The Outsiders (1983)

the leading man is my tpye

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It's a nice little movie. Comes off more dated with the musical score but the talent discovered for this flick alone is worth the watch. Swayze, Lowe, Howell, Cruise, Estevez, Macchio, Lane and Dillon. All young. All green. Sometimes dialogue is hard to follow and I found myself backtracking a few times to catch lines the 2nd time around. Young actors in a story by a young writer. Guilty pleasure. Glad I watched it.

The Outsiders (1983) takes place in a Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1965, the town is split between the rich teens in the southern part of Tulsa that formed their own gang known as " The Socials" aka Soc's and the poorer teens in the north that also have their own gang called " The Greasers". The main characters of the film are Sodapop, Ponyboy, Dallas, Johnny, and Darry just to name a few. Well one day Dallas, the leader of The Greasers and to be honest a little psychotic, Ponyboy and Johnny go to the drive-ins and meet the rich Cherry Valance and Marcia. Ponyboy and Cherry hit it off and that doesn't sit well with Cherry's boyfriend Bob so the Socs decide to go looking for Ponyboy and Johnny. They find them at a park and when they tried to drown Ponyboy, Johnny stabbed Bob to keep him from killing his friend in the fountain. From there the boys go on the run from the cops while the two rival gangs prepare to fight it out. The Outsiders was adapted from the book with the same name written by S.E. Hinton, which was a complete hit with young adult readers, and was directed by the Francis Coppola who is best known for The Godfather series. Francis Coppola had this Apocalypse Now vibe going on during this time in his career, his adaption was a little mystical and darker than the novel. He used sudden thunderstorms, less lighting, and sunsets all of which can disappear just as quickly as they arrived which can be symbolic of the chaotic times of the characters themselves. Coppola does something really interesting, he basically eliminates the adults from the film allowing the viewers to focus that much more on the teenagers. Coppola used various editing techniques and angles, one of the more prominent uses of editing in the movie is the use of fading between scenes for a smooth transition. Also used was a type of montage when Ponyboy and Johnny were on the run so we saw quickly exactly how they got from point A to point B. Coppola also liked to layer the shots at times such as the ending when ponyboy is reading the letter from Johnny, whose face is transparent speaking the words as Ponyboy reads it. At times it seemed to me that something was off about the movie as I re-watched it for the first time in years and I pinpointed it to few things. One would be that at times the movie seemed to be dragging along and some of the characters do not have a lot of depth to them being very one dimensional, like Dallas for example being the bad boy exemplified. Another is that Coppola ended the movie in a very strange, some would say horrible way with no real sense of closure since it ends abruptly without Johnny going to trial so we the audience have no idea what happened to him. A small complaint that I have noticed from when I watched this with friends that did not read the book is that they found it very hard to keep up with the relationships of the many characters in the movie. This movie was the start of many actors careers who would go on to dominate Hollywood. C. Thomas Howell played Ponyboy and won the Young Artist Award in 1984. Matt Dillon who played Dallas went on to star in many movies and was nominated for an award for his portrayal of a racist cop in Crash(2004). Rob Lowe who played Sodapop who is Ponyboy and Darrell's brother went on to star in one of my favorite TV shows Parks and Recreation. Tom Cruise plays Rob Lowes best friend Steve who's obsessed with cars and of course we all know him from such movies as Mission Impossible(1996 ). Ralph Macchio played Johnny and also one of my all time favorite characters Daniel in Karate Kid (1984). Many other actors also rose to fame after this movie, it was completely action packed.The reviews for The Outsiders were largely not so good such as Richard Corliss from Times wrote "Alas, The Outsiders is not quite a good one. Because it falls in with the undulating rhythm of the life of its heroes, for whom a fatal fight and a quiet night have almost equal importance, the picture never manages to reach the peaks of satisfying Hollywood melodrama." I fully believe that this is because at the time when S.E Hinton wrote the novel she was only 15 years old and of course the content is not going to be very deep but it was a huge success because teenagers could relate to the characters.In conclusion I believe that it is very easy to be hard on the movie for what it could have been, but Coppola expertly made do with what he had plot wise keeping as close to the original content as he could. That is with the exception of the ending, but it was a very powerful movie that evoked a sense of what it was like to be a teenager that resonates with many people who watch it. Even if you do not like the movie it is undeniable that the movie gave rise to so many actors that went on the dominate Hollywood in both their young adult lives and all the way up until the present. Perhaps we would not have seen Patrick Swayze inspire us to dance in Dirty Dancing or watch as Ralph Macchio teach us Karate in Karate Kid with The Outsiders. With that being said The Outsiders although having mixed reviews was and continues to be talked about and watched even today.

