Chiasmus cult cinema trailers - "The Wanderers" (1979). *These will be ongoing posts, courtesy of the A.Glass DVD collection. As I offer via Chiasmus Cult trailers, my summarized overviews*

 

Part of the lineage of gang movies of the late 1970s and mid to 1980s, particularly the popular culture fascination with the street gangs of New York City, which were racially connected to the various suburbs and the turf they protected. "The Wanders" (1979) has to be one of those cult movies, which has a charm of all of its own, apart from the fact that this is a teen coming of age movie, is actually quite violent.  Based off the 1974 novel of the same, written by Richard Price, with the screenplay by Rose Kaufman and Philip Kaufman.  Directed by Philip Kaufman on relevantly low budget of $5 million, although never officially disclosed.  There is no doubting the skills that Kaufman has, in creating a gang story which had less of a theatrical style to it, like "The Warriors" (1979), as The Wanderers was backdated to the early 1960s in New York City, more specifically The Bronx, where Price grew up in, as a more 'accurate' representation of the NYC street gang timeline. 

"The Wanderers" upon its theatrical releases in 1979 had moderate success, bringing in $25 Million at the box office, the movie was somewhat forgotten going into the 1980s, only to reemerge in the mid 80s as a 'cult' video, and to the Generation Xers, you may have watched this on Friday nights with your friends, while reciting most of the memorable lines, like, "Don't fuck with the Baldies"  and "Don't fuck with the Wongs" (two gangs which appear in the movie).  And The Wanderers does very much have that punk feel to it, when the youth trend of 'punk rock' emerged in the mid 1970s, from New York, only to be repackaged in London, England, then resent back to New York again.  Specifically, the 1950s 'Teddy Boy' trend of the late 1970s, is somewhat portrayed in movie, obviously aesthetically shown with the Italian gang, The Wanderers.

And as mentioned there is, at times, an unsettling violence to the movie, from domestic abuse, as "Joey Capra" played by John Friedrich, is taunted and abused by his steroid taking father, who is secretly seeing his new friend, and fellow neighbour "Perry LaGuardia" played by the late Tony Ganios, mother.  To which Capra and LaGuardia become friends, with LaGuardia looking over the physically smaller Capra, protecting him against his father and other gangs.  To the actual gang fight scenes, more so the mysterious and horror like "Ducky Boys" gang, made up of legions of grubby looking, psychopathic Irish American youth.  Watch for the scene with some of the Wanderers, who are following Karen Allen's character "Nina Becker" in car, at the main Wanderer  and their leader "Richie Gennaro" (played by a very young Ken Wahl) request.  And they end up in a dark, enclosed, grimy, grotty foggy street of The Bronx, yes, Ducky Boy territory, getting jumped by hundreds of the Ducky Boys, barely making out alive.   And of course the main fight at the end, between the Ducky Boys and The Wanderers, who are playing a gridiron match (set up by Mafiosi boss "Chubby Galasso", played by the late Adolphus Jean Sweet) with their rival gang, the African American gang the Del Bombers, alongside the Chinese gang lending their fists and boots to the The Wanders and Del Bombers against the Ducky Boys.  Which goes down in cult movie history as one of the most intense fists/baseball bats/chains brawls you'll ever see, which in movie myth, apparently ended up evolving into a real fight, with injuries and hospitalizations.

And yes, also watch for "Joey Capra" whoes agro and abusive dad joins the mellay, to fend off waves and waves of Ducky Boys, with an injured Capra, after the battle, running towards his father saying, "We won!  We won!", only to get punched in the stomach by his 'roid raged' dad.

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(A.Glass 2025)

All CHIAMUS Cult Cinema trailers/commentary to date: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/search/label/Chiasmus%20cult%20cinema