Swan is useful here
- 1:46:43in this scene and looks the part.
- 1:46:44Yeah, it's a great team and absolute, definite influence on
- 1:46:48Ed Gride for The World's End. Yeah, I mean, it's a carbon
- 1:46:51copy, isn't it? Yeah, although the film was shot
- 1:46:55almost entirely on the street of New York City, the only set
- 1:46:58build was for this exact scene. This was shot in a story of
- 1:47:01studios up in Queens. Yeah, I think you can tell
- 1:47:05because I think the wooden doors look like Styrofoam when they
- 1:47:08get obliterated. They do, yeah, far too easily
- 1:47:11bust open. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:47:12And that kid that's on the roller skate, he was a stuntman
- 1:47:15that didn't know how to roller skate before the film, right?
- 1:47:17They just learn how to do it. And I think he's really
- 1:47:19convincing when he's just going backwards and forwards.
- 1:47:21I like. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:47:22Absolutely brilliant. Yeah, he looks absolutely great.
- 1:47:25Walter Hill asked him if he could roller skate and he said,
- 1:47:27Oh yeah, yeah, I can. Completely lied.
- 1:47:30And then just spends the time in between the audition and the
- 1:47:32shoot roller skating up and down upstate New York.
- 1:47:35Amazing. And when filming this scene,
- 1:47:37there was an unexpected visitor on set at Koch, who was mayor of
- 1:47:41New York at the time. He arrived alongside movie
- 1:47:44royalty Gloria Swanson of Sunset Blvd. fame.
- 1:47:48Swanson was two in the facility with Koch because she had filmed
- 1:47:51a number of her silent pictures back in the day there and he'll,
- 1:47:54obviously surprised by this visit, gave them the two around
- 1:47:57the set. Nice.
- 1:47:58Yeah, Hill said that Koch was a big supporter of the film when
- 1:48:01all the controversy sparked upon release, and credits some of
- 1:48:04that to his encounter with Koch and Swanson at the story of
- 1:48:08studios. It's very nice.
- 1:48:09He's Oval for him. Yeah, the I'll go into the a bit
- 1:48:13where it gets actually quite like emotionally real and bought
- 1:48:17this sequence, the train sequence with Mercy and Swan.
- 1:48:20And they get on there and you've got the, you know, the prom
- 1:48:22couples coming on. And it's just a real measure of
- 1:48:25class and the difference of class and the difference of
- 1:48:28what's happening in this city at this time.
- 1:48:30You know, there's two couples having the best nights of the
- 1:48:32lives, and then there's these guys having the worst night of
- 1:48:34the life. And I think it's so well done by
- 1:48:36Hill here and it's so well measured, especially the the
- 1:48:39just where they're looking Mercy up and down and they see how
- 1:48:42dirty our feet are. They see how dirty they both
- 1:48:45are. And it's just wordless.
- 1:48:46And this is what we've been heartened back to.
- 1:48:48I think the whole episode. If this was a silent film and
- 1:48:50this is all you need and this is how well he shows it, My Mercy
- 1:48:53just goes to move ahead and make ourselves more presentable.
- 1:48:56One just takes a hand down. You know, this is who you are.
- 1:48:59This is who we are. Don't try and be something that
- 1:49:01you're not. And then this little quartage
- 1:49:04has just dropped at the door and he just, if the flowers there
- 1:49:07and it just when he comes out and it comes, it just gives it
- 1:49:09to her. And it's, it's not an emotional
- 1:49:11moment where it's like this is for you.
- 1:49:13And there's like strings come in and you see there's a romance.
- 1:49:15He's I just don't want to see anything go to waste.
- 1:49:18It's just how it shows how little they have and how little
- 1:49:20he's got to give her and how little he's got to offer her as
- 1:49:23a couple and as a person. He's got nothing.
- 1:49:25They've got nothing. And these people have got
- 1:49:27everything and they don't attack these people for having
- 1:49:30everything. And I think it's Hilda saying,
- 1:49:32you know, there is a social boundary, but it doesn't have to
- 1:49:34be a violent one. Yes, so the Warriors are on the
- 1:49:37train and are homeward bound. They've been through a lot in
- 1:49:40one night. But there's one final hurdle to
- 1:49:43jump. Certainly is.
- 1:49:47So we finally made it. CI the big corny.
- 1:49:51It's early morning and the boys are coming out to play.
- 1:49:55Yeah, here it comes. But before that, they arrive at
- 1:49:59Corny early morning. And when filming the Corny,
- 1:50:02Andrew Laszlo looked out under this beautiful sunrise.
- 1:50:05He wasn't able to get his camera set up in time to capture it.
- 1:50:08He didn't need the shot for the film, but he thought he could
- 1:50:11sell it to Paramount for their library the next morning on the
- 1:50:14off chance he had his camera set up again and he captured the
- 1:50:17footage and he did end up using it for the film.
