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Purple Fury: Rumbling with the Warriors
"Making movies is a lot like life - a swirling chaotic clusterf*ck."
With these opening words, Rob Ryder grabs you by the scruff, jacks you into a subway car and starts spitting out Warriors stories, one after another, as that D train, the 6th Avenue Express, hurtles into the night.
It's the summer of 1978, and Ryder's been hired onto The Warriors as a P.A. then quickly bumped up to location scout. Six weeks later, a stuntman smashes up his leg and Ryder is suddenly a Baseball Fury. A weird turn of events - what with that purple make-up and long black wig and Yankees uniform...
PURPLE Rumbling with the Warriors is fast, smart and funny. Not your typical glamorous movie memoir -
"On my first day I opened the front passenger door to a van, stuck out my hand to the Teamster behind the wheel and said, "Hi. I'm Rob Ryder." His reply - "So what?"
Just that fast, Ryder finds himself caroming across Brooklyn looking for a street to blow up a car. (Without pissing off the neighbors.)
Slogging up and down Manhattan, searching out a giant grimy bathroom for the Warriors/Punks fight. (Paramount eventually had to build one.)
Escaping a brawl with some old-school Coney Island gangsters over a pair of giant bolt-cutters. (They never got them back.)
This book is no scholarly tome - but a cold plunge into the hot mess of real-life movie production - Ryder rough-shodding you into the spooky depths of Riverside Park or the stink and grime and squealing of trains in the NYC subways.
And just when New York's becoming all too much, you find yourself yanked across the country to Los Angeles - the land of milk and honey - where Ryder found work as a screenwriter and sports production specialist.
These Hollywood interludes include the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Tommy Lee Jones, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Martin and other (un)savory characters.
But it's always back to New York, where The Warriors barrels along, Ryder offering insights and inside dope with each new set-up.
After the Warriors/Furies bat fights, director Walter Hill makes Ryder a Punk in the subway bathroom brawl. 16 gangbangers in an enclosed space, shooting one of the greatest bare-knuckled fight scenes of all time.
Then all too soon, this train screeches to a halt - Stillwell Avenue Station - end of the line - Coney Island. Where you're dumped out onto the platform, feeling a lot like the Warriors did - battered, bruised, but still standing. And weirdly exhilarated.
With these opening words, Rob Ryder grabs you by the scruff, jacks you into a subway car and starts spitting out Warriors stories, one after another, as that D train, the 6th Avenue Express, hurtles into the night.
It's the summer of 1978, and Ryder's been hired onto The Warriors as a P.A. then quickly bumped up to location scout. Six weeks later, a stuntman smashes up his leg and Ryder is suddenly a Baseball Fury. A weird turn of events - what with that purple make-up and long black wig and Yankees uniform...
PURPLE Rumbling with the Warriors is fast, smart and funny. Not your typical glamorous movie memoir -
"On my first day I opened the front passenger door to a van, stuck out my hand to the Teamster behind the wheel and said, "Hi. I'm Rob Ryder." His reply - "So what?"
Just that fast, Ryder finds himself caroming across Brooklyn looking for a street to blow up a car. (Without pissing off the neighbors.)
Slogging up and down Manhattan, searching out a giant grimy bathroom for the Warriors/Punks fight. (Paramount eventually had to build one.)
Escaping a brawl with some old-school Coney Island gangsters over a pair of giant bolt-cutters. (They never got them back.)
This book is no scholarly tome - but a cold plunge into the hot mess of real-life movie production - Ryder rough-shodding you into the spooky depths of Riverside Park or the stink and grime and squealing of trains in the NYC subways.
And just when New York's becoming all too much, you find yourself yanked across the country to Los Angeles - the land of milk and honey - where Ryder found work as a screenwriter and sports production specialist.
These Hollywood interludes include the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Tommy Lee Jones, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Martin and other (un)savory characters.
But it's always back to New York, where The Warriors barrels along, Ryder offering insights and inside dope with each new set-up.
After the Warriors/Furies bat fights, director Walter Hill makes Ryder a Punk in the subway bathroom brawl. 16 gangbangers in an enclosed space, shooting one of the greatest bare-knuckled fight scenes of all time.
Then all too soon, this train screeches to a halt - Stillwell Avenue Station - end of the line - Coney Island. Where you're dumped out onto the platform, feeling a lot like the Warriors did - battered, bruised, but still standing. And weirdly exhilarated.
