The Outsiders (1983)

Too much of everything

As Good As It Gets

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Francis Ford Coppola stated he was inspired to make this movie after by being lobbied to do so by middle-school students. S.E.Hinton's 1967 juvenile novel, "The Outsiders," was a required reading staple for American middle-school students throughout the 70's and 80's. So, Coppola and his financial backers probably thought they had a built-in money-maker due to virtually every American teenager being exposed to the book.Set in mid-1960's Oklahoma, "The Outsiders" is about a group of working-class teens and their lives in a very socially stratified small city. The "Greasers," the poor kids from the other side of the tracks, are locked in constant conflict with the "Socs"- the well-to-do kids from the nice parts of town. The story is told from the viewpoint of "Ponyboy Curtis" (C. Thomas Howell) a young Greaser who is being raised by his older brothers, "Darry" (Patrick Swayze) and "Sodapop" (Rob Lowe), after their parents' deaths.Ponyboy and his best friend, "Johnny" (Ralph Macchio), get into a confrontation with some drunken Socs who take offense to Ponyboy and Johnny being too friendly with Soc girl, "Cherry" (Diane Lane). Violence ensues and a Soc ends-up dead. Ponyboy and Johnny flee with the assistance of Greaser bad-boy "Dally" (Matt Dillon). Will they ever find peace where people are just people rather than members of "tribes?"Hinton's novel is really juvenile with its ridiculous character names and teen fantasy world in which everyone seems to be devoid of parents. However, that's not surprising considering Hinton was just a teen herself when she wrote it. Still, its unique narrative structure and its plea for understanding between social groups quickly made it a teaching tool for middle-schools. It's possible a good movie could have been made from it.This isn't it. Instead, Coppola created a ninety minute ad for Tiger Beat magazine aimed at pleasing adolescent/teenage girls. One knows one is in trouble from the opening credits with its bombastic "Gone With The Wind" style title and treacly Stevie Wonder song. It only gets worse as the movie introduces supposedly "tough" characters played by actors who are almost as pretty as Diane Lane. The cast is a who's who of early 1980's "non-threatening boy" actors. It's the pin-up boys from the puppy-crush, fangirl mags: Howell, Macchio, Lowe, and even Leif Garrett makes an appearance. They're all filmed to look "adorable" and make little girls' ***** tingle. Their acting on the other hand? Ugh. Stiff, silly, and overwrought. The only actor who comes off fairly well is Tom Cruise prior to having his teeth fixed. He has a very small role, but he does make an attempt to approximate a working-class Oklahoma accent.The entire film is a melodramatic mess. Virtually every scene is over-acted with an absurdly maudlin and overripe musical score courtesy of Coppola's composer father, Carmine. (Even Coppola has recognized how that terrible score undermined this film because he replaced it in one of the DVD releases. Of course, this was done after his father had passed.)It's still shocking that this teeny girl, pin-up sapfest is a Coppola film. After the incredible struggle to complete "Apocalypse Now," it appears Coppola just wanted to coast on his rep and his heart was no longer into film-making. That may explain why "The Outsiders" and Coppola's other adaption of a Hinton book, 1983's "Rumble Fish," are so terrible.

"The Outsiders" is an American/French co-production from 1983 that resulted in this English language film that is going to have its 35th anniversary next year. The director here is a certain Francis Ford Coppola and a decade after taking us into the world of organized crime, he takes us now into the world of youth gangs that commit a fair share of their own crimes as well. If you see the names of Dillon, Macchio, Lowe, Cruise, Flea, Waits, Estevez and others in here, you will find a group of young actors that managed tremendous careers in the years or even decades to come. It is somewhat ironic that next to all these big names, C. Thomas Howell did not manage a huge breakthrough as he is probably playing the most central character in here. Coppola's very young daughter Sofia, an Oscar winner now, is in it too briefly. The biggest female character is played by the tremendously beautiful Diane Lane back then and even she does not have that much screen time. It's all about the boys. The film is certainly channeling stuff like West Side Story, Rebel without a Cause and some early Marlon Brando works a bit, so it is definitely not FFC's most original work. But like I wrote in the title, it is still easy to enjoy this movie if you give it the right approach. Don't go in it expecting Godfather quality. I personally think it could have been a bit shorter and more focused, but then again I watched the version that comes close to two hours and not the original 90-minute version. I suggest you go for that one instead perhaps. The film was successful enough for them to make a television show afterward and I see that one was pretty successful too, even if it only ran for one short season. Back to the movie, I see this was discussed pretty controversially. Some loved it, some think it's garbage. Decide for yourself. I think it was a good watch from that moment on when it really started to focus on three characters only. Those were the days when you could be called Ponyboy or wear a Mickey Mouse shirt and people still think you're badass. The ending with the faces (and even more the words) of the two dead characters may have been a bit on the pretentious side, but I can forgive them for it because Macchio really gives a good performance and portrays the most memorable character in here, a really good kid that makes a not necessarily wrong decision with horrible consequences, but stays a loyal friend and saves even some kids' lives later on. A perfect example of how his financial situation and as a consequence the people he hangs out with really literally destroy his life. Oh yeah and they really are outsiders as police only care for them when they have to shoot them. A good outcome here I would say and if you like Elvis, you are in for an even bigger treat. Go check it out.

The golden age of film was in 1980's, some will argue the 1930's & 1940s, though during those years actors were without color. The director Francis Ford Coppola laid down his desire for dark drama and intertwined a fresh cast of faces no audience had ever witnessed. Some of which went on to carry fortunate future titles, building long careers in acting. With this cast alone, a symmetry of poverty was produced in an honest portrait of Rich Kid Vs. Poor Kid. We are all invited into the diary of a lost boy group without assistance attending school under the thumb of wealthy bullies. Leading into a tragic sequence of inner city blues, as raw and detailed as reality.

I had to watch this movie for an English class. It was hard to follow the story-line and take notes at the same time. The movie differs a lot from the book. It was hard to watch and understand the movie considering it is 2015 and the movie was made in the 80's. They also appear to be older than the book says they are. In the book Pony is 13, but in the movie he's like in his 30's. The movie is also very short and leaves out key points from the book. The movie was much worse than the book, in my opinion. It does have a good life lesson that people can learn and use in life. I suggest age 13 plus for this movie. This movie was a good lesson, but hard to watch and understand.