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By
WAYNE KLEIN
"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 understood by 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 expected 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 re-cutting "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 Shaber 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
Sigourney Weaver. James Remar also shares the
story of his audition 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 to 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 postproduction 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
panicked 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 and
altered the end slightly. 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. |