158 pages, Hardcover
Published September 30, 2023
3 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 18, 2025
3.5 Stars
The author was involved with the iconic "The Warriors" movie of 1979 as production assistant, location scout, and then wound up actually being in the movie playing two different gang members. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I like to find out any new kernel of information involving its making. There is another book out there with much more overall information about this movie (Can You Dig It: The Phenomenon of The Warriors), but this is another perspective with personal insights.
This is a short book of under 200 pages. I felt the pain of the author as he was sent on challenging missions to find nighttime filming locations for scenes such as blowing up a car with a molotov cocktail and a subway bathroom to accommodate an explosive fight scene between two gangs. A favorite fan scene in the movie is of a gang called The Baseball Furies who wear baseball uniforms and frightening, colorful, kabuki-type facial makeup, as they threateningly wield baseball bats. When a cast member was injured, Ryder was recruited to step into the breach for this iconic fight scene through a park in NYC. He assumed the costume of the "Purple Fury", who was in the climactic fight scene with actor Michael Beck who played Swan. Later, Ryder was called upon to be one of "The Punks", a gang wearing roller skates that confronted The Warriors in a subway bathroom battle towards the end of the movie. While Ryder mostly wrote about his experience on The Warriors movie, he also included information about his overall entertainment career in movies and writing. He decided to write this book after participating in Warriors themed Facebook groups where people loved hearing about his work on this movie. He revels in the fact that there is such a nostalgic fan base spanning generations with this movie, and how nice it is that cast members appear at fan conventions such as Comic-Con, maintaining friendships with each other. He also includes his website and email in the book to find out where their appearances will take place throughout the year.
The author was involved with the iconic "The Warriors" movie of 1979 as production assistant, location scout, and then wound up actually being in the movie playing two different gang members. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I like to find out any new kernel of information involving its making. There is another book out there with much more overall information about this movie (Can You Dig It: The Phenomenon of The Warriors), but this is another perspective with personal insights.
This is a short book of under 200 pages. I felt the pain of the author as he was sent on challenging missions to find nighttime filming locations for scenes such as blowing up a car with a molotov cocktail and a subway bathroom to accommodate an explosive fight scene between two gangs. A favorite fan scene in the movie is of a gang called The Baseball Furies who wear baseball uniforms and frightening, colorful, kabuki-type facial makeup, as they threateningly wield baseball bats. When a cast member was injured, Ryder was recruited to step into the breach for this iconic fight scene through a park in NYC. He assumed the costume of the "Purple Fury", who was in the climactic fight scene with actor Michael Beck who played Swan. Later, Ryder was called upon to be one of "The Punks", a gang wearing roller skates that confronted The Warriors in a subway bathroom battle towards the end of the movie. While Ryder mostly wrote about his experience on The Warriors movie, he also included information about his overall entertainment career in movies and writing. He decided to write this book after participating in Warriors themed Facebook groups where people loved hearing about his work on this movie. He revels in the fact that there is such a nostalgic fan base spanning generations with this movie, and how nice it is that cast members appear at fan conventions such as Comic-Con, maintaining friendships with each other. He also includes his website and email in the book to find out where their appearances will take place throughout the year.
June 22, 2024
I almost didn’t read this, I like The Warriors movie but I don’t LOVE the movie but at some point on Facebook Rob commented to me saying something like “I wrote a book you should read it” and I liked his approach also promised him I would.
You know the guy at the party who has all the stories but once he gets rolling he has a hard time staying on topic so he’s jumping from story to story and you’re loving it but trying to piece it all together? That’s Rob. And that’s a compliment. Because a lot of the time, those story tellers get so far off the beaten path that they become hard to listen too and hard to follow and hard to pay attention, Rob doesn’t. He’ll tell you about experiences with Shaq, with Tommy Lee Jones and then come right back to the Purple Fury and it all just works. From production assistant to actor, even though he knew it would wrinkle some feathers.
It was a great book, a quick delightful read and I highly recommend checking it out.
But Rob, please don’t make that sequel.
You know the guy at the party who has all the stories but once he gets rolling he has a hard time staying on topic so he’s jumping from story to story and you’re loving it but trying to piece it all together? That’s Rob. And that’s a compliment. Because a lot of the time, those story tellers get so far off the beaten path that they become hard to listen too and hard to follow and hard to pay attention, Rob doesn’t. He’ll tell you about experiences with Shaq, with Tommy Lee Jones and then come right back to the Purple Fury and it all just works. From production assistant to actor, even though he knew it would wrinkle some feathers.
