The Wanderers
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alan Rosenberg, John Friedrich, Karen Allen, Ken Wahl, Toni KalemBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Unknown; French (Original Language), Unknown
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 117 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-03
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Wanderers
Movie Review: A Wonderfully Funny Film With Tragic Undertones
Summary: 5 Stars
A movie set in the early '60's with everything that applies - the assasination of JFK, the shadow of Vietnam, the evolving Civil Rights movement, the great exodis to the West Coast, and the coming-of-age and breaking up of old ties in the face of high school graduation or dropping-out. I have not read the book by Richard Price and I don't know why he decided to set it in the time period that he has unless it's to use the Kennedy thing as symbolic of the passing of innocence (as if it hasn't been overused as such already).
Basically it's the story of several working class ethnic teenage gangs and one in particular, the Italian-based Wanderers, lead by the charismatic and generaly level-headed Ritchie (Ken Wahl, WISEGUY). Their nearest competitors for control of turf are the Baldies, led by a huge, seemingly good-natured monstrosity called Terror (Erland van Lidth de Jeude) and his tiny-but-tough girlfriend Peewee (Linda Manz, DAYS OF HEAVEN) Other gangs include the Asian Wongs and the Black Del bombers (The DB's). But all these groups fade into insignificance in the face of the large and vicious Ducky Boys, a silly name for a malevolent, almost demonic gang that seems to perpetually carry its own fog and avant-garde music along with it.
A different threat to Ritchie's world comes in the person of Nina (Karen Allen), an independent spirit who comes from a far greater world than the Bronx. She has greater intellectual interests, such as playing classical music on her car radio, listening to Bob Dylan singing "Blowin' In The Wind", and reading "Lady Chaterley's Lover" for its literary merits while guessing rightly that Ritchie has read it for the dirty parts. All of this is far removed from the world Ritchie knows, but Ritchie is drawn to her because he senses she is part of a different world, largely because she is not as shallow as his other friends are, like his regular girlfriend Despie (Toni Kalem).
This is a wonderfully funny movie with snappy dialogue, a few good one-liners (Terror: "Now, there you go again: hurtin' our feelin's.") and numerous awkward situations for our heroes. Gang violence as we know it is fairly minimul. There are a few tragic undertones such as when one Wanderers' member, Turkey, decides he now wants to join the Baldies (This makes him an outsider who is later killed by the Ducky Boys). Richtie encounters a group of people watching the JFK assasination in a TV store and crying. But some of the funny moments include an encounter between Ritchie and his pal Joey and the Baldies (I won't tell what that eventually involved), how a few Mob bosses cool down some uncooperative gang members in a bowling alley, and the Baldies getting drunk and winding up enlisting in the Marines (Even this has its tragic undertones: Vietnam is just on the horizon). Things climax when a football game between the Wanderers and the DBs is interrupted by a mass invasion of the Ducky Boys and all gangs bury their differences, beat back the invaders and later reunite at a party to mark Ritchie's upcoming marriage to Despie.
I place this film among those that I will watch when I'm just absolutely stuck as to what I want to see on the tube.
Don't forget to listen in on director Philip Kaufman's commentary track, which is entertaining as well as informative.
Summary of The Wanderers
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/03/2002 Rating: RSimilar DVD Movies
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