10 Things You Didn't Know About The Warriors
The untold stories behind a cult classic that brought 'the armies of the night' to life.
A true cult classic in every sense of the word, Walter Hill's 1979 film The Warriors simultaneously manages to be eccentric and of the time and yet remains enduringly fresh and dynamic.
Reviled by critics upon its release and even temporarily removed from theaters by its distributors over concerns that it glorified gang warfare, the tale of the Coney Island street gang attempting to make it back home after being wrongly accused of murdering the messianic Cyrus is one which continues to intrigue new viewers and faithful fans alike.
Brought to a whole new audience in 2005 due to Rockstar Games' video game adaptation, The Russo Brothers of Captain America: The Winter Soldier/Civil War fame are now slated to recreate the film as a TV series for Paramount TV/Hulu and fans of the original tale of Boppers, Moonrunners, Baseball Furies and Hi Hats await its return to the screens with baited breath.
With little known about whether their take on the film will be a complete reinvention or a contemporary re-telling, it's an appropriate time to immerse yourself in the film's vivid presentation of New York City to check out ten facts that you didn't know about the iconic tale
10. It's Based On An Ancient Greek Text
Set in the gritty, dank and impoverished streets of New York during a time in which the city was experiencing a period of unrivalled economic hardship, it's doesn't exactly conjure up allusions to Greek mythology and tales of noble forces triumphing over their enemies from other nations. However, strip away the dimly lit locations, modern methods of transport and the trappings of 1970's technological advances and that's exactly what the story was originally derived from.
Drawing inspiration from Xenophon's 'Anabasis', the story upon which Sol Yurick based the original novel centered upon a massive army of Greek soldiers that were forced to fight 1000 miles through the enemy territories surrounding Persia in order to return home to their native land.
Thrown into dissarray after the death of their leader known as 'Cyrus The Younger' and featuring many squabbles over leadership and dissension among the ranks, the parallels between the two are very apparent when viewed in correlation and it's clear that Yurick used the fable as a means of guiding the structure of his own story.