The Warriors (1979) (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]

[paulboland]

Release date: November 25, 2016
Purchase link: Zavvi (Sold Out)
Price: £15.99
Notes: Limited To 2000 Copies

Spoiler

 

[Flloydo]

Yeah, the DC is terrible, and ruins the flow of the film with the comic panel nonsense. Even is the original cut is available at a later date - this is still very desirable because it uses the fantastic original poster art. (Unlike that terrible amaray art).

That's the catch 22.... Great art, bad cut

Maybe zavvi can re hash it next year with the same Steel but better disc and for once eveyone will be happy with them

 

[C.C. 95]

That's the catch 22.... Great art, bad cut

Maybe zavvi can re hash it next year with the same Steel but better disc and for once eveyone will be happy with them

I will probably bite the bullet, and just face the fact that I am looking at a disc replacement situation.
When/If an HD copy of the original cut comes, is anybody's guess, though.

 

[Noodles]

I already own the director's cut on Blu, so this is just a case of me wanting the steelbook. Surely they'll release the original cut at some point though... they'd be crazy not to!

 

[bigrob]

That's the catch 22.... Great art, bad cut

Maybe zavvi can re hash it next year with the same Steel but better disc and for once eveyone will be happy with them

Zavvi are just a retailer mate like Tescos, Bestbuy etc. Paramount are the ones here that make the decisions on disc content and packaging and who gets the exclusive releases.

 

[virkia]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:-

THE GOOD
- Original poster designs artwork front and back and not the newer fire design used on the U.K. Amaray Blu-ray
- 4 x 15 minute behind the scenes production featurettes
- Director introduction explaining his vision of the film

THE BAD
- Special features not in HD and only the Theatrical Trailer presented in HD
- No Commentary track

THE UGLY
-The 7 comic book scene transition insert panels

Anyway, it is what it is and until the director/studio changes his/their mind about re-mastering and releasing the TC then this is the best and only way to own the film on Blu-ray and cult film that it undoubtedly is it certainly deserves its place in the collection despite the unfavourable (to many) director approved changes and according to Wikipedia:-

RE: DIRECTOR'S CHANGES
"Hill was drawn to the "extreme narrative simplicity and stripped down quality of the script". The script, as written ,was a realistic take on street gangs but the director being a huge fan of comic books wanted to divide the film into chapters and then have each chapter "come to life starting with a splash panel".
The director was finally able to include this type of scene transition in the Ultimate Director's Cut released for home video in 2005"

AND

"Hill was working on a low budget and a tight post-production schedule because of a fixed release date as the studio wanted to release THE WARRIORS before a rival gang picture called THE WANDERERS. As a result, Hill was unable to realize this comic book look until the making of the Director's Cut in 2005".

Seems pretty cut 'n' dried to me . . . and unless my mind is playing tricks on me, and it has been a while since I watched it, but isn't there something of a similar nature in the KILL BILL films and in SIN CITY ?

Film fits in well with the "cult film" tag for various reasons:
- Made on a low budget of $4 - 7M and was doing very well at the box office - over $22M in box office receipts and grossed $3.5M in its opening week-end - until it was decided to pull it from cinemas prematurely because it was becoming evident that real gang members were fans and were frequenting the cinemas leading to eruptions of violence.
Before pulling the film the studio did make every effort to keep it in cinemas - from arranging extra security in the 200 cinemas where it was being shown to agreeing to pay for all repairs caused by vandalism.

- More popular with the paying public than with the contemporary critics but since re-evaluated with an 89% rating on RT and listed at #16 by Entertainment Weekly in their "Top 50 Greatest Cult Films" list and also at #25 in their list of the "25 Most Controversial Movies Ever".

- The film inspired by an Ancient Greek tale called Anabasis about an historian, philosopher, soldier and mercenary named Xenophon who as one 0f 10,000 mercenaries under the leadership of Cyrus the Younger went out to claim the Persian throne from his brother Artaxerxes II of Persia. The battle for the throne was successful but Cyrus (also the paymaster) was killed and now stranded in Persia and without their leader the next in command the Spartan General Clearchus ordered the group back to Greece but he too was soon killed leading to Xenophon playing a part in getting the men back to Greece.
On the journey home they were met with lots of rearguard hostile activity from Persians and others tribes hiding out in the hills.
(Cleon in the film = Clearchus in the tale, Swan = Xenophon, female Amazons - Sirens . . . ).

