‘The Warriors’ director regrets cutting gay gang from film
Walter Hill, the director of the classic crime thriller The Warriors has come out to state that he regrets cutting a gay gang from the 1979 movie.
Also penning the script from the novel of the same name by Sol Yurick, in Hill’s original screenplay was a gay gang named the Dingos. Dressed in fetish-like leather, studded in chrome spikes, unfortunately, the elaborate vision for the Dingos never made it to the big screen, with the director exclaiming, “We never shot it…I’m very sorry about that. What I wanted to show was the gay gang in a positive light” on a recent episode of the podcast It Happened in Hollywood.
Continuing, the director adds, the Dingos “weren’t villainous…It was not a scene that was negative about the gay gang. I thought it was another way of staying ahead of [the times]. Swan [Michael Beck] was their prisoner, and he got away. But they had their dignity”.
The 1979 movie is a wild ride chase through New York City, clinging onto the coattails of the most violent gangs in the whole of the stylised city. A thrilling tale, Hill transforms Yurick’s realistic story into something far more fantastical, filling the streets of the city with 21 separate gangs, each with their own traits and personalities, to create a vibrant melting pot of colourful ‘70s energy.
According to the director, budget cuts led him to remove the Dingos from the final film, with the gang losing out along with a handful of other creative choices.
Take a look at the trailer for the classic movie below.
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