The Wanderers (1979 film)

Joey and Turkey are members of the Wanderers, an Italian-American greaser street gang living in the Bronx. Joey tries to dissuade Turkey from joining a rival gang, the Fordham Baldies. Before Turkey can ask, Terror's girlfriend Peewee overhears Joey insulting the Baldies, calling them a "bunch of pricks with ears". Joey and Turkey flee and the Baldies chase them. Richie—the leader of the Wanderers—and Buddy come to help but they also flee from the Baldies. After being cornered, the Wanderers are helped by a tough stranger named Perry, who has recently moved to the Bronx from New Jersey. After much persuasion, Perry joins the Wanderers. In school, the Wanderers get into a racial dispute with another gang, the Del Bombers, who are all African-American. Both gangs agree to settle their dispute, seemingly a street fight, but the Wanderers struggle to find a gang willing to back them. With no other options, Richie asks his girlfriend's father, alleged local mafia boss Chubby Galasso, who agrees to help solve the gangs' dispute. During a game of "elbow-tit", Richie gropes a woman called Nina. He feels ashamed of himself, apologizes for his actions and persuades Nina to accept Joey's telephone number. The Wanderers then decide to follow Nina in Perry's car. After Perry becomes lost, the Wanderers are attacked by an all-Irish-American street gang called the Ducky Boys. They escape after Perry's arm is broken. While drunk, the Baldies are tricked into joining the Marines. Before reporting for training, they decide to crash Despie's party, where Turkey—who has recently joined the Baldies—is told to draw the Wanderers outside. After drawing them out, Turkey realizes the Baldies have abandoned him. He tries to chase them but fails. Upset, Turkey visits a nearby Catholic church. After being spotted by a member of the Ducky Boys attending Mass, Turkey is chased down the street. After climbing a fire escape ladder in an attempt to escape, he falls to his death. In school, while the Wanderers are mourning Turkey's death, the rest of the gang oust Richie for sleeping with Joey's date Nina. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Richie rekindles his relationship with Despie. When Chubby discovers his daughter is pregnant, he forces Richie into marrying her. In the climax, we discover the Wanderers and the Del Bombers are settling their dispute not with a street fight but with a football game organized by Chubby. Richie uses the opportunity to make amends with Joey. A member of the Ducky Boys interrupts the game, as the Wanderers momentarily turn their heads, hundreds of Ducky Boys invade the field. Many of the Wanderers and the Del Bombers flee, but some stand their ground. The remaining players join forces with spectator gangs in the stands, including one called the Wongs and even Emilio. After a long and bloody battle, the Ducky Boys flee. After being physically abused by his father Emilio, Joey decides to spend the night at Perry's apartment. Perry tells Joey he is planning to leave the Bronx and move to California. Joey asks Perry if he can go with him; after an initially skeptical response, Perry agrees. Emilio, drunk, enters Perry's apartment and fights with him; Joey knocks Emilio unconscious with a glass bottle. Joey and Perry quickly leave the apartment and head to Richie's engagement party. At the party Richie notices Nina walking by and quickly follows. Before he catches up to her, she walks into a bar where Bob Dylan is performing "The Times They Are a-Changin'". Accepting that their relationship is over, he makes his way back to the party. Upon his return, Joey and Perry say an emotional goodbye to Richie, and when they leave, Richie realizes things will not be the same. At Richie's party, members of the Wanderers, the Del Bombers and the Wongs embrace one another while singing "The Wanderer". The movie ends with Joey and Perry traveling to California. ==Cast==

• Ken Wahl as Richie Gennaro, the leader of the Wanderers. • John Friedrich as Joey Capra, Richie's closest friend and a fellow Wanderer. • Karen Allen as Nina Becker, Richie's love interest. • Toni Kalem as Despie Galasso, Richie's girlfriend and Chubby Galasso's daughter. • Tony Ganios as Perry LaGuardia, a member of the Wanderers and a close friend of Joey. • Jim Youngs as Buddy Borsalino, a leading member of the Wanderers. • Alan Rosenberg as "Turkey", a member of the Wanderers who wants to join the Fordham Baldies. • Dolph Sweet as "Chubby" Galasso, the local mafia boss and father of Despie Galasso. • William Andrews as Emilio Capra, Joey's father. • Erland van Lidth as "Terror", the leader of the Fordham Baldies. • Linda Manz as "Peewee", Terror's girlfriend. • Michael Wright as Clinton Stitch, the leader of the Del Bombers. • Samm-Art Williams as Roger, the only black member of the Fordham Baldies and the cousin of Clinton Stitch. • Val Avery as Mr. Sharp, a high school teacher. • Dion Albanese as Teddy Wong, the leader of the Wongs. Additional actors include Olympia Dukakis as Joey's Mother, the novel's author Richard Price as a Hustler, Wayne Knight (in his film debut) as a Waiter, and Faith Minton as The Big Lady. ==Production==

