DAILY DIRT: ‘The Warriors’ deserves that remake … can you-u-u-u dig it?!

Granted, most of the stars from that classic 1979 film “The Warriors” are now in their 70s, I continue to hold out hope for some sort of follow-up, remake or sequel … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 292 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Did you ever watch a film, and at some point during the viewing, this thought runs rampant across your brain: “This is always going to be one of my favorite movies. Always.”

That was how I felt when I saw “The Warriors” the first time. And my feelings haven’t changed — since 1979. For years and years I have read there was a remake/sequel in development of this cult classic, but I’m still waiting. There have been video games and comic books based on the movie, but never a second film.

For the uninitiated, “The Warriors” was a Walter Hill-directed film that was a shockingly big success. On a $4 million budget, it grossed — in today’s terms — $646 million. It was the “The Warriors” that gave us “Can you-u-u-u dig it?!” and “Warriors, come out and play-y-y-y-y” … and memorable gang names like the Baseball Furies, Lizzies and the Grammercy Riffs. Not to mention principal characters like Swan, Ajax, Cochise and Vermin.

The film centered on a fictitious New York City street gang — The Warriors — that must make an urban journey of 30 miles, from the north end of the Bronx to their home turf in Coney Island in southern Brooklyn, after they were framed for the murder of a city-wide gang leader.

It’s that journey that became the stuff of movie legends. The New York Daily News, in 2016, claimed amid one of those reports of a Warriors reprise, “It’s both surrealistic pop art and sentimentalized pandering to the attitude of ‘us against them,’ the have-nots against the haves.”

Here are some other fun facts about the flick, thanks to IMDB:

President Ronald Reagan was a fan of the film, even calling lead actor, Michael Beck, to tell him he had screened it at Camp David and enjoyed it.

The original movie poster featured the words “These are the armies of the night. They are 100,000 strong. They outnumber the cops five to one. They could run New York City.” This upset and outraged many people; some tried to have the film banned.

One of the Warriors, Ajax (played by James Remar), delivered one of the most memorable line from any film in any era. Ajax’s line: “I’ll shove that bat up your ass and turn you into a popsicle” is ranked No. 12 on UGO’s Top 50 Tough Guy Lines, and on the top 50 Greatest Baseball Lines Ever.

2. Here’s a list of the stars of the Warriors and their roles:

• Michael Beck: Swan.
• James Remar: Ajax.
• David Harris: Cochise.
• Terry Michos: Vermin.
• Marcelino Sanchez: Rembrandt.
• Roger Hill: Cyrus.
• Deborah Van Valkenkburgh: Mercy.
• David Patrick Kelly: Luther.
• Lynne Thigpen: Disc jockey.

If ever a movie deserved a remake, it’s “The Warriors”. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

3. Call these words for every married man to live by:

“Behind every angry woman stands a man who has absolutely no idea what he did wrong.”

Steve Thought O’ The Day — A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Steve, too, was once known as “Swan”.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He seems to have a lot of wishful nicknames, doesn’t he?