If you were a pre-adolescent male growing up in the 1970’s, chances are that even the slightest invocation of Walter Hill’s “The Warriors” from 1979 will prompt you to dutifully and emphatically spout off any number of memorable declarations, from “CAN YOU DIG IT?” to “COME OUT TO PLAAYAY!” and beyond. I asserted as much in my typically overwritten review of the inaccurately titled “Ultimate Director’s Cut” from 2005. Put simply, “The Warriors” may be very silly, but it’s a very silly classic, by gosh.
I still remember first spying the movie poster (see below) and practically hyperventilating with anticipation (the next time I’d undergo such a sensation would be upon seeing the full-page ad for Alan Parker’s cinematic adaptation of “Pink Floyd The Wall” a few years later). You have to remember, this was all way before the Internet. Unless you were a dutiful reader of industry tip sheets, you often wouldn’t know about an impending album or movie or whathaveyou until the first run of promotional materials hit the media. As such, upon seeing the poster for “The Warriors” (notably the unmistakably KISS-alluding member of the Baseball Furies), it immediately became the highest of possible priorities to see this movie.
At the time, “The Warriors” seemed impossibly gritty, violent and nightmarish, amplifying the very real brutality of these New York City streets. As I mentioned in that review, these many decades later, the depiction of New York City in “The Warriors” seems surreal, fanciful and, for a lack of a better word, quaint.
Regardless, “The Warriors” remains an all-time favorite of the era. Imagine my glee, then, upon seeing that another one of my favorite blogs, Scouting New York, had turned its laser-precise eye on the locations of “The Warriors.” Ever wonder where Cyrus was actually shot or where the Orphans’ meager turf was or where the Turnbull A.C.s got served? Find those answers and more over the next few days at Scouting New York. Find the first installment here.
More NYC movie stuff? Sure:
Top Eleven Favorite Movies Filmed In & Depicting NYC
Long After "After Hours"
Back to Woody's SoHo
Stranger Still Than "Stranger Than Paradise"
It's a Shame About "Sam"
Exhuming "The Cruise"
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