So, the first time I ever saw the Wanderers was way back when a VHS video player was just a relatively new fandangled bit of kit. My second oldest brother worked for the local television sales and repair company, as did a younger brother and two cousins at various times over the following years in after school jobs, and one of the perks of the job was the freedom to take home a rental machine free of charge every once in a while. These old machines in no way resembled the current crop of slimline frontloading sleek black units that we’re used to now, these things were big. About the size of a modern day amplifier, it loaded the tape from the top. The best bits were the buttons. We’re talking big metal levers that you had to push down with a meaty “KERCHUNK� to operate.

Whenever he took one home, he’d grab about half a dozen videos that they also rented out (remember when you had to pay for video library membership?) This was how I got my initiation into the amazing world of home video. Fantastic titles (well, some seemed like it at the time) like Blood Beach, The Exterminator, Porky’s and The Wanderers would be playing all weekend long, sometimes two or three times each as different family and friends would drop by.

Back then, The Wanderers had everything in a movie that a bunch of young Italian guys could ask for. An Italian gang with a cool name, great music, the Baldies, the Wongs and the mysterious Duckie Boys, elbow-titing and a huge punchup at the end satisfied every cinematic need at the time. It didn't matter that the story was really about Richie and his friends growing up in the 60's, thinking the world was all fun, games, girls, gangs and football. As they learned, life was actually about quite a few other things, and the lessons had to be learnt the hard way. It's easy to look at this film now and says that's what it's all about, but back then, it was basically just "a cool film".

First up, the bad news is that The Wanderers on dvd isn’t an anamorphic transfer. The good news is that the 1.85:1 is still fairly nice to look at regardless, so you wont be too disappointed. Colours are punchy when needed (with the odd washed out or oversaturated shot), the level of detail on show is quite reasonable, and the print is fairly clean. There’s only minor aliasing to contend with, and sometimes the shadows and night shots can lack in detail, but otherwise this gets a passing grade.

Audio-wise, on dvd this will be as good as this 20+ year old movie will probably ever sound compared to old VHS copies(or until it's remixed on Ultra-DVD, or SupaMegaDVD or whatever new variation comes along and bleeds us dry in the future). While nothing exceptional, dialogue is good with some flat sounding dialogue patches, it’s free of any major distortion and hiss and the period music has a bit of life while the mood is well set in some of the more eerie moments with the Duckie boys.

Apart from the movie, a trailer is the only other thing on this dvd. Quality is a bit dodgy, but it makes the film look good.

You know how sometimes you watch something you haven't seen in years and it isn't as good as you remember it to be? Even though tastes change, and expectations get harder to please, I still had a good time watching The Wanderers again on this dvd, and I'll probably even pass it on to some family and friends to enjoy again as well.