Listen: Director Says 1979 Cult Classic 'The Warriors' Originally Included a Gay Gang

"The Warriors" established a new cinema aesthetic – not to mention a bit of a moral panic – upon its release in 1979. But the controversial film was almost even more transgressive. Director Walter Hill has revealed a gay gang was part of his original script, The Hollywood Reporter said.

But budgetary constraints led to the gang being trimmed from the script, Hill told THR's "It Happened in Hollywood" podcast. "I'm very sorry about that," Hill added. "What I wanted to show was the gay gang in a positive light."

The film is based on the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick, which in turn was inspired by "Anabasis," an Ancient Greek epic written by Xenophon that documents the use of mercenaries in a power struggle in 401 B.C.E. Xenophon himself was a mercenary soldier.

But it was a futuristic vibe Hill was chasing, not an ancient one, when he dreamed up the highly stylized gangs that The Warriors do battle with in the movies. THR details that the gay gang, which was going to be called The Dingos, "were to be outfitted in leather fetishwear, some of it studded in chrome rivets and spikes."

Mel Magazine recalled that "upon release" the film quickly became "so notorious for its alleged on-screen violence and actual off-screen violence, that 'The Warriors' would vanish from screens despite being the most popular movie in America at the time."

Mel Mag noted that the film "was linked to three killings and sporadic gang fights and vandalism. As such, it didn't take long for moral panic to set in and for the movie to represent serious national problems of lawlessness, brutality, poverty and urban decay."

All the same (or perhaps due to that notoriety), the film has remained a cult classic, and its style has echoed through popular culture ever since.

"The film is credited with accelerating the rise of hip-hop culture, with its dialogue sampled by the likes of Ice Cube and Wu-Tang Clan," THR detailed. "Its plot has inspired video games like 'Street Fighter. 'Its look has influenced everything from Michael Jackson videos to the movies of Jordan Peele."

You didn't think the wild getups worn by Gotham's street punks in the 1997 George Clooney vehicle "Batman & Robin" came out of nowhere, did you?

Listen to Hill on "It Happened in Hollywood" by following this link.