- Spawned spin-offs, comic book series and video game

- Written in 1965 by Sol Yurick a man with former experience of real street gangs (as a Social Worker) and according to WP:-
"After the war he took a bachelor's degree at New York University, majoring in literature. He graduated and took a job with New York City's welfare department as a social investigator, a job he held until the early 1960s. It was here that he became familiar with children of welfare families, many of whom were "then called juvenile delinquent ...many of them belonged to fighting gangs...numbered in the hundreds; they were veritable armies." He earned his master's in English fro Brooklyn College soon after, and then took up writing full-time"
Thanks to his real life experience of street gang culture his book was gritty and real and designed to take the viewer away from the romanticised view of street gangs portrayed in films such as WEST SIDE STORY.
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Anyway, back the steelbook itself:
- Would like to see something similar to the recent BEN-HUR = a Gloss finish.
- Would also like to see the warriors Embossed in the same way as the classical statue on the BEN-HUR steelbook - or at least the warriors in the foreground. The title too.

 

[Flloydo]

Zavvi are just a retailer mate like Tescos, Bestbuy etc. Paramount are the ones here that make the decisions on disc content and packaging and who gets the exclusive releases.

I know mate, just saying it will most likely be zavvi if it was to happen again.

It was more a p*ss take on the Disney lenti re hashes (again i know that's not zavvi)

 

[C.C. 95]

I already own the director's cut on Blu, so this is just a case of me wanting the steelbook. Surely they'll release the original cut at some point though... they'd be crazy not to!

For those of you who know how to do HD grabs, apparently the version streaming in HD on Amazon is the Original Cut!

 

[Noodles]

For those of you who know how to do HD grabs, apparently the version streaming in HD on Amazon is the Original Cut!

The original cut is/was also on Netflix... I've watched it twice on there already, whereas I haven't even touched my Blu-ray copy (didn't realise it was the director's cut at the time of buying it), because that's how bad the DC is.

 

[Covcraig]

I don't get all the hate for the director's cut? Its an intro and a couple of scene transitions, thats it basically. It doesn't really affect the content or feel of the movie.

 

[virkia]

I don't get all the hate for the director's cut? Its an intro and a couple of scene transitions, thats it basically. It doesn't really affect the content or feel of the movie.

Yes, that may be so but it would still be nice to have the choice of, say, a "One Movie, Two Cuts" situation to give viewers the choice to watch either/both.

Most of the time when I think of a Director's Cut I think of additions designed to help the story along or fill in more of the background as to why "X" is doing such-and-such to "Y", stuff which may have been cut out of the cinema release - to trim the fat, so to speak, and streamline the finished film for whatever reason.
That being said, whenever I buy a Blu-ray with 2 or more cuts on it I always watch the Theatrical Cut first.

On the other hand, it's quite clear that the film is presented on the Blu-ray/DVD in the way that the director wanted from day one and until a remake is forthcoming (RIP Tony Scott) I think it unlikely that we'll see the TC on Blu-ray
.
There is this in the pipeline though http://deadline.com/2016/07/the-rus...lm-the-warriors-tv-paramount-hulu-1201782686/
. . . and it has been asked if this is going to be a remake of the 1979 film and the answer given was . . .
"Yes, it will have a similar story to the original 1979 film and the novel. The remake will be set in New York City, possibly in an imaginary near-future society that is as unpleasant and dehumanising as it is possible to be. It is rumoured that the remake will be even more violent and gritty than the original film".

I'm guessing then and only then will there be a possibility of a complete unadulterated release of the original.. . . maybe a 2 disc "Collector's Edition" on Blu-ray with disc 1 the miniseries and disc 2 the original film with the TC and the DC . . .

TANGERINE DREAM PREVIEW / TRAILER MUSIC: Interesting how the original preview uses music by one of my favourite electronic rock groups from the 1970's (actually music for the 1977 film "The Sorcerer" by Tangerine Dream).

P.S. It's rumoured that Samuel L. Jackson is somewhere in there as an Extra.

 

[levi]

a lot of directors cuts ruin the pace of a film. its the shxt that should have been left on the cutting room floor but the director is too sentimental to leave them there.

the only people who enjoy directors cuts are fans/enthusiasts.

 

[Covcraig]

Directors are often limited by runtimes for theatrical releases and have to cut scenes out, doesn't mean they are crap scenes that don't contribute, they're normally the scenes that can be trimmed without affecting the overall plot.

There are loads of examples of films that are better in their directors cut form, Zodiac, Aliens, Blade Runner, Watchmen... Even Batman v Superman earlier this year.

The difference between them and warriors, they add scenes, warriors has a introduction and scene transitions, how that makes the cut suck is beyond me.

 

[C.C. 95]

Yes, that may be so but it would still be nice to have the choice of, say, a "One Movie, Two Cuts" situation to give viewers the choice to watch either/both.

Most of the time when I think of a Director's Cut I think of additions designed to help the story along or fill in more of the background as to why "X" is doing such-and-such to "Y", stuff which may have been cut out of the cinema release - to trim the fat, so to speak, and streamline the finished film for whatever reason.
That being said, whenever I buy a Blu-ray with 2 or more cuts on it I always watch the Theatrical Cut first.