- 1:50:20It's the shot that is used to transition from night to day.
- 1:50:23There's like a a close up so. Yeah, across there's all
- 1:50:26there's. Yeah, that's right.
- 1:50:27Yeah. And when we first arrive back,
- 1:50:29we see the harsh reality kick in.
- 1:50:31Swan even says, is this what we fought all night to get back to?
- 1:50:34Yeah, it's absolutely what you've been saying about Mercy,
- 1:50:37what I said earlier as well, coming to realize that there's
- 1:50:40more to life than having a mattress trapped on your back on
- 1:50:43a Friday and Saturday. Yeah.
- 1:50:46Whether I buy this big romance or not, that they're going to go
- 1:50:49running away and becoming this well travelled couple is another
- 1:50:52matter. To be honest, I don't think
- 1:50:54Swan's really the romance king of Kony.
- 1:50:56You said he picked all those flowers.
- 1:50:58He hates seeing things go to waste.
- 1:51:00There's no romance for it, he just, he has very little.
- 1:51:04But this small scene does give you a shred of redemption for
- 1:51:07these characters and this is where you realise that they have
- 1:51:10nothing and they are just kids and this is their life.
- 1:51:13It's pretty grotty, really. Yeah, and there is a warrior's
- 1:51:16graffiti sign over an abandoned bathhouse building in Coney
- 1:51:20Island. It's prominent in promo shots
- 1:51:22for the film, but unbeknownst to the film makers, the tag was
- 1:51:26painted over the top of a real gang tag, who, Needless to say,
- 1:51:29we're not happy about it. And they had to be paid off to
- 1:51:31keep them sweet. Paying the people off left,
- 1:51:35right and center. That's why there's no money in
- 1:51:38the budget for the songs. Or retakes.
- 1:51:40Or decent actors. Oh God, he's lost it now.
- 1:51:46You've said your peace. He's.
- 1:51:48Lost it. He's lost it.
- 1:51:49Sorry. So just want to think it's all
- 1:51:51over. You get this wonderful clanking
- 1:51:53of bottles and we get this wonderful, oh, there he is
- 1:51:57again. And I wanted this to be more
- 1:52:00weird. I wanted it really just more
- 1:52:03intense when it starts and he just gets more and more intense
- 1:52:07with his delivery and it's just this, it's horrific.
- 1:52:15It's it's like a horror film. It is.
- 1:52:16Warriors come out to play. Warriors come up to play, you
- 1:52:31know, it's like tempted to serial killers like tempting the
- 1:52:33kids out and they're not coming out then just the know where
- 1:52:36they are. They're on their ground now and
- 1:52:38it's like, you know, it plugs into that song that was said
- 1:52:41nowhere to run, nowhere to hide to take some to the sand.
- 1:52:43They've got nowhere to hide anymore.
- 1:52:44They've got they've got nothing to do.
- 1:52:46Everyone's out in the open and it's outright.
- 1:52:47It's US against you. Let's see what you have.
- 1:52:49You really are and how tough you really are.
- 1:52:51But that whole sequence is such a great ending when they're on
- 1:52:54their own turf and they stay hidden in their own turf because
- 1:52:57the nor where they can benefit and where they can be pulled in
- 1:53:01and they're still not pulled in. Everyone's tempted to pull them
- 1:53:03in. And I think that taps into the
- 1:53:05end and of why they're the best is because they have a resolve
- 1:53:08and the don't be triggered by other people.
- 1:53:11And I think that's the PowerPoint of Luther here is he
- 1:53:13is in a scene that he thinks he's the strongest.
- 1:53:15He thinks the strongest anyway. And it's just this performance
- 1:53:18by Kelly. I think it's just so, so good.
- 1:53:21And that clinging the bottles, once you hear it, you will
- 1:53:24never, ever forget that. You know, it's just, it's always
- 1:53:28there. And I've just seen the meme
- 1:53:30because I've obviously been looking at this.
- 1:53:32And then it comes up on your social media things that you've
- 1:53:33been looking at because of the algorithm.
- 1:53:35And there's a class meme that just came up and just says you
- 1:53:38can't hear a picture. And it's just Kelly holding them
- 1:53:40bottles through the window. Is that Yeah, I can hear that
- 1:53:43picture exactly. What's going on here?
- 1:53:45This come out to play a scene, it's gone down as the stuff of
- 1:53:48legend. Hill thought that the scene was
- 1:53:49a bit dull as it was written. He needed Kelly to do something
- 1:53:53to coax the warriors out and has to be improvised.
- 1:53:56Kelly disappeared under the boardwalk, came out with three
- 1:53:58bottles, doing the come out to play a bit.
- 1:54:00David Patrick Kelly said. I wanted to make Luther evil, so
- 1:54:03he was influenced by this really bad guy who I knew in downtown
- 1:54:06New York who'd make fun of me and say Dave, Dave.
