The Warriors: Director's Cut

Filmed in standard widescreen, the 1.78:1 anamorphic picture looks so clear and perfect that you'd think the film was made only yesterday. When I was a kid, I had to make do with an old, grubby video. Now the film looks completely different and you can really appreciate Hill's constant use of comic book colour schemes. In the whole running time I don't think I came across a single blemish, or imperfection. Truly top marks for making a 27-year-old film look so brilliant.

Ditto for the sound. Originally a plain stereo movie, the DVD comes with a remastered Dolby 5.1 sound design and it's amazing. The songs come through loud and full of life and the dialogue natural. The sound effects were never that sophisticated, but there's loads of ambience to be had and you'll still be surprised at how good the movie sounds without ever seeming artificial.

The DVD includes a director's introduction, in which Walter Hill explains he's not too keen on commentaries, or special editions. He does say it's okay to like the theatrical cut better, but this new DVD represents what he intended to do at the time, but felt his subtext was lost on the audience.

The five featurettes focus on different parts of the movie. I don't know why they weren't included in one hour-long documentary, but they're still quite informative. Interviews with Hill, David Patrick Kelly, Michael Beck, James Remar, David Harris, Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Frank Marshall are found in all of them and they have vivid recollections of the events more than 25 years ago. Since it's a retrospective documentary, they're not going to be talking crap and you know it's not promotional fluff, having been directed by Laurent Bouzereau who, you will remember, has done so many great documentaries for movies such as Jaws, Duel, War Of The Worlds, The Untouchables and Back To The Future.

A trailer is also included.

A great DVD of a brilliant movie. And a must-own for cult fans.