On the other hand, it's quite clear that the film is presented on the Blu-ray/DVD in the way that the director wanted from day one and until a remake is forthcoming (RIP Tony Scott) I think it unlikely that we'll see the TC on Blu-ray
.
There is this in the pipeline though http://deadline.com/2016/07/the-rus...lm-the-warriors-tv-paramount-hulu-1201782686/
. . . and it has been asked if this is going to be a remake of the 1979 film and the answer given was . . .
"Yes, it will have a similar story to the original 1979 film and the novel. The remake will be set in New York City, possibly in an imaginary near-future society that is as unpleasant and dehumanising as it is possible to be. It is rumoured that the remake will be even more violent and gritty than the original film".

I'm guessing then and only then will there be a possibility of a complete unadulterated release of the original.. . . maybe a 2 disc "Collector's Edition" on Blu-ray with disc 1 the miniseries and disc 2 the original film with the TC and the DC . . .

TANGERINE DREAM PREVIEW / TRAILER MUSIC: Interesting how the original preview uses music by one of my favourite electronic rock groups from the 1970's (actually music for the 1977 film "The Sorcerer" by Tangerine Dream).

P.S. It's rumoured that Samuel L. Jackson is somewhere in there as an Extra.

Curious why you mention Tony Scott? The Warriors was directed by Walter Hill.

 

[C.C. 95]

Directors are often limited by runtimes for theatrical releases and have to cut scenes out, doesn't mean they are crap scenes that don't contribute, they're normally the scenes that can be trimmed without affecting the overall plot.

There are loads of examples of films that are better in their directors cut form, Zodiac, Aliens, Blade Runner, Watchmen... Even Batman v Superman earlier this year.

The difference between them and warriors, they add scenes, warriors has a introduction and scene transitions, how that makes the cut suck is beyond me.

Take any dramatic thriller, say - The Fugitive. Insert comic panels. Does the film still feel like a serious dramatic thriller?! No. Even the smallest additions effect the whole.

 

[virkia]

Curious why you mention Tony Scott? The Warriors was directed by Walter Hill.

Yes, mentioned Tony Scott because he was due to direct the re-make

 

[Covcraig]

Take any dramatic thriller, say - The Fugitive. Insert comic panels. Does the film still feel like a serious dramatic thriller?! No. Even the smallest additions effect the whole.

Did you direct any of those movies? Did the director of the Fugitive want to have comic style panels but couldn't due to technology and/or budgetary constraints?

No, but Walter Hill did and he went back years later and finished what he started. If he brought out the film he wanted to back then, it would still be a cult classic and I guarantee you people wouldn't be saying "oh that films a classic, cant wait for the steelbook from zavvi, if only the director left out the comic book panel scenes 30 years ago, it would've been so much better"

 

[C.C. 95]

Yes, mentioned Tony Scott because he was due to direct the re-make

Gotcha.

 

[C.C. 95]

Did you direct any of those movies? Did the director of the Fugitive want to have comic style panels but couldn't due to technology and/or budgetary constraints?

No, but Walter Hill did and he went back years later and finished what he started. If he brought out the film he wanted to back then, it would still be a cult classic and I guarantee you people wouldn't be saying "oh that films a classic, cant wait for the steelbook from zavvi, if only the director left out the comic book panel scenes 30 years ago, it would've been so much better"

Directors retconning their films 20-30 years later is mixed bag as we all know. Ask any Star Wars fan.
Some get better, some get worse. The best idea is for a comprehensive release (Friedkin's EXORCIST, Scott's BLADERUNNER, Cameron's ALIEN) that allows both cuts.
When people watch a film- a lot of them want to watch the film they fell in love with in the first place.

 

[Covcraig]

Fair point about the two cuts being included on the release but still, even with the things added to this movie it doesnt make the film suck or take away from the suspense. If you're thinking about a comic book transition when these dudes are being chased by furies or when you're hearing "warriors..come out to playyy" then the movie is failing you due to other reasons and not the scene transitions.

 

[C.C. 95]

Fair point about the two cuts being included on the release but still, even with the things added to this movie it doesnt make the film suck or take away from the suspense. If you're thinking about a comic book transition when these dudes are being chased by furies or when you're hearing "warriors..come out to playyy" then the movie is failing you due to other reasons and not the scene transitions.

Agreed to disagree. (And you will find that most people don't like the DC).
I suppose that replacing music cues from films and TV shows is not big deal either? After all, it is just in the background. Subtle changes can be just as appalling as overt changes.
Please, make a case for why the comics panel additions are a good thing, and how they make the film better.
I want to see the film I saw 100 times when I was a kid.