- 1:54:11And it was the creepiest thing I ever heard.
- 1:54:13Yeah. Hello Dev.
- 1:54:17And I can, in addition to that story, is that Kelly came on set
- 1:54:21with a bag of dead pigeons. This is what I'm talking about.
- 1:54:24How one of them to be weird. This would have worked for me.
- 1:54:26A bag of dead pigeons that was going to mess with the warriors.
- 1:54:29But Hill thought it was just far too weird.
- 1:54:31Not for me. I would have, yeah.
- 1:54:35A few sources have confirmed that part of the story,
- 1:54:37including Joe Weiss, who played Cropsy.
- 1:54:40And Weiss actually had a line in the scene, but it ended up being
- 1:54:42cut, he said. We're going to get you Warriors
- 1:54:45tonight, but it was cut because it was daytime.
- 1:54:48Fucking hell, genius. Classic improvisation.
- 1:54:51Get it right tonight sheet, it's today.
- 1:55:01And then you get to the ending, the confrontation with Luther,
- 1:55:04and you know he's defeated in a fairly underwhelming manner.
- 1:55:08I would say he's been given it. All the big bollocks, clanging
- 1:55:12the bottles together and then just the knife in the arm.
- 1:55:15The most ridiculous scream ever. In slow and.
- 1:55:19Slow and just swimping wasn't me.
- 1:55:27It was. Hilarious.
- 1:55:29Just I don't understand, like anyone thought that was going to
- 1:55:32be a really fulfilling end to this character.
- 1:55:35But then you get the riffs turning up.
- 1:55:40You warriors are good, real good.
- 1:55:43The best? Yeah, like 150 reps just turning
- 1:55:45up out of fucking nowhere. I love that.
- 1:55:48Exactly finally get to see like an army of them.
- 1:55:50I love it. I do think though you know the
- 1:55:52best well give you had a bit of a shake.
- 1:55:54Not really the best, are you? Yeah, You know, Cyrus is
- 1:55:58thinking. Well, I'll give you a pass on
- 1:56:01that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 1:56:03You know, yeah, you sort out the punks.
- 1:56:05Fair enough. But you know, you lead to a
- 1:56:06so-called swan. But the end credits, I always
- 1:56:11love end credits that roll over the action as it's all going on.
- 1:56:14I do like the song, but I think they're just missing an absolute
- 1:56:17trick with like, right at the very end.
- 1:56:20I think Ajax should have still been chained to that park bench
- 1:56:23and then the cook back to him, like the end of Airplane.
- 1:56:25You know, the guy who's still in the taxi right after the end
- 1:56:28credits. Give him another 20 minutes and
- 1:56:30that's it. Yeah, yeah, it is a little
- 1:56:34underwhelming. I think the resolution is a
- 1:56:36little bit messy. I don't think the editing's up
- 1:56:38to too much, and the dialogue's not great either.
- 1:56:41But apart from, that's great, yeah.
- 1:56:44It is a great way to end the film, like when the when the
- 1:56:47rogue show up. But it's like after that, it's
- 1:56:49fairly underwhelming this whole sequence.
- 1:56:51Yeah. Expected to be a big fight,
- 1:56:53yeah. Hill said that he didn't want
- 1:56:55the film to end with a big bloodbath.
- 1:56:57He said he wanted to see the bad guys punished, but he didn't
- 1:56:59want to melee. What he was looking for was a
- 1:57:01quiet resolution that didn't overly agitate the audience as
- 1:57:04they left theaters. Yeah, right.
- 1:57:06More on that later. In the credits, we see the
- 1:57:08Warriors and Mercy walk the beach and get smaller and
- 1:57:11smaller in the frame. They were told just to stay in
- 1:57:13character and keep walking. They turned around when they got
- 1:57:16the end of the beach and they made their way back to the crew
- 1:57:18who had prepared a bunch of red roses as a thank you to Deborah
- 1:57:21Vankelberg. That's lovely.
- 1:57:23Wonderful. Just red roses for you, Yeah.
- 1:57:25Nice, Very nice. Sorry for breaking your wrist.
- 1:57:27Yeah, yeah. And the scar on you that'll
- 1:57:29heal. Yeah.
- 1:57:30Smiling. In the face, yeah.
- 1:57:32These are for you, no? Use your land.
- 1:57:37So the Warriors have the comfort of Coney Island to protect them.
- 1:57:40They're good. Real good.
- 1:57:42The best? Well, I think that's a bit of a
- 1:57:44stretch. Reception under wards.
- 1:57:53There were a number of gang movies in production at the
- 1:57:55time, and Paramount insisted that The Warriors was out first.
