NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Arrow 4K UHD (December 2023): Arrow have released Walter Hill's 1979 "The Warriors" on 4K UHD. It is an extensive package, offering; "Exclusive new 4K remasters of both the Theatrical Cut and the 2005 Alternate Version of the film sourced from the original camera negative, supervised by Arrow Films and approved by director Walter Hill. 4K Ultra HD (2160p) presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both versions of the film. Theatrical Cut presented in original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 for the first time on home video."

The colors are more balanced than the older Paramount Blu-ray, reviewed by Leonard HERE. The 2160P also showcases wonderfully thick and consistent grain texture, colors gain a touch of richness and, overall, the visuals are darker than the 1080P. It remains authentically thick. The Paramount Blu-ray was in the, slightly bastardized, 1.78:1 aspect ratio (we lose a sliver of information) and has some there is some stretching that is corrected by the very stable 4K. The theatrical transfer compares well to the alternate version on a second 4K UHD disc. The former has the highest bitrate I have seen for this format. Flesh tones warm and appear more authentic. Bottom line is that the 2160P image quality is excellent - often as gritty as you might expect from a Walter Hill film and looks far more film-like than any previous digital presentations. Arrow perfection.    

It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation.

*NOTE: For Atmos many non-compliant systems will recognizes it as TrueHD 7.1, but from Wikipedia: "Because of limited bandwidth and lack of processing power, Atmos in home theaters is not a real-time mix rendered the same way as in cinemas. The substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. This substream only represents a losslessly encoded fully object-based mix. This substream does not include all 128 objects separated. This is not a matrix-encoded channel, but a spatially-encoded digital channel. Atmos in home theaters can support 24.1.10 channel, but it is not an object-based real-time rendering. Filmmakers need to remix and render the TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks with Dolby Media Producer."

There are plentiful extras on the theatrical Cut 4K UHD disc. Firstly we get a new commentary by film critic Walter Chaw, author of the 400-page critical study of Walter Hill’s work entitled A Walter Hill Film. Walter is DVDBeaver-reviewer Colin Zavitz's favorite critic (Film Freak Central and a contributor to The New York Times, Vulture, NPR etc.) - and with good reason. He discusses the tradition of filmmakers like Nicholas Ray, Sam Peckinpah, Howard Hawks and, especially, Robert Aldrich that Walter Hill's cinema echoes. He references specific conversations with the director and many of his machismo oeuvre.

War Stories, a new interview with director Walter Hill running over a 1/4 of an hour.  Included is a 1 1/2 hour roundtable 'Zoom' discussion in which screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence, The Movies That Made Me podcast), and directors Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans), and Robert D. Kryzkowski (one of my favorites; The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot) talk about their love for The Warriors and the work of director Walter Hill. Filmed for Arrow Video in 2023. Battling Boundaries is a new 8-minute interview with editor Billy Weber and Gang Style is new 9-minute interview with costume designer Bobbie Mannix. Armies of the Night is a new 6-minute exclusive look at costume designs and photographs from the archive of designer Mannix. Sound of the Streets is a new 25-minute appreciation of composer Barry De Vorzon and the music of The Warriors by film historian Neil Brand. Come Out to Play is a new 10-minute look at the iconic locations of the Warriors’ Coney Island home turf with modern day footage. The Beginning is one of four archival extras from 2005 looking back on how The Warriors came to be. They (plus Battleground, The Way Home and The Phenomenon with assistant director David O. Sosna, a the look of film with director of photography Andrew Laszlo etc.) run over an hour in total and were on previous digital disc editions. Lastly, on this 4K UHD disc are a theatrical trailer and image gallery.

The second 4K UHD disc (Alternate version) has the same archival introduction by Hill from 2005. No other supplements.

The 4K UHD package has an impressive 100-page collector’s book containing new writing by film critic Dennis Cozzalio plus select archival material, a limited Edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Laurie Greasley, double-sided fold-out poster with original and newly commissioned artwork by Laurie Greasley and 6 postcard-sized artcards (see image above.)