The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut

[October 5th, 2005] Director Walter Hill's 1979 film The Warriors remains one of my favorite movies of all time. I've seen The Warriors more times than I can count, and I've devoted far more time to researching the history of the film than any one person should. And even though I already have a copy on DVD, I was just a little bit excited when this "ultimate director's cut" was announced.

Based on Sol Yurick's 1965 novel, inspired by Xenophon's Anabasis-a tale of Greek mercenaries fighting their way through Persia as they make their way back to the sea-and brimming with symbolic references to Homer's The Odyssey, The Warriors is a richly textured cult classic. Sure, on the surface it appears to be nothing more than an ass-kicking tale of a Coney Island-based street gang trying to make their way home from the Bronx while every gang in New York hunts them for a murder they didn't commit. But like many so-called B-movies, The Warriors subtly addresses such issues as class and poverty. Even the gang itself represents the struggle of a utopian society to survive within a nightmarish world of violence and ignorance. But the most important thing is still that the film kicks total ass!

This newly released "ultimate director's cut" features four documentary featurettes, an introduction by Hill, and a brief, pre-title sequence that was originally to be narrated by Orson Welles. The short documentaries, covering the history of the film, are fine, but something is missing. Several of the cast members are interviewed, but the vast majority of the where-are-they-now actors are absent. And the so-called "deleted material" consists of segments of the original opening, but not the entire sequence.

The Warriors Ultimate Director's Cut is a great addition for anyone who doesn't already own the movie, but die-hard fans don't need to pay the extra money for bonus material that's not really worth it.