The Warriors by Sol Yurick
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.08 You Save: $5.92 (42%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.29 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Warriors
Book Review: A Recommended Classic in Action Drama
Summary: 4 Stars
(I) First saw this movie in 1978 when it was first released. At first take it was boring , but action improved by the second half of the movie. In this film, a representative gang of 7 men, known as the Warriors, based in Coney Island, finds themselves blamed for a crime they did not commit and forced to find their way home across forbidding gang territories. The crime was the execution of a leader named Cyrus- a man determined to use his gang influence to unite all New York City gangs. The crime was committed by a vengeful rival, determined to pin the crime on the Warriors. For the majority of the movie, The Warriors fight their way through territorial New York, sometimes losing a man in the process until the final three made it back home to Coney Island. Once there, a final showdown proved that the Warriors were a gang to be reckoned with.
This Ultimate Director's Cut was better than the original shown in the theatres and also includes uplifting background music, incl. a song by Joe Walsh, 'In The City' which sets the tone for the whole movie. It is a somewhat violently-themed movie, so recommended as rated R.
(Help with review from Jamsinn27)*
Book Review: The Warriors, Novel
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was amazing! Sol Yurick did an incredible job with description! I couldn't put it down from the moment I got it. It was way better than the movie!Book Review: A real, instead of surreal, depiction of gang life
Summary: 3 Stars
I was very excited to find this out of print book because I, like many others, love the movie, which is about a small Coney Island based gang falsely accused of killing a messiah-like leader named Cyrus, who intends to unite all the gangs. In the movie, the Warriors struggle to get back from the Bronx to home turf while being chased by various bizarre gangs (some of which are unforgettable) who are seeking revenge. Other than Ajax, the members in the Warriors seem fairly decent and unthreatening.
The movie is based very loosely on the book, and certain scenes are roughly parallel. However, Sol Yurick's goal is to portray the violence and banality of gang-life. The principles (here called the "Coney Island Dominators") commit acts of shocking violence, including gang rape of a young woman, who, in the movie, is unscathed, and ends up as Swan's girlfriend. At the end of the book, there is no dramatic scene on the beach where the truth is learned, but rather, the author spotlights one of the gang-members who is unable to satisfy his insatiable hunger, which I assume is a metaphor for an empty, meaningless life.
In sum, I recommend this book, but don't expect to read a script for the movie, which, to be honest, I enjoyed quite a bit more.
Book Review: Not as good as the movie, but...
Summary: 3 Stars
The biggest point to be made; this isn't much like the movie. There aren't many fights in it, and it spends more time describing the lives of the Family and everyone around them instead of describing any action.It does have it's merits though. It is a fantastic description on life of lost souls, wandering teenagers and the like. It shows some complete turns of character, including one young man who comes upon maturity, both real and "manhood" maturity, in the course of one night.
Mixing the slow parts with the action, this book warrants three stars out of five.
Book Review: Don't come in expecting the movie
Summary: 3 Stars
Sol Yurick admits in the author's notes that he wrote The Warriors while he was waiting for his real book to get published. I'm not going to say it's second rate, there are pieces that show inspiration, but it's not the epic I was expecting. Being a solid fan of the movie, I had to read it. After hearing it was based on Xenophon's Anabasis, I was doubly excited to get my hands on it. Now that I've read it, I wasn't thrilled. It's a story well-told, just not the story I was expecting or seeking.