Sol Yurick dies

Though many don't even realize that the New York gang cult classic The Warriors was based on a book, it was. And sadly on Saturday Sol Yurick, the Brooklyn born and bred author who wrote it (along with many novels) passed away. He was 87.

For better or worse Yurick is known for his 1965 tale of New York gang violence draped over Xenophon's Anabasis—a book which was rejected 27 times before it finally found a publisher, and more than a decade later a second life as Walter Hill's famous film. He was inspired to write the story by real life. The Guardian's obituary explains the story's genesis:

    Despite the critical success of Elia Kazan's harsh film On the Waterfront and the romantic ethnic ghettos of West Side Story, Yurick felt that writers were ignoring the city's streets. He wanted to bring night-time New York, after the shoppers and men in grey-flannel suits went home to the suburbs, back to the centre of culture. While working with poor families, he encountered children who were members of street gangs. He found it impossible to talk to them directly about gang life; they would tell him only what they believed he wanted to hear.

    A rented panel truck gave him a way to observe them secretly. He walked the streets where the gangs ruled, and once went on foot through the subway tunnel between 96th Street and 110th Street. It was a scary experience. He wanted to show that street gangs, universally seen as a symptom of social dysfunctionality, gave to the poor a structure of loyalty and a sense of community. They were neither sick, nor bad, only poor.