I was delightfully surprised with this film. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I watched it after it was mentioned by "The Warriors" director Walter Hill because he had some worries that his film and The Wanderers would be coming into theaters around the same time, and he described them as two street-gang movies competing for box office sales. As much as the seniors in this movie had a "gang," the two movies were far different from each other, I feel.
The Wanderers is a strange movie. At moments, intensely serious fighting and interpersonal problems exist amongst these teens in the community, and then in other scenes, the moments couldn't have been lighter (ie. Playing strip poker with a couple of the girls at a party). It reminded me more of "Porky's" and the relationships between characters in that film. The cast was an excellent ensemble, and even though most of them went on to other acting work, I'm surprised I haven't seen them in more roles.
Watching the movie now is a little difficult due to political correctness and the way the movie tried to cut the racial tension with a knife. The movie has real guts by laying it out there for the audience to get uncomfortable by. The truly surreal moments involve a whole different gang that shows up a few different times during the movie; they don't seem to resemble a different neighborhood and its residents but more like zombies, and it was very difficult to take them seriously without understanding their true intentions and characters. In contrast, I really enjoyed The Baldies, the neighborhood skinhead gang that didn't seem to take life too seriously, which differentiates itself between the skinhead stereotype of white supremacists which most skinheads get labeled as.
Overall, I really want to buy this movie after watching it. It reminds me of a movie that tried to get remade in the same style, "Dueces Wild." The characters were playful yet had real problems. The music is classic 60's tunes from the era, with a handful of originally scored pieces for the surreal fighting scenes. I feel that its good enough for a few more watches, but there are some odd choices for included scenes that I didn't feel fit the movie too well. Definitely check it out if you like gang movies like The Outsiders or The Warriors.