Francis Ford Coppola is widely known as the mastermind behind some of the most influential films in the history of cinema including 'Apocalypse Now', 'The Godfather', and its sequel. With such significantly outstanding works like these on his resume, it can be difficult to believe he stepped into the coming-of-age drama. But his attempts at working with the genre were proved with positivity when he came to directed this coming-of-age drama based on the classic novel by S.E Hinton. Set in 1966 Tulsa, Oklahoma, this film tells the story of two rivaling social groups: The Socs, the rich people who live in nice houses and drive fancy cars, and the greasers, the poor ones with greasy hair, growing up in lower class families. Ponyboy Curtis (played by C. Thomas Howell), a greaser living with his older brother Sodapop (played by Rob Lowe) and his uptight older brother Daryl (played by Patrick Swayze). Along his side is his best friend Johnny (played by Ralph Macchio), and his two friends Steve (played by Tom Cruise), Two-Bit (played by Emilio Estevez), and the toughest guy in the gang Dallas (played by Matt Dillon). These teenagers have been at odds against the Socs, and have engaged in violent confrontations between each other, particularly Johnny was once jumped by a group of Socs. However, one night when Johnny murders a Soc who tries to kill Ponyboy, the tensions between the two groups reach a boiling point.This film based on the novel of the same name provides plenty of commentary to the 50s and 60s social subculture through the story of two rivaling groups in a crime-ridden town. With a moody blues rock soundtrack including the song 'Gloria' by Them and the old classic custom-built cars, the film captures a nostalgic resemblance of the 1960s southern environment. But most importantly, director Francis Ford Coppola manages to capture the powerful portrayal of teen angst and the feeling of not being able to fit in. With the brilliantly written story and characters, the film transcends through an emotional powerhouse that both touches the hearts of audiences and provides a sense of hope. The characters come on screen so beautifully and the audience can engage with just about every one, they are so difficult not to care, especially Johnny and Ponyboy who are pummeled many challenges including domestic disputes and tragedy. The film remains mostly faithful to S.E Hinton's novel while taking just a minimal amount of liberties, but the biggest flaw comes from the exclusion of some the novel's key scenes and the results is some scenes that feel somewhat short of significance. Fortunately, this fault is made up in the Complete Novel Edition on DVD which includes the rest of the important scenes left out from the original. The cast is pretty solid, the performances are great; especially Matt Dillon who plays Dallas with sheer conviction. The Outsiders is well worth achievement by Francis Ford Coppola and the great adaption to S.E Hinton's novel. Definitely one of the best coming-of-age films Hollywood has to offer. Although the original version is good, I strongly recommend watching the Complete Novel Edition set with additional scenes and alternate soundtrack as it stays more true to the novel.

I found this movie was very boring. The acting was not the greatest and it did not follow the book very well. I did not enjoy the book either so the movie was just not exciting for me to watch. The characters were very well chosen and did a good job of portraying their characters. Personally I was not fond of the characters even though it was based off of a book. I found the gang fights really the only exciting part which is quite sad. When pony boy and Johnny ran away to the church, I found that part not too terrible but over all I disliked the movie a lot. I just found that it was a waste of time to sit and watch the whole movie. So many people say it is a very good movie but as someone from a younger generation I do not find it very good.