The Poster Memorabilia blog

A Gang Worth Going Back To

One last subway ride to Coney Island, and a decade of chasing down the rest of the Warriors.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

My favorite thing about being a cinephile is knowing about films that the rest of the world has long forgotten. Cult classics and niche favorites that barely get mentioned anymore. They're like hidden gems that the lucky few get to know and cherish while others talk about the same 10 to 20 classics.

Take The Warriors from 1979, for instance, an action-thriller about street gangs in New York City. By that description alone, you'd think this was some sort of non-musical version of West Side Story, but it's not. This cult classic is much grittier and has more bite than other gang movies made at the time.

It was just the movie's bad luck that violence broke out at some of its early screenings, which led many to believe that the film was inspiring real-world gang trouble. Paramount pulled its advertising, and the controversy shadowed the movie for years, no matter how well it did at the box office.

Fortunately, my dad loved the movie, and when he showed it to me, I came to love it too. Its obscurity made it even more fascinating. I liked being one of the only handful of movie-watchers who've seen it. It made me feel like I'm in an exclusive club or something.

“It made me feel like I'm in an exclusive club or something.”

It turned out, however, the “club” was bigger than I thought. I went to what was billed as the cast's last subway ride home at Coney Island in September 2015. The location was where they filmed the climax, and the actors rode the Q train out there together before meeting fans by the boardwalk. Michael Beck, Dorsey Wright, David Harris, Terry Michos, and Thomas G. Waites were all part of it.

I was surprised the event drew quite a big crowd. I didn’t know that many also knew about the movie. Now, it wasn’t Comic-Con-level big, but it was still significant. There were fans there in full gang vests, and I heard some had flown in from other countries just for the day.

As much as I would've wanted to see James Remar, David Patrick Kelly, and Deborah Van Valkenburgh too, I was happy with who showed up. It was great seeing them alive and well after all these years, especially Wright, whose character got killed off early in the movie.

✦ ✦ ✦

I got all their autographs on my movie poster that day, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted the rest of the main cast to sign the poster, too. So seven years later, I got to see James Remar at Fanboy Expo Dallas in 2022. Women would probably remember him as Richard in the hit HBO series, Sex and the City. But for me, he'll always be Ajax.

I then met David Patrick Kelly and got his autograph when he appeared at the Voices Against Cancer 605 Pop Culture Con in June 2025. Though he was still acting, he didn't turn up at fan events all that often, so getting him felt like a rare bit of luck. I doubt I could've caught him if I'd missed this one.

And finally, I saw Deborah Van Valkenburgh at Fanboy Expo Orlando in September 2025, a few months after I saw Kelly. The latter was still fresh in my mind, so seeing her so soon afterward got me a bit choked up. She and Kelly were two of my favorite actors in the movie after Beck, and it was really special to finally meet both of them in the same year.

I hope that this autographed poster leads more people to discover The Warriors. It's been great knowing about it while the rest of the world doesn't, but I think it's time more moviegoers got to know what I consider one of the best gang movies of the 1970s.

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

Guaranteed authentic for life • 90-day returns, any reason