David Shaber RIP

It is with regret that I inform you that I have had an unconfirmed report that David Shaber, who wrote the screenplay for The Warriors, and who was helping write the screenplay for the 2010 movie The Warriors, has passed away. Please find this statement from his daughter on Amazon (thanks to James Lada for making me aware of this).

I’m David Shaber’s daughter, Sam, (Samantha.) My father wrote the screenplay for The Warriors, and I’m hoping this “review” gets printed because he just passed away on Thursday morning, November 4th, of a sudden burst anneurism. With so many “Warriors” fans out there, I thought you would want to know. I’m incredibly warmed by these wonderful comments about this film and I know that if he read them (although he had barely learned how to search the internet before he died) he would chuckle in his lighthearted way and say something like “Oh, well isn’t that nice,” all-the-while refusing to take credit for any of it. But I know he deserved that credit, having taken a dark, psychological study of gang warfare and infusing it with a classic but clever and topical, good vs. evil story. (And maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but my dad didn’t really like the baseball face-paint idea which I believe was one of Walter Hill’s additions – he thought that was too unrealistic and “Hollywood”…) Anyway, I do hope the movie is re-issued with the extra scenes at some point, and for those real “followers” I just discovered that you can find a complete list of his produced titles on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) if you want to check it out. The Warriors is indeed an AFFECTING picture, whether you love it or hate it. So thanks for your comments and take care, -Sam.