50 Fun Facts About The Warriors

Which US president phoned the lead actor of The Warriors to say he had screened it at Camp David?

Ronald Reagan was a fan of the gang thriller, even though its early screenings had been linked to vandalism and three killings.

In The Warriors, what does Luther clink together on his fingers as he taunts the gang from a car?

Beer bottles picked up under the boardwalk were the actor's own idea, after his first suggestion, two dead pigeons, was turned down.

Which actor was wanted for the role of Vermin in The Warriors but joined the sitcom Taxi instead?

Tony Danza was the filmmakers' choice, but the sitcom got to him first, so the part of the gang's bearer went to Terry Michos.

Which gang chases Swan and three other Warriors from the 96th Street station into Riverside Park?

The Baseball Furies lose the brawl that follows, and their look proved so memorable that one of them became an action figure in 2005.

Which guitarist sings In the City, the song that closes The Warriors as the gang walks the beach?

Joe Walsh recorded it for the soundtrack, and his band the Eagles liked it so much that they cut their own version for The Long Run that year.

Which Broadway composer co-wrote a 2024 concept album retelling The Warriors with an all-female gang?

Lin-Manuel Miranda first saw the film on VHS at the age of four, and two of its original actors lend their voices to his album.

In The Warriors, Luther's gang rolls up to the final beach showdown in what kind of vehicle?

A Cadillac hearse from 1955 carries Luther and his crew to Coney Island, where they lie in wait for the Warriors at dawn.

Which screen legend did the director of The Warriors want to narrate an opening on its Greek roots?

Orson Welles was ruled out when the studio refused to pay for the idea, so the director read the narration himself for the 2005 cut.

Dorsey Wright, the first leader of the Warriors, later spent 30 years in which New York job?

Transit conductor was a fitting second career for a man whose best-known film is one long night ride home on New York's trains.

Which publisher released the 2005 video game of The Warriors, with film actors voicing their old roles?

Rockstar Games set the first half of its brawler in the months before the film, showing how the Warriors rose to power.

In The Warriors, which gang does Luther lead, the one that really shot Cyrus at the summit?

The Rogues get away with it for most of the night, until a witness from another gang tells the Riffs what he saw.

Which Warriors leader is beaten down by the Riffs at the summit after Luther blames the gang?

Cleon is given a girlfriend, Lincoln, in an opening scene that was cut from cinemas and put back for television showings.

In The Warriors, where does Cyrus gather delegates from the city's gangs for a midnight summit?

Van Cortlandt Park is only the setting: the crowd scene was actually filmed in Manhattan's Riverside Park.

In The Warriors, the Turnbull ACs try to run the gang down in what kind of modified vehicle?

A school bus full of Turnbull ACs is the first threat on the long trip home, and the Warriors shake it off only by boarding a train.

In The Warriors, what does Swan throw to hold off a rival gang before his crew runs for a station?

A Molotov cocktail ends the standoff, and it so impresses Mercy that she walks out on her boyfriend's gang to follow the Warriors.

In The Warriors, which all-female gang lures three of the crew to its hideout and then attacks them?

The Lizzies give the game away mid-ambush: it is from them that the three learn the whole city blames the Warriors for the killing.

In The Warriors, the leader of the overalls-wearing Punks gets around the station on what?

Roller skates mark out the gang's leader, Vance, in a station brawl that lets Mercy prove herself in a fight.

Which Warriors scout is thrown in front of a train while struggling with a cop on a platform?

Fox was written out in a hurry: the director had fallen out with the actor and told the stunt team to improvise the character's death.

Which of the Warriors leaves the others for a woman on a park bench who is really an undercover cop?

Ajax's arrest later got a sequel of its own: the 2009 mini-series Jail Break follows the gang's attempt to break him out of prison.

In The Warriors, what does Swan throw into Luther's forearm to make him drop his gun on the beach?

A switchblade disarms Luther moments before the Riffs arrive, clear the Warriors of the killing and close in on the real culprit.

Which actor played Swan in The Warriors, then starred opposite Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu?

Michael Beck was born in Memphis and trained at a London drama school, and he returned to voice Swan in the 2005 video game.

Which actor played the loud-mouthed enforcer of the Warriors and, later, the father in Dexter?

James Remar hung around Coney Island before filming began to find a real-life model for his swaggering character.

Which actor made his film debut as Luther in The Warriors and later joined the cast of Twin Peaks?

David Patrick Kelly based the villain's taunting voice on a next-door neighbour he suspected of being a gangster.

Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Mercy in The Warriors, went on to play a daughter for five seasons of which sitcom?

Too Close for Comfort cast her as daughter Jackie Rush from 1980, a year after her screen debut as the girl who follows the gang home.

Which actress plays the radio DJ in The Warriors and later the Chief in the Carmen Sandiego shows?