- 1:57:59In order to do that, they brought on three editors to cut
- 1:58:02the film. When it was released on Friday
- 1:58:049th of February, the New York Times ran an article headlined 6
- 1:58:08Films Open with a Galaxy of Stars and those six films were
- 1:58:12made by Decree Hardcore in praise of all the Women, Agatha
- 1:58:16Quintet and When You Coming Back, Red Ryder.
- 1:58:20Yes, the Warriors, nowhere to be seen on that list, but it beat
- 1:58:23out every single one to make it to the top of the box office
- 1:58:26that weekend. Because of the push and pull
- 1:58:28between Hill and the studio, there was a certain amount of
- 1:58:31friction between the two, Hill said after the movie came out.
- 1:58:34And it did well. Everyone was sort of friends.
- 1:58:36But up until then, there was a lot of misunderstanding.
- 1:58:38They thought it was going to be like Saturday Night Fever or
- 1:58:41something. Yeah, that's.
- 1:58:42Right. Yeah.
- 1:58:44So it started off well, but then tragedy struck when a gang
- 1:58:47member was killed by another gang in Palm Springs on the 12th
- 1:58:50of February. That same night, 170 miles away
- 1:58:52in Oxnard, another gang member was stabbed and killed.
- 1:58:56There was another fatality a few days later outside a movie
- 1:58:58theatre and Paramount decided to pull the trailer and loud movie
- 1:59:01theatre chains to not show the film if they didn't want to.
- 1:59:04They also offered to pay for extra security to those cinemas
- 1:59:07that decided to show the film. What also didn't help the film
- 1:59:10was the commentary on the trailer and the poster which
- 1:59:13read these. The armies of the night.
- 1:59:15They're 100,000 strongly outnumber the cops 5 to one.
- 1:59:18They could run New York City. I think these facts and figures
- 1:59:21just put the willies up. People considering the real
- 1:59:23world parallels. Yeah, definitely.
- 1:59:25Walter Hill has a theory on why there was an unusual amount of
- 1:59:29violence that showns of the film.
- 1:59:30He said the movie was very popular with St. gangs,
- 1:59:33especially young men, a lot of whom had very strong feelings
- 1:59:36about each other. And suddenly they were all in
- 1:59:39the movies together. They looked across the aisle and
- 1:59:41they were the guys that they didn't like.
- 1:59:43So there were a lot of incidents.
- 1:59:45Kind of checks out. Yeah, exactly.
- 1:59:47So not an ideal release for The Warriors, which also met with
- 1:59:50derision in most critical reviews.
- 1:59:52Desmond Ryan, writing in the Philadelphia Enquirer, was
- 1:59:55disgusted by the film. He said it was a sickening film
- 1:59:59that glorifies gang warfare and brutal violence.
- 2:00:01It has left a bloody trail of real life mayhem and death in
- 2:00:04its wake. Yeah, Gene Siskel gave it one
- 2:00:07out of four, saying you would think after watching The
- 2:00:09Warriors that gang membership was a victimless crime, save for
- 2:00:12the occasional sadist who pops up as Comic Relief.
- 2:00:16This entire film is a romantic lie.
- 2:00:19Okay. Wow, put it.
- 2:00:21Is a film. It's not a documentary, Gene.
- 2:00:23Exactly, Yeah. Come on.
- 2:00:26And Roger Ebert, what do you think Big Roger gave it out for?
- 2:00:30I must say 2. I'll say two as well 2.
- 2:00:33Slap bang in the middle and you're both right, he said.
- 2:00:35No matter what impression the ads give, this isn't even
- 2:00:38remotely intended as an action film.
- 2:00:40It's a set piece. It's a ballet of stylized male
- 2:00:43violence. Only three or four of the movie
- 2:00:45characters look and sound like plausible St. gang members.
- 2:00:48The rest look and sound like male models.
- 2:00:52However, Pauline Kiel did absolutely love the film.
- 2:00:55She said with Walter Hills, the Warriors movies are back to
- 2:00:57their socially conscious role of expressing the anger of the
- 2:01:00dispossessed. The Warriors is a real movie
- 2:01:02makers movie. OK.
- 2:01:04And further praise came from the unlikely source of Ronald
- 2:01:08Reagan, the actor and president of the United States at the
- 2:01:12time. He'd screamed it at Camp David
- 2:01:15and called Michael Beck to tell him that he enjoyed it
- 2:01:17immensely. Amazing.
- 2:01:18So not entirely bad news from a critical point of view.
- 2:01:21And audiences did come back around.
- 2:01:23And on a $4 million budget, the Warriors returned a solid 22.4
- 2:01:27million at the box office. Not too sharp, and now it has an
- 2:01:31impressive, and, to some people, an unbelievable 88% on Rotten
- 2:01:34Tomatoes and a score of 7.5 out of 10 on IMDb.
- 2:01:38All right, OK. Get those numbers up for me.
