Mercy and Fox Sitting in a Tree?
Long-time lovers of the movie might be surprised, but while in the final version of the film, Swan winds up with Mercy, originally, these characters’ relationship was entirely nonexistent. Although filmmakers originally wrote the script to include a passionate relationship between Fox and Mercy, they proved to have absolutely no chemistry with each other.
Not only was there no proper chemistry, but the actor that played Fox, Thomas G. Waites, would eventually be fired just eight weeks into the production of the film due to an ongoing conflict with the director Walter Hill. Consequently, Fox’s character was written off early in the film.
The Absence of Modern-Day Film Violence
Unlike many of the violence-ruled films of modern-day Hollywood, "The Warriors" is certainly an outlier from the pack. Indeed, when comparing the level of violence present in the majority of today’s films — even those films intended to be acceptable for children to watch — to the amount of violence seen in "The Warriors", this film does not nearly have as much violence as is normal in today’s movie industry.
While this film is still rated R, and thus rendered largely inappropriate for minors to view, it is notable to point out that the reason for this rating was not given for the amount of violence present, but instead, most likely because of the high amount of inappropriate language and adult content present throughout much of the film.
The Intended Death of Vermin
One of the most memorable characters in the film was Vermin, played by Terrence ‘Terry’ Michos, but we almost had to say goodbye to him sooner than we'd have liked. While initially Vermin was meant to die at one point in the movie, Michos somehow managed to act his way out of his character’s intended, tragic fate. But how did Michos manage to save his character? By being funny, of course.
By choosing to take a more comical approach with the personality of his character — believing that, in doing so, his character would ultimately be more likely to be memorable among audience members. This also got him more screen time and in the end, Michos would ultimately transform his character into one of the main, most prominent people out of all characters seen throughout the film.
Fox: A Two-Man Job
How exactly could the film possibly carry on after Thomas G. Waites (Fox), one of its main actors, was kicked off the set? By hiring a lookalike stunt double, of course. This strikingly similar body double can be seen in the scene involving the death of Fox. To ensure the audience would not be able to spot the difference between the two actors, filmmakers had to cover the character's face as much as possible.
It was so well done that if you were to closely pay attention when watching the film, you will actually be able to notice that, in the scenes leading up to Fox’s death, you are never able to get a clear, distinct look at the character’s face — and now we all know why.
The Disheartening Disapproval of Sol Yurick
As soon as Walter Hill finished reading Sol Yurick’s novel, his intentions, and aspirations were clear: he was destined to make this book into a big-screen film. However, while Hill knew he wanted to make the novel into a blockbuster hit, he made it clear from the start that his movie adaptation of Yurick’s novel, while following the basic plot of the text, would stray slightly from the original story.
Because the portrayal on the big screen was not nearly as dark as the original novel, the author deemed the film an enormous misrepresentation. Another major difference between Yurick’s story and the movie can be found in the different names of the gangs, as not one of them was used in the film.