Richard Price's first novel "The Wanderers" was published in 1974, when he was twenty-four years old. Price knew the territory having grown up in the housing projects of the Bronx. It was a period just before the Assassination of JFK, before Vietnam was on the front page of every newspaper and before the Beatles. The episodic novel focuses on an Italian-American gang, "The Wanderers" led by Richie Gennaro (Ken Wahl). Price's Bronx is overflowing with gangs, among them the Del Rays, the Fordham Baldies, the Wongs and the stunted Irish bat wielding wild men, the Ducky Boys. Phillip Kaufman's 1979 film version, while diverting from its source novel in many respects, similarly focus' on a series of descriptive scenes centering on Gennaro and his fellow Wanderers. Though they wear matching satin jackets, they are not so much a gang as they are a union of close friends hanging out on street corners, chasing girls and protecting themselves from the more dangerous gangs of the Bronx neighborhood they live in. This inner city coming of age film sparkles intermittently while managing to unfortunately derail itself at times with arty self-consciousness.
Statistically the sixties began in 1960 however, the mood, the essence, the spirit of the sixties began in 1963; the year it all began to change. At this point in time, the radio was still filled with American Rock and Roll; artists like Dion, The Contours, The Four Seasons, The Shirelles and the Isley Brothers ruled the Billboard charts. Guys hanging out on street corners singing doo-wop, watching the girls walk by, sizing them up, planning how to cop a feel by "accidentally" bumping into them.
The film's focus is on four of The Wanderers, Richie, Joey (John Friedrich), Perry (Tony Ganios) and Buddy (Jim Youngs). Though the screenplay, written by Philip and Rose Kaufman, is as episodic as Price's novel, the film never goes much beyond the boys' current life and does not reveal any dreams or aspirations they may have beyond their present existence. In his novel, Price ventures to suggest what the future could offer, what they as individuals, want out of life beyond hanging out on the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road. True, Joey and Perry drive off to San Francisco at the end. However, they do not seem to have any plans other than to get out of their current individual situations. The boys' families are dysfunctional, Joey, an artistic type, is brutalized by his over macho father, Emilio (William Andrews), and Perry (Tony Ganios), a new kid on the block, just moved from New Jersey, has an alcoholic mother who sleeps around. As for Richie, he seems destined to marry his recently knock-up girlfriend Despie (Toni Kalem) and live a life of eating pasta and wearing Hawaiian shirts, similar to his Mafia like future father-in-law.
The film is successful in spots, particularly the opening scenes where Kaufman's camera gloriously flows over the Bronx from above, fluidly moving down in front of Alexander's Department store to focus on the pug faces of the Fordham Baldies, all to the beat of The Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man." Unfortunately, the film goes off course in other scenes, particularly when Kaufman films a bizarre atmospheric episode where Richie and his friends spot Nina walking down the street and follow her in Perry's car. They end up in an eerie fog filled, oddly lit world controlled by the bat swinging Ducky Boys. Outnumbered, the four are beaten up, though they eventually manage to escape the villainous Ducky Boys.
New York City, like many big cities, was inundated with youth gangs in the 1950s and early 1960s. Price, in his novel, and Kaufman likewise in the film, used the names of real gangs from those bygone days. The Fordham Baldies (the real gang did not shave their heads), The Ducky Boys, and The Wanderers were all real and violent gangs. Unlike "The Warriors", released earlier the same year, "The Wanderers" is not so much about gangs as it is about coming of age, in a more innocent time that was on the verge of extinction. We see the dawn of a new age in various scenes. The Vietnam War, though never mentioned, is symbolized by the foreboding Marine recruiter who suckers some of the Baldies into signing up. The assassination of John F. Kennedy is viewed by Richie as he passes by a department store window with a TV broadcasting the news on the President's death.
During his bachelor party in Little Italy, Richie spots Nina and follows her a few blocks to Folk City where a young Bob Dylan is performing "The Times They Are A-Changing." Nina enters the club meeting some friends while Richie, uncertain remains outside. He turns and leaves returning to his party and the familiar world he knows. These scenes may be a bit obvious and even heavy-handed but they do convey an emotion that our lives will no longer be as innocent and carefree as they once were.
What "The Wanderers" does is capture a moment in time, not always very successfully, but in spirit, a time when the innocence of a nation was about to end and we and The Wanderers were about to grow up.
But before we get to the main feature, let's enjoy...
The Pre-Show:
The Pre-show today offers up to six documentaries, that go from: the film's locations to the then and now aspect of the main characters, without forgetting interviews, specially our Ducky Boy recollections, quotes, etc. To top it all, the complete "The Wanderers" soundtrack but, a visual soundtrack, in other words, every song (17 in total) belonging to the film's soundtrack viewed in one complete file (video after video)!
The Main Feature:
Title: The Wanderers
Director: Philip Kaufman
Cast: Ken Wahl / John Friedrich / Karen Allen / Toni Kalem / Toni Ganios
Release Date: 4th July 1979
Country: United States
On Your Way Out:
Remember... no cheating here, this section states it clear, only to obtain ... "On Your Way Out". In case you do not follow instructions I might have to send you Ducky Boy to exchange impressions ... (I'll let him pick the rectifying sanction). Seriously now, I hope you, once more, enjoy today's humble goodies to make your evening a little more enjoyable than a few hours ago.
Cheers Shade.
Note: Password for all files: Shade'sVintageRadio
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