Francis Coppola directs The Outsiders as if he's shooting "Gone With the Wind". The characters and story don't hold up under the weight. The movie is based on a popular S. E. Hinton novel and Coppola would go on to direct another Hinton book, "Rumble Fish" that was even more stylized, when perhaps he should have approached this material in a more simple, realistic manner.
The story concerns two teenagers in Oklahoma in the 1960's. Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) are two greasers, kids from the wrong side of the tracks. They hang out at the drive-in, where they meet a pretty redhead, Cherry (Diane Lane), a soc (short for "social") from the other side of town. Another greaser Daly (Matt Dillon) puts the moves on her, but she tells him to "get lost, hood." She likes Ponyboy and Johnny, however, and asks them to sit with her. This sets up the film's conflict as the two have - innocently enough - crossed a line. Cherry's drunken boyfriend Bob (Leif Garrett) sees the greasers with his girl and later picks a fight. Johnny, fearing that Bob and his buddies will drown Ponyboy in a fountain, knifes Bob in one of the films many highly charged dramatic moments.
The two turn to Daly for help. He gives them fifty bucks and a gun and tells them about a place they can hide out at - an abandoned church.
They hole out there, eating baloney sandwiches, playing cards and quoting poetry. Ponyboy dyes his hair blonde. Later, the church will burn down (in a fire that they, themselves, likely caused) and they'll become heroes when they rescue a bunch of trapped children. Unfortunately, Johnny is badly burned and won't live to bask in his hero status or argue that he killed Bob in self-defense.
Before he dies, however, there'll be a climactic rumble between the greasers and the socs, where the greasers appear to win a victory. It's a hollow, short-lived one, though, as the police will gun down Daly after he holds up a convenience store.
The movie features an all-star cast that includes early performances by such big-name talent as Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez and Rob Lowe (all in minor supporting roles).
What bothers me about "The Outsiders" (and I realize that a lot of people are very fond of this film) is the heavy-handed way the story unfolds. Right from the opening, Coppola makes a reference to "Gone With the Wind". The movie's title comes zipping across the screen just as it does in GWTW (with the same style of lettering) and we realize that Coppola is not content with telling this story honestly or in a straightforward manner. Rather, he seems preoccupied with imposing a larger-than-life dimension. "I wanted to take those young street rats and give them heroic proportions," he's quoted as saying.
The movie recalls "Rebel Without a Cause" in its story of misunderstood, troubled kids. But the characters (with the possible exception of Matt Dillon's Daly) aren't as clearly defined and the story isn't as compelling. Coppola seems too busy thinking about how to shoot his next artful closeup or dissolve rather than drawing strong characterizations. What we do get is lots of weepy sentimentality and heavy drama, lots of pain and suffering, a Robert Frost poem about lost innocence and Stevie Wonder telling us to "stay gold".
Set in 1966; Produced and released in 1983. Francis Ford Coppola's stylized teen melodrama is based on the popular novel by S. E. Hinton. In 1960s Tul...More at Family Video
DVDS. Teen rivalry in a small Southern town sets the stage for this dramatic interpretation of the novel by {$S.E. Hinton}. Directed by {$Francis Ford...More at DeepDiscount.com
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