Development Philip Kaufman and Richard Price unsuccessfully tried to pitch the project to Alberto Grimaldi. Because of this, Kaufman signed on to direct what would have been the first motion picture based on Star Trek: The Original Series, to be called Star Trek: Planet of the Titans. Allan Scott and Chris Bryant were hired to write the film's screenplay, but their attempt was rejected and Kaufman tried to write the screenplay himself. Before he could finish the screenplay, Paramount Pictures abandoned the project, saying there was no market for science-fiction movies. After the Star Trek project was shelved, Kaufman directed the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. When filming finished, he went to New York and successfully pitched The Wanderers to Martin Ransohoff. According to Kaufman, "the pieces somehow fell together", partly because of the increasing popularity of gang movies. Casting The casting process, which Kaufman described as "arduous", began in New York City. He said teenagers from across the city wanted to audition. Academy Award-winning producer Scott Rudin was the film's casting director who found Erland van Lidth and Linda Manz. There was no character named Peewee in the novel. Rudin had organized an interview with Manz. Kaufman and Price were present; they all thought she had "great character". Manz was so convincing that everyone assumed she was a real member of a street gang. Because of this, the character Peewee was specifically written for her. Filming Filming of The Wanderers began in September 1978, most of it taking place in The Bronx. Kaufman said that during filming, "[This] Puerto Rican motorcycle gang came pushing its way through the crowd; wanting to see what was going on", and "they pushed everyone aside". They walked away after bumping into van Lidth. The crew also encountered trouble from former members of the "real" Baldies, who complained the film portrayed the Baldies incorrectly, saying: "[The movie] is a lie! This was not a bad neighborhood. There was no crime, no robbery. Murder, yes, but no crime!" which nearly resulted in a brawl between the former gang members, Wahl and several other actors. ==Release==

The Wanderers was released theatrically on July 13, 1979, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Janet Maslin of The New York Times criticized the film in her 1979 review, saying "the movie never attempts to tell a single story" and instead "settles for a string of boisterous vignettes, which are heaped carelessly atop one another without any consistent scheme". A number of critics praised the film, including Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle, after its 1996 theatrical re-release. Stack noted Kaufman's talent for effectively changing the film's tone and praised the acting abilities of Wahl and Ganios. He also complimented the film's soundtrack. The film has an approval rating of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Time Out praised the film, saying it "deliver[s] some great, gross, comic book capers; and rock history gets its most intelligent illustration since Mean Streets". Box office performance The Wanderers made $5 million at the U.S. box office and $18 million overseas, for a worldwide gross of $23 million. In 1988, Danny Peary said the film's "sensitive depiction" of teenagers coming-of-age was partly responsible for its cult status. Placing The Wanderers seventh in his list of "lesser-known" cult films, Neil Evans describing the film as a "lost masterpiece". Another writer described the film as a "near masterpiece" and called it "one of the best coming-of-age [films] ever made". On the film's popularity and cult status, Kaufman said: It took a long time for [the film] to find [an] audience. It's great to see that now—however many years later—[that] it went to a brief re-release by Warner Bros. [in 1996] because of the cult following. Bravo says it's the most popular film they've shown in the New York area. [The film was also shown] at the Telluride Film Festival. All [of] the people who run the festival are members of The Wanderers fan club, all wear Wanderers jackets, and [they] know every line in the film. They show the film at least twice a year up there [in Colorado]. There were about 1000 people outside, under the mountains and watching the film. It was a great night. ==Soundtrack==

Kaufman and Price compiled the soundtrack themselves. The film features Bob Dylan performing "The Times They Are a-Changin'", but the song was not included on the soundtrack album. ==References==