THE WANDERERS (1979) ****

Where do I start? This film is one of the most underrated films of the 70s, maybe ever. And not just because it's set in the Fordham section of the Bronx, where Pizzaboy grew up. It's just that good.

THE WANDERERS is many things...an urban gang drama, juvenile comedy, changing of the times study and more. It works on all these levels and has become a certified cult classic. At it's core, the Wanderers is about the final death of the innocence of the 1950's. The Wanderers are an Italian gang in NY, still clinging to the last vestiges of the 1950's with their matching satin jackets and grease-backed hair. Early on several members run afoul of another gang, the notorious Baldies (Baldies footnote---They were a real gang; Dion DiMucci, of Dion and the Belmonts fame was a member, but chickened out of shaving his head, so he was thrown out). The Wanderers find themselves trapped until a newcomer, the huge Perry saves them and is immediately welcomed into the gang by their leader Richie (Ken Wahl).

The various members of the Wanderers have problems to deal with on their own. Richie has gotten his girlfriend, Despie, pregnant, Perry's mother is an Alcoholic, Turkey wants to join the Baldies and Joey has an abusive father who thinks his son doesn't measure up. The Wanderers have a verbal war with a black gang, the Del Bombers, in school and decide to settle things with an old-fashioned rumble.

When the Wanderers cannot get any other gangs to back them up, Despie's father (Dolph Sweet) a neighborhood mob boss steps in and decides to stop the rumble and have the gangs settle their differences with a football game instead...with a lot of mob money riding on the outcome. The game climaxes when the two gangs, along with the rest in attendance, must join together to fight The Ducky Boys, a group of vicious, seemingly Irish homosexuals (although their ethnicity is never mentioned), who have crashed the game with hundreds of members. The location filming of the football game, at French Charlie's field on Webster Avenue is fantastic. I played ball there religiously when I was growing up.

Mixed in with the drama and action is a liberal amount of juvenile buddy comedy as the Wanderers "accidentally" bump into women on the street in order to touch their breasts. This is how the meet Nina (Karen Allen) a bohemian girl who Richie becomes infatuated with. There there are drunken parties, games of strip poker, etc. In one memorable scene, the drunken Baldies join the marines.

Through all of this is the theme of the changing of the times. The doo-wop of the 1950's is now being replaced by folk music. A poignant scene has Richie following Nina until she enters a club where (in sound anyway) Bob Dylan is playing. Richie doesn't enter as he seems to know that it's just not his world. The film also covers the assasination of John Kennedy as the symbolic death of innocence. It is this moment the galvanizes the strained relationship between Despie and Richie.

One wishes that the Ducky Boys had been better explained. They are a creepy group of men..older than the other gangs...who never speak and were actually seen taking Holy Communion in one part where Turkey enters their turf by mistake and his killed. What were the Ducky Boys representing? It's the one mystery of the film.

THE WANDERERS has a fantastic soundtrack of early 1960's hits including "Soldier Boy", "Walk Like a Man", "Runaround Sue", "Shout", "Big Girls don't Cry" and of course the title track.

This is a movie that holds up still after 25 years because it works well on so many different levels. This was mostly a cast of unknowns with Karen Allen perhaps being the most notable star a year after she did ANIMAL HOUSE. An enjoyable movie from beginning to end.

DON'T FUCK WITH THE WONGS!

LEAVE THE KID ALONE!

Don't know what the hell Pizzaboy is talking about?

Watch this underrated classic and find out.