- 2:01:41Rocky numbers. Rocky numbers.
- 2:01:46So no awards to speak of. Obviously.
- 2:01:47It was probably too much of A stretch to get a best support.
- 2:01:50Not for David Patrick Kelly. Not for me.
- 2:01:54The Razzies Or did they not exist back then?
- 2:01:56They. Didn't exist, unfortunately.
- 2:01:59Would have swept that, I imagine.
- 2:02:01But from a shaky start, the Warriors ended up doing very
- 2:02:04nicely at the box office with a few prominent supporters in its
- 2:02:06corner. Yeah.
- 2:02:11Sequels and influence. Despite many attempts, there
- 2:02:16hasn't been any sequels or remakes to the Warriors on the
- 2:02:19big screen or the little screen going back to 2005.
- 2:02:22Tony Scott was attached to direct and even spoke in detail
- 2:02:25about it in an interview with MTV.
- 2:02:28It was said in LA because it was more horizontal city than New
- 2:02:31York. That's what Scott said.
- 2:02:32He he said it suited the material better.
- 2:02:34His film making is in the same family as Walter Hill, so I
- 2:02:37think that would have been a bloody good match.
- 2:02:40Yeah, Scott even sat down with LA gang members who assured him
- 2:02:43that there would be this treaty between all the gangs.
- 2:02:46We could pull the film off gangs like the Savage Huns and the
- 2:02:49Electric Eliminators. Would it be dropped in favor of
- 2:02:51real gangs? Yeah, Scott said.
- 2:02:53It'll be the Bloods, the Crips, the Vietnamese, the Vietnamese,
- 2:02:57the Indian St. gang, all the boys.
- 2:02:59It'll be all the major gangs in Los Angeles and we're going to
- 2:03:02try to get them to stand on the Long Beach Bridge.
- 2:03:04All the boys, all the guys. All the fellas.
- 2:03:07Unfortunately, tragically, Scott took his own life in 2012 and we
- 2:03:11weren't given the Warriors remake that we were promised.
- 2:03:14In 2015, Crank director Mark Neville Dean said that he was
- 2:03:18looking to resurrect the Warriors with Co directing
- 2:03:20partner Brian Taylor. Thankfully there've been no
- 2:03:23further report and it looks like we've swerved that particular
- 2:03:25bullet, thankfully. Fair one.
- 2:03:28Since then, ATV adaptation was rumoured to be in the works,
- 2:03:31with Anthony and Joe Russo teaming up with Hulu and
- 2:03:33Paramount. That has also failed to
- 2:03:35materialize, but there is a curious entry in IMDb, a 5
- 2:03:38minute trailer from 2022 showcasing what looks like a
- 2:03:41pilot episode, a prequel to The Warriors, and it looks like it's
- 2:03:45already been shot. But if that's the case, it's
- 2:03:46fallen by the wayside because two years on, we've got nothing,
- 2:03:49right? Check it out.
- 2:03:50Check it out though despite no sequel, in September 2015,
- 2:03:54unannounced cast members from The Warriors dusted off their
- 2:03:57old colours and hit the subway to go down corny to recreate
- 2:04:00their last subway ride home. It was during this get together
- 2:04:03that Michael Beck first learned that he broke three ribs from
- 2:04:05the stuntman playing one with baseball for your reason.
- 2:04:09Outside of movies and TV, in 2005 there was a much celebrated
- 2:04:12video game by Rockstar Games. It charts the events leading up
- 2:04:15to the conclave, where you assume the position of many of
- 2:04:18the iconic characters in the gang.
- 2:04:19In 2009, a line of comic books were released, one which
- 2:04:23captures the events of the film and one which told the story of
- 2:04:25what happens afterwards. And complicated stuff.
- 2:04:29In August 2023, Lin Manuel Miranda allegedly started work
- 2:04:33on a stage musical adapted from the Urich novel So.
- 2:04:37A lot of. Things to get your teeth into.
- 2:04:39Nothing materialized as of yet. So what of the Warriors legacy
- 2:04:44and influence? Westie in the years since its
- 2:04:46release? Where do you see it splashed all
- 2:04:48over Tinseltown? I kind of see it's blushed all
- 2:04:51over even now. I think the main thing that I
- 2:04:54got from it was the Carpenter influence and how he went dark
- 2:04:58with, especially with Escape New York, which was what, three
- 2:05:01years later? And then more recently, you
- 2:05:04can't really finish this podcast without talking about John Wick
- 2:05:074, which I think is just an ABS absolute rip off of the
- 2:05:11Warriors. It takes the whole thing and
- 2:05:13just makes the Warriors one person.
- 2:05:15And again, a massive influence was just a little bit more
- 2:05:17subtle when you've got the likes of Tarantino using that close up
- 2:05:21on Pulp Fiction, which is kind of, yeah, reflects the DJ.
