With their intimidating painted faces, baseball uniforms, and terrifying baseball bat weapons, the threatening presence of the ‘Baseball Furies’ in the film is one not soon forgotten. The appearance of this nightmarish group was based on a prominent gang that occupied uptown New York in the 1970s, known as ‘Second Base.’
However, the ‘Second Base’ gang instead wore matching Letterman jackets, with the gang’s name etched onto the back. Paying homage to this real-life gang, when watching the film you may notice one particularly obvious Easter egg present in one scene in the movie, during which time the New York Boppers gang is informed that The Warriors are “on Second Base.”
Hiding the Leading Lady’s Injuries
While all fans know and love the ‘tough-as-nails’ character Mercy, few people know that Deborah Van Valkenburgh, the actress that portrayed her, was actually involved with what is largely considered the film’s ultimate heist. Widely known as Swan's love interest, she goes on to follow the gang throughout their long, perilous journey home.
It is during this dangerous voyage that she is ultimately able to prove herself and her worth to the rest of the gang. But Valkenburgh unluckily and unexpectedly broke her wrist while on set and the makers of the film had to come up with a way to cover up this injury, and fast. If you watch the film you'll notice they did so by covering her arm with her baggy clothing.
Michael Beck’s Accidental, Unlikely Discovery
Though today Michael Beck is widely known and praised for his portrayal of Swan in the film, believe it or not, Beck was actually discovered by Walter Hill on a complete, accidental whim. According to accounts, during the filmmaker’s search for the perfect actor to play Swan, Hill stumbled upon Beck not during a casting call, but instead while watching the film "Madman".
As a result, Hill hastily invited him in for an audition for "The Warriors". Not long after, Beck was officially cast as Swan — a role that would later define and solidify his prominent career as a major Hollywood actor. From here, Beck would go on to secure a number of other big-time movie and television roles.
The Film’s Consequences
Though filmmakers surely did not initially intend it, the making and release of their movie ultimately led to an immediate spike in real-life violence. In hopes of decreasing this increase in violence and aggression on the streets, the producers of "The Warriors" instead chose to promote the upcoming release of their film with a more minimal poster, containing nothing more than the logo of the film, placed on a white background.
Despite the deliberate efforts carried out by producers to put a halt to gang-related violence, much to their dismay, the violence surrounding the release of the film continued to escalate. Not long after re-releasing the film’s promotional posters, there were separate attacks that occurred in two different showings of "The Warriors."
The Original Warriors Gang
Since its release, the Warriors gang has infamously gone down as one of the most well-known gangs in movie history, and for years after its release, it was considered the most exciting film in America. In reality, though the name wasn’t even the original name given to the main gang of this story.
Even before "The Warriors" movie script was created, in the original story written and published in the novel written by Sol Yurick, the name given to the main gang did not even include any mention of the word ‘Warriors’! Instead, Yurick referred to the infamous game as 'The Dominators.'