Les seigneurs

This film made a BIG impression on me when I was growing up. More than any other film, it captured the timelessness of the transition from being a boy to becomming a man and how you leave childish things behind. Funny, raucous and, at times, both disturbing and moving,this film has it all. If you've never seen "The Wanderers", please do yourself a favour- you won't regret it.

This film has been a personal favourite of mine for years and it has always amazed me how hardly any people know about it. This film is so fun and full of charm it feels so real and gritty at times. I can't really comment on whether this film is realistic or not however as I didn't grow up in the era the film is set in but the time period has always fascinated me. In my opinion I prefer this film over films like grease or American graffiti and even the warriors because I just find it so enjoyable. The reason people don't know about this is because the film is pretty hard to find , I had to import my Blu ray online because there isn't a UK release but in the USA more people need to pick it up and try it.

Interestingly enough, most of the gangs portrayed in the film were neither symbolic nor imaginary, but were based on various real gangs who existed at different periods throughout the fifties and early sixties.

Many of these gangs were not real gangs in the common theatrical sense, but were specific ethnic groups of teens from different Bronx and Manhattan neighborhoods. Of course, each group developed its own mythical idea of what the other groups were like, and in his novel, Richard Price used much of this teenage myth and lore.

Of all the well-embellished epics common to the teens in the Wanderers' neighborhood , those dealing with the Duckies were the most detailed and commonly accepted. The Duckies, whether or not they were truly an organized group with such a name, were "the guys across the tracks", insofar as The Wanderers were concerned (the tracks being the NY Central's Harlem Line). They lived in the predominantly Irish neighborhood directly across Bronx Park. I believe their frightening, near demonic quality in the movie was based on a single actual event when two of the Wanderers were actually attacked in the park. Since The Wanderers had never really engaged in any real "gang wars" (or any significant fighting for that matter), that particular episode was the source of most of their perceptions of the Duckie Boys' penchant for unbridled violence.

The Wanderers, an Italian street gang in the Bronx 1963, preparing for a rumble with rival gang the Del-Bombers, try to enlist other gangs to help their cause. However, as the times are a changing, The Wanderers and all the other gangs of the city must come to terms with pending adulthood, and, the ending of an era.

Directed by Phillip Kaufman, this adaptation of Richard Price's novel stands up as one of the best pictures to deal with gang culture. Laced with crackling adolescent humour, and sublimely sound tracked, The Wanderers triumphs better than most because it captures the time frame perfectly. Encompassing the killing of JFK, and subtly showing (during an hilarious sequence) the enlisting of ignorant youths into the Marines, to be carted off to Vietnam no doubt, The Wanderers has far more to offer than merely angst and high school jinx. The cast are surprisingly strong, Ken Wahl, Karen Allen, Tony Ganios and Erland van Lidth all shine in their respective roles, whilst Kaufman directs with a knowing sense of purpose of the thematics to hand. All of which culminates in a quite eerie final third as the deadly Ducky Boys enter the fray. Not quite as serious as The Warriors, which was released the same year, it's a film that much like this one now feels part of my teen education. The Wanderers is however the smarter picture of the two in terms of substance. The coming together at the finale, the racial harmony bursting out from the screen, is and always should be eternally embraced.

All together now, "I'm the type of guy who will never settle down" 8/10

Just finished watching The Wanderers again after so many years. It still stays an all time classic to me. When it just came out I couldn't get enough of that movie. I think it aged well and it's still good after all those years. Maybe the acting and the dialogs are not the greatest but to me it just brings me back to my youth. Okay I preferred The Warriors that came out that same year, but that movie is not comparable even if it is also about gangs. In the Wanderers it's nice to see how the gangs were in that time in New York. It's absolutely not comparable with the gangs from now. The gangs in that time were just friends hanging out together but now they are just gangsters selling drugs and weapons. Anyways, after all those years I still enjoyed this movie, especially the soundtrack.