The Wanderers (Director’s Cut)

Author Annette Insdorf in-person!

Fresh from the success of his 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Kaufman shifted gears for this lyrical, serio-comic adaptation of Richard Price’s acclaimed debut novel, about an Italian-American greaser gang coming of age on the streets of The Bronx in the early 1960s. In his charismatic film debut, future Wiseguy star Ken Wahl plays Richie, the proverbial leader of the pack, while Linda Manz (Days of Heaven) nearly steals the film out from under him as the pint-sized girlfriend of a Hercules-sized rival gang leader. Rumbles aplenty ensue in this latter-day West Side Story—arguably the best of the late 1970s explosion of gang pictures—with Leonard Bernstein replaced by the jukebox hits of the era, including “Do You Love Me,” “Soldier Boy,” “Wipe Out” and “Tequila.” Co-starring a pre-Raiders of the Lost Ark Karen Allen as the nice girl from the right side of the tracks.