- 2:05:24But it's Uma Thurman's, you know, it's framed exactly the
- 2:05:27same and it's got that kind of look to it.
- 2:05:29So I think it's the electricity that was brought into this that
- 2:05:32by Walter Hill that he basically put the plug into the socket and
- 2:05:35everyone else has carried that electricity a little bit
- 2:05:37further. Very nice.
- 2:05:38Yeah, I agree with you. What about you, Matt?
- 2:05:41Yeah, very similar. I don't think the film in itself
- 2:05:44has a legacy, but I think it's a film that has moments that have
- 2:05:48a legacy. Just repeat.
- 2:05:50Well, Wesley said the shot of the DJ speaking into the mic,
- 2:05:53Tarantino's taking that, Spike Lee's taking that, as mentioned,
- 2:05:56Edgar Wright's taking the toilet fight.
- 2:05:58So I don't think any director has gone.
- 2:06:00I'm going to make a film just like The Warriors.
- 2:06:02But I think if you have gone, I'm going to make a film which
- 2:06:05has a bit like that bit from The Warriors, yeah.
- 2:06:09I think for me, even though Hill wasn't allowed to make the film
- 2:06:12like a comic book on initial release, its influences can I
- 2:06:15think be seen in adapted from graphic novel movie adaptations.
- 2:06:19I think you can see it in the likes of Sin City, that darkly
- 2:06:22violent look at society but with its tongue firmly in cheek.
- 2:06:26Also spanning the wider popular culture playing.
- 2:06:29I think you can see its influences on the narrative
- 2:06:31structure of like side stroller and video games like Streets of
- 2:06:34Rage. Yeah, definitely the music of
- 2:06:37Twisted Sister, The Wu Tang Clang populated itself.
- 2:06:39Ice Cube have been influenced by the Warriors.
- 2:06:41There's so many samples. Yeah, there's Lords.
- 2:06:44There's a Spanish metal band called the Lizzies.
- 2:06:47Right. Big fan.
- 2:06:48Yeah. Big fan, obviously.
- 2:06:50Yeah, got them all on vinyl. And based on the unfortunate
- 2:06:53events that followed the film's release in 2009, Entertainment
- 2:06:57Weekly even ranked the warriors #14 of the 25 most controversial
- 2:07:01films in cinema history. Right.
- 2:07:04Ahead of the likes of Kids and Caligula.
- 2:07:06Yeah, it's one of them films that feels a lot more violent
- 2:07:09than it actually is. Yeah, it is.
- 2:07:11Yeah. So from humble beginnings and
- 2:07:13unexpected legacy encompassing popular culture at large that
- 2:07:17will no doubt continue to grow when we finally do get that
- 2:07:19inevitable sequel, prequel, or remake.
- 2:07:22Yeah, all the right movies ranking.
- 2:07:29We've made it back to Corney. A turn on the Wonder Wheel to
- 2:07:32celebrate our homecoming, no doubt.
- 2:07:34But first, the iconic ATRM ranking.
- 2:07:36Westie, turn the Band-Aid off summary and score for the
- 2:07:39Warriors. OK, I'll just come back to what
- 2:07:42I said at the start. It's a new one for me.
- 2:07:44And I wish I hadn't seen this younger because I think it would
- 2:07:46have resonated a lot more because the energy from the
- 2:07:48film, I've watched it a number of times over the last couple of
- 2:07:50weeks has stayed with us. And just that the visuals and
- 2:07:54just the feel of it, just the color of the vests, just the way
- 2:07:57the the just the energy and the pace of how it shot to me really
- 2:08:01makes sense. But it is ultimately that
- 2:08:03feeling I would get from a computer game that I played when
- 2:08:06I was younger and like, I wish this was like a film that I
- 2:08:08could get into and have themes and understand something from
- 2:08:11it. There's loads of cool bits in it
- 2:08:13and that's absolutely fine. Does that make it a great film?
- 2:08:16Not for me personally. Is it one that I'm going to come
- 2:08:19back to again and again? Not for me personally.
- 2:08:21Is it one that I'm going to suggest to people to watch?
- 2:08:24Absolutely. Because I think it is one of
- 2:08:25them films in the history of cinema that is very, very
- 2:08:28important. So it has to have that score
- 2:08:30because it resonates with a lot of people.
- 2:08:32And I'm not going to give it a bad score because I didn't hit
- 2:08:34it at the right time, because I hit it now with 43 years old and
- 2:08:37it still made sense. So I'm not going to smash it
- 2:08:40down because of the bad dialogue or the bad act.
- 2:08:42And I'm going to say this was an achievement and a really well
- 2:08:45made achievement. So I'm going to give it a very
- 2:08:47solid 8 out of 10. Very nice.
- 2:08:49Are you hearing this, Matt? You listening?
- 2:08:52OK, good, good. Taking it in.
