The Warriors
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Silver Screen Collection / Getty
Actor David Harris, who famously portrayed Cochise in the cult classic film The Warriors, has passed away. He was 75.
According to the New York Times, Harris died in his home in New York City after a battle with cancer, per his daughter Davina Harris.
Harris appeared in films like A Soldier’s Story and Fatal Beauty, and television shows including NYPD Blue, In The Heat of the Night and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But it was no doubt The Warriors, released in 1979, that still got him recognized wherever he went.
In The Warriors, a Hip-Hop movie through and through for those that know, the eponymously named gang has to make it all the way back to Coney Island after a big gang meeting in The Bronx goes left when Cyrus—who hoped to unite all the gangs—gets shot and killed after his epic “Can you dig it?!” speech. Keep in mind , there are no cell phones or Ubers, just NYC’s rapid transit and every other gang in the city out to stop them. It was Cochise who proved to be one of the more thorough members of the crew, showing deference to war chief Swan, finding time to party with girls on the way home and willingly throwing hands when it became necessary.
“I was the last Warrior cast,” Harris told The Five Count podcast during an interview. “Walter Hill saw like, I don’t, 300 or 400 actors for Cochise in The Warriors in New York, but he could find Cochise. I was in Minneapolis doing a play and I got back to New York and Walter was still trying to find Cochise. My agent said, Hey man there’s this movie in the city and there’s a part that they’re having a problem casting… I walk into the room, I had two scenes to read for Walter but he took one look at me [and] said, Go down to wardrobe. He found his Cochise.”
Rest in powerful peace David Harris.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Atlantic Records / Atlantic Records
The cult classic film The Warriors is getting a new interpretation from Lin-Manuel Miranda, featuring Lauryn Hill among others.
For many, The Warriors is a beloved film from the late 1970s that has been celebrated since its release. A new album reimagining the original story from award-winning playwrights Lin-Manuel Miranda and Elsa Davis is set to be released on October 18, and it features Grammy Award-winner Lauryn Hill playing the role of Cyrus, and the titular street gang from Coney Island played by notable actresses Kenita Miller, Sasha Hutchings, Phillipa Soo, Aneesa Folds, Amber Gray, Gizel Jiménez, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Julia Harriman.
Lauryn Hill’s addition to the album already rounds out the highly-impressive cast on the project. “We just had to have her, you know what I mean? There was no plan B, whatsoever,” Davis said of reaching out to the singer. The album also features Nas (who’s an executive producer), Ghostface and The RZA, Busta Rhymes, Cam’ron, Chris Rivers, and reggae artist Shenseea, along with actors Colman Domingo and Billy Porter. Original cast members James Remar and David Patrick Kelly also appear on the project. “Eisa and I crafted our letter with care and just stayed in touch with her manager over the course of the year, never having a plan B, texting back and forth until one day we had a Dropbox file with all of these harmonies,” Miranda said.
For the Hamilton actor and producer and Davis, an Obie Award winner her performance in Passing Strange, the Warriors being portrayed by all women isn’t just a mere gender-swap. It’s a choice inspired by the online vitriol that the two observed in Gamergate and tying it to the moment Cyrus is killed by Luther and his gang. “I made that connection and then thought, “Well if the Warriors are women, how does that change the narrative?” At every point, it complicates it in a really compelling way,” Miranda explained. “I think that it’s just so crucial to think about this — it’s a group of women that no one believes. Everyone is accusing you falsely, as Lin is saying, and what is it that you do? What is it that you try?” Davis stated.
The two did say there are no plans to turn this version into a feature film. The Warriors concept album is out October 18.
-
Pages