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Michael Beck, James Remar, Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Marcelino Sanchez, Terry Michos, Roger Hill, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Lynne Thigpin

“The Warriors” seemed like a perfect companion piece to John Carpenter’s Sci-Fi “Escape from New York”. Walter Hill’s film was much maligned upon release and blamed for gang violence in theaters when it was released. “The Warriors” got a bum rap; it’s a terrific action thriller (although a bit dated due to the synthesizer score) that takes its inspiration from American comic books during the 60’s and 70’s ( although the novel that this was adapted from was in turn based on Greek writer Xenophon’s 4th century story “Anabasis”) with its stylized design and photography. It’s a futuristic fantasy (as Hill points out in the introduction) that wasn’t well understoodby critics or even audiences when it was first released. The acting is solid enough even if the characters aren’t as well developed as they could be. One of director Hill’s trademarks is using a large group of characters representing different elements of a single character. This “Ultimate Director’s Edition” represents the way that Hill originally intended to cut the film when it was released including the use of comic graphics to introduce each section and act as transitions between scenes. Although Hill hasn’t radically reshaped the film, the framing device of the cartoon panels may bother some fans of the film ***

A gang called the Warriors is falsely accused of assassinating Cyrus (Roger Hill) a gang leader trying to unite all the gangs by the actual killer. Shot at a meeting for all the gangs where Cyrus was suggesting they unite vs. fight each other, the Warriors led by Swan (Michael Beck) must get his fellow Warriors (Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler, David Harris, Tom McKitterick) back safely to their home surf in Coney Island. Swan’s job is complicated by the fact that Ajar (James Remar) challenges him as the new leader of the gang. Unfortunately the Warriors must brave the streets and every other gang member who is out to kill them to avenge the murder of Cyrus. ---

A beautiful, rich transfer for “The Warriors” is a real plus for this set. The film was previously available in a no frills widescreen presentation in its original cut. Grain is readily apparent in the film but that’s to be expectated given that much of the film was shot at night with high speed film. The colors are rich and deep with excellent skin tones. The blacks are rich and dark as a great cup of black coffee. The original mono track is available here but the highlight is the 5.1 remix. The remix makes good use of the 5.1 format spreading the action around the speakers. An excellent job from Paramount and director Hill in putting this fine set together.

Walter Hill appears in an introduction discussing his intention in recutting “The Warriors” and bringing it closer to his original vision. There are four featurettes included. The first “The Warriors: The Beginning” features Producer Larry Gordon discussing how he discovered Sol Yorick’s novel. He was spinning around a paperback holder and his imagination immediately was captured by the cover. He optioned it and approached Walter Hill about directing a film version based on the cover. The novel is supposedly more sociological. Writer David Shaer based his screenplay on the image from the cover and the 4th century Greek writer Xenophon. When the western that Hill and Gordon had planned fell apart, Gordon suggested that Hill direct “The Warriors”. Hill took the overall look of the film from the comic book genre when the studio wouldn’t let him do a realistic gang drama with African-American and Hispanic actors. Hill rewrote the script going in the comic book direction knowing that it would be more likely to be made that way. Hill discovered actor Michael Beck when he screened a film featuring Sigorney Weaver. James Remar also shares the story of his udition and how he impressed Hill by pretending he was handcuffed to the table and lifted it as he tried to escape. Most of the major cast members are interviews in this terrific featurette. **

“The Warriors: The Battleground” focuses on the production issues and challenges that Hill and his team faced with this low budget movie. Shot on location in New York, Hill couldn’t get most crews to work with him. They flew in a assistant director from Los Angeles when they no longer had their first A.D. Assistant Director David O. Sosna had to prove himself because most L.A. directors weren’t really well thought of when it came to action scenes shot on the streets of New York. Nights shooting on the subways proved o be a bit of a challenge as well. *** “The Warriors: The Way Home” focuses on the battles that are choreographed for The Warriors’ journey home. Hill wanted the battle with The Furies to look like a Kurosawa fight sequence. In “The Warriors: The Phenomenon” the cast and crew discuss the post production experience of the film including the decision to go with a synthesizer score. We also find out about having Orson Welles narrate the opening. Unfortunately, the agreement with Welles fell apart. Hill mentions when he first found out about the audience reaction to the film as well as the critical reaction when it was released. What killed the business was the fear that gang violence would break out in theaters. While some of that concern was founded the studio panickd and pulled advertising on the film. The film continued to do good business despite all of this.

There’s also an illustration of the original opening sequence for the film which was cut. We also get deleted scenes for the film none of which would have improved the film to any larger degree. The original theatrical trailer (which isn’t in the best shape) is included as well as previews for other Paramount films. The only mistake that Paramount made here was not making this into a seamlessly branching edition with both the original theatrical version and Hill’s “Ultimate Director’s Cut”. ---

If you’re a fan of “The Warriors” you may or may not be happy with this version of the film. Hill has changed the film by adding in cartoon graphic panels as transition devices between scenes. The image and sound quality is top notch with a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix for the film as well as a 2.0 mix. Hill hates doing commentary tracks and is very uncomfortable even discussing his films in featurettes (he feels it robs the films of the magic) but this is a film that is close to his heart and we can thank Paramount for convincing him to do the special features and restructuring the film the to his original vision.