Warriors were Here

This weekend, I watched the director’s version of the 1979 cult classic The Warriors with Future Dr. H, D., and M. I had been nervous that the new animation which opens each scene would detract from the cheesy hilarity of the movie, but it actually in some cases added to the ludicrousness of the whole endeavor. M. seems to be something of a Warriors expert because she noticed that some of the scenes in the director’s version were a bit longer than the ones on her VHS version. I can’t say the longer scenes made a difference in the film’s quality. We all enjoyed the ridiculously pretentious extras the DVD provided with the crew and cast seriously discussing the movie as if it were Citizen Kane.

It never ceases to amaze me how much NYC has changed since the Bad Old Days. D. did some further research and found a fan site Warriors Movie Site) that compares locations in the movie to what they look like today. A scene that supposedly took place at the 96th Street 1,2, and 3 station clearly was shot on 72nd Street, not far from where I live. (It has a very distinct entrance, so it’s obvious to any New Yorkers watching the movie.) Anyway, I borrowed two pictures from the site.

In the picture from the movie, we see one of the gang members (a Baseball Furie) standing on the street corner. In the picture from today, we see the Sleepy’s store where Husband and I bought our new mattress. I am fairly sure that if I saw someone dressed in face paint and a baseball uniform hanging out on that corner today, I would assume he was a lunatic and give him wide berth. I’d definitely laugh my ass off about it later, though. Times definitely change (my little subway adventure yesterday not withstanding - maybe those girls on the train were part of the Lizzies, a girl gang featured in The Warriors that I kept thinking were called the Lezzies), although I am glad that the newsstand is still there. Comfort in consistency.