- 2:08:53Take it in. Take it in and drink.
- 2:08:55It in OK lovely well. Here are my thoughts.
- 2:08:58Okay, well actually I've made my feelings clear throughout the
- 2:09:00show, I think. Yes, you have.
- 2:09:02Don't stop wasting people's time. 10 No, I do have an
- 2:09:07unbridled love for the world that Walter Hill has created,
- 2:09:10and I'd say that I'm marginally obsessed with the film and the
- 2:09:13world. I really am.
- 2:09:16But not completely blinked by it.
- 2:09:18The performance is a poor generally, the dialogue crude in
- 2:09:22parts and the narrative very simple all the time.
- 2:09:25So a lot of negatives, which I think is echoed by you 2 fellas.
- 2:09:29However, my score will certainly not reflect yours.
- 2:09:32Matt. I'm trying as hard as possible
- 2:09:34to be objective about the film, but it is a struggle.
- 2:09:36So I'm going to give the Warriors a nine out of 1010
- 2:09:40would have been my preferred, but I'm well aware that would
- 2:09:42have just been an outrage. Whatever you think personally is
- 2:09:45not an outrage, it's what you think personally.
- 2:09:48Don't worry about it. No, no, No 10 is an outrage for
- 2:09:51this film. I mean for you especially to
- 2:09:54give this A10, yeah, that's fair enough.
- 2:09:56It's such a difficult film to rate because it's undeniable how
- 2:10:00distinctive it is. It's weird, it's totally all
- 2:10:03over the place, but it's distinctive all the same.
- 2:10:05And the three elements that jump out the most, the soundtrack,
- 2:10:08the cinematography, the costume design are magnificent.
- 2:10:12But by any other metric that I would read any film by it is
- 2:10:16found wanting. The acting is so par to say the
- 2:10:19least. Characters are pretty
- 2:10:20forgettable. Dialogue isn't up to that much,
- 2:10:23which comes down to the right. And and Hill's work bounces
- 2:10:26between being really great at times and the times.
- 2:10:30I'm just thinking what's going on here?
- 2:10:31What, what, what's this thing about?
- 2:10:33What? What?
- 2:10:36And only for me, this film feels like if you bump into a mate and
- 2:10:40he says, I've got to tell you this great story, what happened
- 2:10:43to me last Friday night. And he tells the story, but
- 2:10:45along the way it just doesn't click.
- 2:10:47And he realizes you're not getting the story.
- 2:10:49And he gets to the end. He goes, well, I guess you had
- 2:10:52to be there. And I think you had to be there
- 2:10:54with the warriors. And I wasn't.
- 2:10:56I was on a different train all together going the complete
- 2:10:58opposite direction, so the start of this episode I was quite
- 2:11:02confused. By the end I think I'm probably
- 2:11:04even more confused. But it is distinctive, so it's a
- 2:11:077 from me. Seven, OK, it's a sliding scale
- 2:11:10from us guys, which is I'm happy with that.
- 2:11:13Yeah, don't get that often. No, our 4th and final score for
- 2:11:17the Warriors comes from our huge army of supporters on ex
- 2:11:20formerly Twitter. A fan favorite for sure,
- 2:11:23something that was confirmed when the Warriors beat Chinatown
- 2:11:26on the X Paul for this particular episode and.
- 2:11:29Oprah all ensued. Yes, it did.
- 2:11:33So no doubt there'll be some lively comments and I've picked
- 2:11:36out some of the best and worst before we revealed the big
- 2:11:39score. So Andy at this is Andy Dev said
- 2:11:43one of my go to films. I know it's not a classic like
- 2:11:46Goodfellas, Godfather and Jaws but seen as a kid was boss.
- 2:11:51I believe Andy is from Liverpool.
- 2:11:52Very much. Man of War 666 at Man of War 666
- 2:11:58said crack and film but it's an 8.
- 2:12:00You lads throw around nines and 10s far too liberally to be
- 2:12:04honest. Well, I'll give it an 8, so
- 2:12:05yeah, I'll. Give it A7.
- 2:12:08So I think he's talking about me.
- 2:12:10Yeah. KP Black Taxi at KP Black Taxi
- 2:12:16said The Warriors is the ultimate dystopian film with so
- 2:12:19many memorable characters and references.
- 2:12:21There's a lot of social commentary hidden in the film
- 2:12:23and it's one of my favorite films of all time.
- 2:12:25Right up there. 10/10/10 there. You go.
- 2:12:28You. Should have had that guy on.
- 2:12:31Bumped the score open. Yeah.
- 2:12:33Sugar spun Mr. at Canantaba One O one said.
- 2:12:36It's one of those movies. It's so bad it's good.