Lynne Thigpen is seen only from the nose down as she broadcasts the bounty on the Warriors and, at dawn, its cancellation.

Which future Oscar winner for The Fisher King plays the cop who arrests one of the Warriors?

Mercedes Ruehl made the park-bench arrest years before her Academy Award and her Tony for Lost in Yonkers.

Which actor, fired after clashing with the director, asked for his name to be left off The Warriors?

Thomas G. Waites still goes uncredited, though three weeks after his sacking he won a part beside Al Pacino in ...And Justice for All.

The lead in The Warriors was spotted when the director screened a film to consider which actress?

Sigourney Weaver had made a drama in Israel called Madman, and it was her male co-star who caught the director's eye.

Which director made The Warriors and later reunited two of its cast in the buddy-cop hit 48 Hrs.?

Walter Hill also co-wrote the script and shot it through the summer nights of 1978, working from sundown to sunrise.

In The Warriors, which gang, snubbed by Cyrus's summit, blocks the crew's way through Tremont?

The Orphans rank so low that they were left off the guest list, and their leader's girlfriend goads them into a confrontation.

Which composer scored The Warriors, having already written the Theme from S.W.A.T.?

Barry De Vorzon also co-wrote the rock song that plays over the film's final walk along the beach.

Which Martha and the Vandellas hit is covered by Arnold McCuller on The Warriors soundtrack?

Nowhere to Run suits a gang hunted across a whole city; the 1965 Motown original was written by Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Which songwriter, later behind Bon Jovi hits, sings Last of an Ancient Breed on The Warriors soundtrack?

Desmond Child was then fronting his own band, Rouge; he went on to co-write Livin' on a Prayer and Livin' la Vida Loca.

In The Warriors, what halts the first train ride home and leaves the gang stranded in Tremont?

A building fire beside the line stops the train, so the Warriors must cross hostile turf on foot to reach another station.

The 96th Street platform chase in The Warriors was really filmed at which station in Brooklyn?

Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets has abandoned sections that film crews often use: the remake of The Taking of Pelham 123 shot there too.

At which Manhattan station do the separated Warriors finally reunite and fight the Punks?

Union Square took over from Times Square, which is the gang's meeting point in the original novel.

Which borough hosted the real 1971 gang truce meeting often linked to the summit in The Warriors?

The Bronx meeting on Hoe Avenue was called after a gang's peacemaker was beaten to death, and the birth of hip-hop has been traced to the truce that followed.

Which studio pulled its radio and TV ads for The Warriors after violence was linked to screenings?

Paramount Pictures also offered to pay for extra security and let cinema owners out of their contracts if they no longer wanted to show it.

Which rival 1979 gang film did the studio want The Warriors to beat into cinemas, forcing a hurried edit?

The Wanderers was the reason for a fixed release date that left the director no time to add his planned chapter artwork.

In The Warriors, how do Swan and Mercy travel from 96th Street to rejoin the rest of the gang?

Walking along the tracks takes the pair downtown after Swan goes back alone to scout the station, and he brushes off her advances.

Which novelist, once a New York welfare investigator, wrote the 1965 book behind The Warriors?

Sol Yurick met young gang members through that job, and said he was disappointed by the film made from his first novel.

The novel behind The Warriors was written to counter the romantic street gangs of which hit film?

West Side Story struck the author as a romanticised picture of gang life, so his own book shows its gang committing brutal crimes on the way home.

The novel that inspired The Warriors takes place on the night of which American holiday?

Fourth of July is the night of the book's great gang assembly, which the gangs are told to attend by a Beatles song played on the radio.

In the 1965 novel behind The Warriors, what is the Coney Island gang at the story's centre called?

The Dominators wear luxury-car badges, stolen and turned into hat pins, as their gang insignia.

The 2005 director's cut of The Warriors adds scene transitions drawn in the style of what?

Comic book panels were the plan from the start, but a small budget and a tight schedule kept them out of the 1979 release.

Before making The Warriors, its director and producer had been trying to finance what kind of film?

A western called The Last Gun fell through when the money failed to appear, so the producer handed over a copy of the gang novel.

Which critic's praise for The Warriors did the studio put in its expanded ads?

Pauline Kael compared its visual impact to rock music, while Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of four and Gene Siskel just one.

Which director announced a remake of The Warriors in 2005 that would move the story to Los Angeles?

Tony Scott planned to drop the costumed gangs altogether, but no remake had been made by the time of his death in 2012.

The Warriors retells which ancient Greek account of mercenaries stranded in Persia marching home?

Anabasis, by the soldier Xenophon, is famous for the Greeks' cry of joy at sighting the sea; the film's gang ends its journey on a beach.

In The Warriors, where does the gang regroup after fleeing the summit, unaware it has been blamed?

Woodlawn Cemetery is the first hiding place; Swan then takes command, to the enforcer's annoyance, as a radio bounty sets every gang on them.