Chris Poggiali

From the New York City Subway to Coney Island—uncover the gritty legacy of The Warriors, the cult classic that stormed the streets—and shaped mainstream culture—since 1979! The Warriors opened to scathing reviews, big box office, and major controversy. Walter Hill’s stylized tale of gang warfare wasn’t just another action movie—it rewrote the rules of the genre. Vilified and celebrated in equal measure, it rose above its notoriety to become a cult phenomenon. Today, it stands as an influential classic, spawning cross-media spinoffs and offering a vivid snapshot of late-1970s New York City. The history of The Warriors is a complex, sometimes tumultuous one. Armies of the Night: The Warriors and Its Legacy tracks the movie’s long journey, beginning with its origins as a groundbreaking Sol Yurick novel, revealing the many changes it underwent from book to script to screen, recounting a turbulent production involving real gang encounters and a lead actor dropped mid-shoot, through to a detailed chronicle of the controversy The Warriors sparked. How did the film overcome the kind of obstacles only an all-nights NYC shoot could throw in its path? And how did a movie that does not actually contain much graphic violence ignite such a firestorm of outrage? Authors Michael Gingold (Fangoria, Ad Nauseam) and Chris Poggiali (These Fists Break Bricks, Temple of Schlock) answer those questions and many more via exclusive interviews with cast and crew, a wealth of vintage reportage and dozens of photos and promotional images. It’s a story as unique and dramatic as The Warriors itself. Can you dig it?

From New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix and film historian Chris Poggiali comes a revised and updated edition of their definitive look at how kung fu movie mania came and conquered the United States, featuring expanded sections on superstars such as Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li, and Donnie Yen; new profiles on iconic film poster artists; and tributes to unsung martial artists. When a Hollywood studio released Five Fingers of Death to thrill-seeking Times Square moviegoers in 1973, only a handful of Black and Asian audience members knew the difference between an Iron Fist and an Eagle's Claw. That changed overnight as Five Fingers kicked off a kung fu craze that would earn millions at the box office, send TV ratings soaring, influence the birth of hip hop, reshape the style of action we see in movies today, and introduce America to some of the biggest Asian stars to ever hit motion picture screens. These Fists Break Bricks offers a lavishly illustrated exploration of how these high-kicking, brick-breaking movies came to America and raised hell until greed, infomercials, and racist fearmongering shut them down. For the first time, the full-and wild-story is told, including how CIA agents secretly funded karate movies and how The New York Times fabricated a fear campaign about Black "karate gangs," as well as the history of Black martial arts in America and the onslaught of Bruce Lee imitators after his death. With a foreword by RZA of the Wu Tang Clan and brand new material on superstars like Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, and Donnie Yen, plus spotlights on unsung performers, film poster artists, and money-laundering film distributors, this revised and expanded edition is a master class in kung fu cinema history.

When a major Hollywood studio released Five Fingers of Death to thrill-seeking Times Square moviegoers on March 21, 1973, only a handful of Black and Asian American audience members knew the difference between an Iron Fist and an Eagle's Claw. That changed overnight as kung fu movies kicked off a craze that would earn millions at the box office, send TV ratings soaring, sell hundreds of thousands of video tapes, influence the birth of hip hop, reshape the style of action we see in movies today, and introduce America to some of the biggest non-white stars to ever hit motion picture screens. This lavishly illustrated book tells the bone-blasting, spine-shattering story of how these films of fury -- spawned in anti-colonial protests on the streets of Hong Kong -- came to America and raised hell for 15 years before greed, infomercials, and racist fearmongering shut them down. You'll meet Japanese judo coaches battling American wrestlers in backwoods MMA bouts at county fairs, black teenagers with razor sharp kung fu skills heading to Hong Kong to star in movies shot super fast so they can make it back to the States in time to start 10th grade, and Puerto Rican karate coaches making their way in this world with nothing but their own two fists. It's about an 11-year-old boy who not only created the first fan edit but somehow turned it into a worldwide moneymaker, CIA agents secretly funding a karate movie, the New York Times fabricating a fear campaign about black "karate gangs" out to kill white people, the history of black martial arts in America ("Why does judo or karate suddenly get so ominous because black men study it?," wondered Malcolm X), the death of Bruce Lee and the onslaught of imitators that followed, and how a fight that started in Japanese internment camps during World War II ended in a ninja movie some 40 years later. It's a battle for recognition and respect that started a long, long time ago and continues today in movies like The Matrix, Kill Bill, and Black Panther and here, for the first time, is the full uncensored story.