- 2:12:39Unbelievable plot, 2 out of 10 acting, hilarious wardrobe, but
- 2:12:43somehow compelling. What we've been saying for the
- 2:12:46last 3-4 hours, I would say. Yeah, Matt, watch your X handle,
- 2:12:50is that it? Yeah, that was me.
- 2:12:55Andy Ronan at Andy Ronan 14 O one said three.
- 2:13:00Overrated as fuck. Should have got him on OK.
- 2:13:06So it's a mixed bag when it comes to the X comments.
- 2:13:09What do you think it averaged out of 10 fellas?
- 2:13:11I have no idea how this would go 7.5. 7.5 Westie.
- 2:13:17Eight. I'm gonna wait.
- 2:13:19Eight. You're absolutely right, Westie.
- 2:13:21Not really surprising. 8 out of 10.
- 2:13:23I think that's a fair score. OK.
- 2:13:25Yeah, there may be a lot of love for the film, but some realistic
- 2:13:28scores to go with it. Honesty, realistic glove.
- 2:13:31Yeah. So with all the scores combined,
- 2:13:32the Warriors came out with a score of 32 out of 40.
- 2:13:36OK, not too bad. We are taking a break from the
- 2:13:39classic podcast for around about a month.
- 2:13:41Don't get too upset. We've hit that magical 100
- 2:13:44episodes, and we thought it was time that we take a little
- 2:13:47breather so we don't burn out. Yeah, but don't think that we're
- 2:13:50laying low in that time. You can't get rid of us.
- 2:13:53Instead of a new classic show for the next two episodes, we'll
- 2:13:55be pulling shows out of our archive for a limited time, or
- 2:13:58we'll be doing a highlights rail or a combination of two.
- 2:14:00So keep your eyes open for those.
- 2:14:02Yes, absolutely. We'll still be active for our
- 2:14:04patrons. The next episode of Double
- 2:14:06Feature will be live next Friday.
- 2:14:08We've got the old Bacon sandwich, Tremors and Mystic
- 2:14:11River 2, the best from Kevin Bacon.
- 2:14:13Your picks, Westie. Excited.
- 2:14:14Yeah, I am excited. I should have put Footloose in
- 2:14:16there instead of Mystic River. I watched it last night and I'm
- 2:14:18still not over it. Grim as assholes.
- 2:14:20It is grim as assholes. I'm sorry about that.
- 2:14:24And a couple of weeks after that, we'll see the inaugural
- 2:14:26episode of the Watch List. As mentioned at the top, that's
- 2:14:29our brand new podcast. That's only for our supporters
- 2:14:32on Patreon, so go to patreon.com/all the Right
- 2:14:35movies. Some good films coming up on
- 2:14:37that as well. Absolutely.
- 2:14:39So we're not going away completely and we won't be away
- 2:14:41for long. We'll be back on October 4th.
- 2:14:43John, Matt and Westie will have no problems when they bring you
- 2:14:45the behind the scenes story of Apollo 13.
- 2:14:49None at all. Or stir the tanks.
- 2:14:53And if that wasn't enough, every two weeks alternative to this
- 2:14:55show, we've launched a new podcast called Showreel.
- 2:14:58It's a bite size episode. You might have seen the first
- 2:15:00episode last week where we released a conversation about
- 2:15:03the opening scene from An American Werewolf in London that
- 2:15:06we talked about the three of us here a few years ago.
- 2:15:09Yeah, I'm still a favorite. Yeah.
- 2:15:10Oh, it's amazing. And it's just a snippet of that
- 2:15:12conversation, so don't forget to listen to that.
- 2:15:15And if you like what you hear, listen to everything on Showreel
- 2:15:18in our archive by becoming a Patron.
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- 2:15:26Can't ask for more than that. Absolutely not.
- 2:15:29How do we do all that? We know it's worth it.
- 2:15:32Oh it. Absolutely works.
- 2:15:33Yeah, it's beautiful stuff. We may not always talk about 5
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- 2:16:44the Right Movies. You can't get away from what,
- 2:16:46really, Once you're involved, we're everywhere and it's a
- 2:16:48beautiful thing. Yeah, just like the street gangs
- 2:16:50of New York can't get rid of us. That's it.
- 2:16:53That's your last fucking reference to this film?
- 2:16:55On any podcast. I don't think it is worse.
- 2:16:57Yeah, I've got a couple more comment.
- 2:16:58Just hold your passes, damn it. And our website is all the right
- 2:17:02movies.com, just like my sizes. We're good.
- 2:17:06Real good, real good. All right.
- 2:17:08And that is a wrap, everyone. We're going out on the streets
- 2:17:11to see if we can find ourselves some strange wolf.
- 2:17:13We'll be back in October after our little beer and there'll be
- 2:17:16loads to keep you occupied. In the meantime, stay loose
- 2:17:18everyone. Thank you for listening guys.
- 2:17:42Hey, what about the money you owe?
- 2:17:45What?