If you've been
following my diary here, this entry seems out of place... I'm working
on a documentary of the Ducky Boys and Fordham
Baldies - and they are gangs from the movie "The Wanderers",
not "The Warriors" !?!?
Well if you did
think that, I applaud you for two big reasons:
First off, thank
you for reading these diary entries -- Believe it or not, I spend
a lot of time & thought writing these, so I appreciate when people
like you take the time to read them...
Secondly, if you
know the difference between "the Wanderers"
and "the Warriors", you are a rare breed...
It seems that when I tell new people (especially non-Bronxites) about
my documentary project on these two gangs from "the Wanderers",
a large percentage get confused with the gangs from "the Warriors".
I can't blame
people for getting confused... Both movies came out around the same
time. Both movies featured many various New York City gangs. And both
movies had one of their most pivotal scenes in the Bronx. Also both
movies had actor Konrad Sheehan as a gang leader
(but thats not as well-known as it should be) -- see my Aug
19th, 2006 diary entry for details of my interview with
him.
Also, I have heard
quite a few comparisons between the gangs of the two movies -- The
Turnbull AC's and Orphans of "the
Warriors" are forever going to be compared to the Fordham
Baldies and Ducky Boys of "the
Wanderers". I'm not sure how intentional or valid these
gangs similarities are, but its out there in cyberspace if you look
for it.
The similarities
end there -- The Wanderers were a 60's Bronx gang,
while The Warriors were a 1970's Brooklyn gang. Also
the plots were COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I'll admit they
were both great movies that I recommend highly if you are inclined
to like NYC gang movies (my bias for the Bronx has to give "the
Wanderers" the edge tho)
Now that I cleared
that up, why am I writing about the Warriors today? Well, one of the
things I do for fun is go to Chiller Theatre conventions
around Halloween. Its not easy to explain what Chiller is in a sentence
or two, so check the link at http://chillertheatre.com
-- This year they had a reunion of the cast of "the Warriors"
movie, so I figured I'd take this chance to try and clear up some
Warrior/Wanderer confusion and to show off the pics I was able to
get while there... I hope you enjoy them.
The whole cast
was really cool, but I have to say that Terry "Vermin" Michos,Dorsey
"Cleon" Wright and Apache Ramos were my favorites. They
were sincerely appreciative that I was there and had interest in them
and made it more than just an autograph/photo thing... I think it
might be because Apache & Dorsey are Bronx natives, but that just
be my Bronx bias again... LOL
Click
on the pictures for the larger version
Me with
Michael Beck ("Swan").
|
Deborah Van Valkenburgh
("Mercy") and me.
|
Robert Hill
("Cyrus"), me and Terry Michos
("Vermin")
|
Me and
Apache Ramos (Orphan Gang)
|
Dorsey Wright
("Cleon") and me
|
David Harris
("Cochise"), me and Brian Tyler
("Snow")
|
Cast
Photo signed
|
Apache
Ramos and Paul Greco from the
movie
|
Another
signed cast photo
|
This wasn't from
today at Chiller, but I cant leave out my picture with Konrad
Sheehan up at Van Courtlandt Park in the Bronx from August,
2006
| 
Konrad Sheehan
and
me |
Konrad Sheehan
as
The Punks Gang Leader |
And
neither Wanderers- or Warriors-related, but Anthony Michael
Hall was at Chiller Theatre today, and I was able to grab
a picture with him. He's on the TV show "The Dead Zone",
but he will forever be the geek from the 1980's John Hughes movies
"Sixteen Candles", "Weird
Science" and "The Breakfast Club"
| 
Anthony Michael Hall
and me |
Heres some excellent Warriors Movie
links that you really should know about:
Stone
Greaser Warriors Page -- A great page about the Warriors
from a standup guy who's helped me out with some leads on the Ducky
Boys and Fordham Baldies -- Dont forget to check out the re-enactment
of the Warriors
Subway trip at the site
The
Warriors Movie Site -- This has EVERYTHING you could
possibly want to know about any little detail of "the Warriors"
Armies
of the Knight -- Excellent message forum devoted to "the
Warriors"
Fader.com
-- Interesting article about the making of "the Warriors"
IMDB.com
-- The Warriors page on the Internet movie Database.
Thank you for reading this!
---James