It was a great book, a quick delightful read and I highly recommend checking it out.
But Rob, please don’t make that sequel.
March 2, 2024
This book is AMAZING. Rob Ryder has written an honest, no-holds-barred memoir of his journey in Hollywood (with special emphasis on the late 70s time capsule that was the production of The Warriors). It's action-packed, funny, full of revealing behind-the-scenes stories, and has an absolutely refreshing amount of heart. At a lean, mean 150 pages, it's a must-read for anyone interested in the art of navigating Hollywood or making movies. At age 60, I thought I was too old to discover new heroes, but I found one in Mr. Ryder!
September 18, 2025
A wild ride through Hollywood
I picked up this book via Apple Books as I’m currently binging everything Warriors-related, including watching James Remar’s entire cinematic journey (love that dude but can admit, quality is… varied).
It did not disappoint as there was plenty of backstory and behind the scenes moments about the making of the Warriors, as well as Rob’s various celebrity encounters and musings on life, human nature and social media. I always think it’s been worthwhile reading a book if I can take something away from it. One thing that stayed with me from Purple Fury was Rob’s view on social media and how being a snarky edge lord online - or even reading those type of comments - is really detrimental. ‘Engaging in online snarkiness will chip away at your soul in ways you don’t even realise. Even reading that shit’s a mistake.’
Enjoyed the casual tone and sense of honesty that Rob brought to his story. It was like sitting in a pub having a beer with a guy with an incredible life story, plenty of opinions and some excellent stories about Hollywood.
Particularly fun to read moments about the Baseball Furies fight scene - how even Rob was freaked out at first seeing actors he knew in the Furies creepy makeup and the rituals the Warrior actors did to pump themselves up before each take. So good. Send it straight into my veins.
In addition, Rob is very active online in Warriors fan culture, a lovely guy - and what’s more rad than being on OG Baseball Fury?
Highly recommend - buy it, read it, love it like a puppy.
I picked up this book via Apple Books as I’m currently binging everything Warriors-related, including watching James Remar’s entire cinematic journey (love that dude but can admit, quality is… varied).
It did not disappoint as there was plenty of backstory and behind the scenes moments about the making of the Warriors, as well as Rob’s various celebrity encounters and musings on life, human nature and social media. I always think it’s been worthwhile reading a book if I can take something away from it. One thing that stayed with me from Purple Fury was Rob’s view on social media and how being a snarky edge lord online - or even reading those type of comments - is really detrimental. ‘Engaging in online snarkiness will chip away at your soul in ways you don’t even realise. Even reading that shit’s a mistake.’
Enjoyed the casual tone and sense of honesty that Rob brought to his story. It was like sitting in a pub having a beer with a guy with an incredible life story, plenty of opinions and some excellent stories about Hollywood.
Particularly fun to read moments about the Baseball Furies fight scene - how even Rob was freaked out at first seeing actors he knew in the Furies creepy makeup and the rituals the Warrior actors did to pump themselves up before each take. So good. Send it straight into my veins.
In addition, Rob is very active online in Warriors fan culture, a lovely guy - and what’s more rad than being on OG Baseball Fury?
Highly recommend - buy it, read it, love it like a puppy.
June 9, 2024
CAN YOU DIG IT! If you are a fan of the cult classic, “The Warriors”. About a NYC gang falsely accused of the murder of “Cyrus, the one and only.” A visionary leader who wants to unite all the NYC street gangs. “The Warriors” must fight their way back to Coney Island their home turf. This is the recollection of a location scout who ended up in the film as “The Purple Fury” and one of “The Punks”. Two gangs trying to eliminate “The Warriors”. “Warriors come out and play.”
August 16, 2025
A great book if you are a fan of The Warriors film. A lot of making of and behind the scenes stuff you may not be aware of. You also get some insights into the making of some other movies and film making in general. 5 Stars.
December 26, 2025
A really fun read for anyone who loves The Warriors and for those who work in the industry (the struggles are relatable and so real).
Ryder is fantastic at capturing everyone's personalities and it makes you feel like you're there.
100000000/10 super endearing
Ryder is fantastic at capturing everyone's personalities and it makes you feel like you're there.
100000000/10 super endearing
July 23, 2024
This was recommended to me by a colleague at work, because I have experience working in the entertainment industry. Despite never watching the film, this was a fantastically engaging read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews