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The Outsiders
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Francis Ford Coppola
Written by	Kathleen Rowell S.E. Hinton (novel)
Produced by	Gray Frederickson Fred Roos
Starring	C. Thomas Howell Matt Dillon Ralph Macchio Rob Lowe Patrick Swayze Emilio Estevez Tom Cruise Diane Lane
Cinematography	Stephen H. Burum
Edited by	Rob Bonz Anne Goursaud Melissa Kent Roy Waldspurger
Music by	Carmine Coppola
Production company	Zoetrope Studios
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	March 25, 1983 (1983-03-25)
Running time	91 minutes (Original Version) 113 minutes (The Complete Novel)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$25,697,647

The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. The movie was released in March 1983. Jo Ellen Misakian, a librarian at Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, California, and her students were responsible for inspiring Coppola to make the movie.

The Outsiders is noted for being the breakout film of many future stars. The movie earned C. Thomas Howell a Young Artist Award, became the first Brat Pack movie (with Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez cast as supporting Greasers), and further established the careers of Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane. Both Lane and Dillon went on to appear in Coppola's related film Rumble Fish.

Plot

The story describes a gang conflict in Tulsa, Oklahoma, between the Socs (pronounced "soashes"), rich bullies from Tulsa's affluent Eastside neighborhood (today's Midtown), and the Greasers, boys from poor families who live on the west side of the railroad tracks. References to movies playing in cinemas suggest that the year is 1965.

These are the members of the gangs, starting with the Greasers: Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell) is a sensitive, poetically inclined 14-year-old who lives with his older brother Sodapop (Rob Lowe), a high-school dropout, and their oldest brother Darrel (Patrick Swayze). Darrel's relationship with Soda and Ponyboy has been strained since their parents died and he took over responsibility for the household. Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio) is a 16-year-old whose parents neglect him and frequently argue with each other. Dallas Winston (Matt Dillon) is an older, hotheaded troublemaker. Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews (Emilio Estevez) is a funloving wisecracker who thinks the world is a joke, and Steve Randle (Tom Cruise) is Sodapop's best friend and works at a gas station. The Socs include Bob Sheldon (Leif Garrett) and Randy Adderson (Darren Dalton), whose girlfriends are Sherri "Cherry" Valance (Diane Lane) and Marcia (Michelle Meyrink).

The story begins with three confrontations between Greasers and Socials. In the first incident, five Socs gang up on Ponyboy and cut his neck with a switchblade. Johnny was attacked similarly a month earlier. The second event occurs when Bob and Randy find Cherry and Marcia walking home from a movie with Johnny, Ponyboy, and Two-Bit. Cherry and Marcia defuse this situation by going home with the Soc boys. Finally, Ponyboy and Johnny start to run away after Darrel knocks Ponyboy down during an argument. As the two boys rest in a park, Bob, Randy, and two other Socs attack them, and Bob is stabbed and killed by Johnny while trying to drown Ponyboy.

With advice and supplies from Dallas, Ponyboy and Johnny hide out in an abandoned church in a nearby town for a few days. At the church, Ponyboy reads Gone with the Wind and quotes the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay." After Dallas arrives with news that Cherry has offered to support the boys in court, the church accidentally catches fire with some children trapped inside, and Johnny is hospitalized with severe burns and a broken back after he, Ponyboy, and Dallas rescue them. The boys are praised for their heroism, but Johnny is charged with manslaughter for killing Bob, and Ponyboy and Soda are threatened with being moved to a boy's home.

Meanwhile, Bob's death has sparked calls from the Socials for a "rumble". The Greasers win, but Ponyboy is injured, so Dallas drives him to the hospital, where the boys visit Johnny. Having lost interest in fighting, Johnny is unimpressed by the victory. He dies after encouraging Ponyboy to "stay gold", referring to the Frost poem. Unable to bear Johnny's death, Dallas robs a convenience store at gunpoint and is killed by the police.

Sometime later, Ponyboy is cleared of wrongdoing in Bob's death and allowed to stay with his brothers. After scenes in which Ponyboy and his brothers reconcile after an argument and Ponyboy finds a letter from Johnny saying that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life, the film ends with a repeat of the first scene, in which Ponyboy writes a school report describing his recent experiences.

Cast

• C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis
• Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade
• Matt Dillon as Dally Winston
• Rob Lowe as Sodapop "Soda" Curtis
• Patrick Swayze as Darry Curtis
• Diane Lane as Cherry Valance
• Emilio Estevez as Two-Bit Mathews
• Tom Cruise as Steve Randle
• Glenn Withrow as Tim Shepard
• Leif Garrett as Bob Sheldon
• Darren Dalton as Randy Adderson
• Michelle Meyrink as Marcia
• Tom Waits as Buck Merrill
• Gailard Sartain as Jerry Wood
• S. E. Hinton as Nurse

Production

Francis Ford Coppola never actually wanted to make a movie about teen angst. What changed his mind was a middle school class from Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, CA, great fans of The Godfather, wrote to him about adapting The Outsiders as a film. When he read the book, he was moved and not only directed the film, he also adapted Rumble Fish into a movie the year after, again with Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Glenn Withrow.

The actors playing the Socs were put in luxury hotel accommodations and given leather-bound scripts, while the Greaser-actors were put on the ground floor and received tattered scripts. Coppola is said to have done this to create tension between both groups before filming. The cast played pranks on each other and the hotel staff during the shoot. Years later, Tom Cruise met someone who worked at the hotel, and when he discovered that it was the same hotel where he and the rest of the cast had stayed, his first words were, "I'm sorry." Francis Ford Coppola went to arbitration unsuccessfully for the writing credits of this film.

Two-Bit's fascination with Mickey Mouse, as shown in a later scene in the film, was thought up by Emilio Estevez, who approached the character as a "laid back, easy-going guy." This could also be a reference to a deleted scene (not included on the DVD) where Ponyboy tells Cherry about Sodapop's horse riding career and love for a horse named Mickey Mouse. The scene was also intended to highlight that Sodapop's having already suffered some heartbreak before his girlfriend leaves him, as well as the brothers' own sense of loss, but Coppola cut it because he felt it slowed the film's pace down. The scene where Dallas fell out of his seat at the drive-in was unplanned.

The film was shot on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Coppola filmed The Outsiders and Rumble Fish back-to-back in 1982. He wrote the screenplay for the latter while on days off from shooting the former. Many of the same locations were used in both films, as were many of the same cast and crew members. The credits are shown at the beginning of the movie in the style normally found in a published play.

Coppola's craving for realism almost led to disaster during the church burning scene. He pressed for "more fire", and the small controlled blaze accidentally triggered a much larger, uncontrolled, fire, which a lucky downpour doused.

Critical reception

The film was met with generally mixed to positive reviews from critics and watchers. Rotten Tomatoes gives The Outsiders a certified 65% "Fresh" rating on its site. One recent book said that the film's realistic portrayal of poor teenagers from the wrong side of the tracks "created a new kind of filmmaking".

Awards and nominations

The Outsiders was nominated for at least four awards upon its release. C. Thomas Howell won the Young Artist Award for the movie in the category "Best Young Motion Picture Actor in a Feature Film." Diane Lane was also nominated for a Young Artist Award, her being nominated for "Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture", and the whole movie was nominated for the Young Artist Award "Best Family Feature Motion Picture." Francis Ford Coppola was nominated for a Golden prize.

"The Complete Novel" re-release

In September 2005, Coppola re-released the film on DVD, including 22 minutes of additional footage and new music, entitled The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. Coppola re-inserted some deleted scenes to make the movie more faithful to the book. In the beginning of the movie, he added scenes where Ponyboy gets jumped, the gang talks about going to the movies, and Dally, Pony and Johnny bumming around before going to the movies. In the end, Coppola added the scenes in court, Mr. Syme talking to Ponyboy, and Sodapop, Ponyboy and Darry in the park. Also, much of the original score was removed and replaced with music popular in the 1960s. The director also removed several scenes in order to improve pacing, but they could be found on the second disc as additional scenes. In addition, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, and C. Thomas Howell gathered at Coppola's estate to watch the re-release. Commentary of the four is available together as well as Matt Dillon and Rob Lowe, who provided commentary at a separate studio.

Music

The original film's score was composed by the director's father, Carmine Coppola; the main title song, "Stay Gold", was sung by Stevie Wonder. The film did include one rock song, "Gloria", by the band Them.

The re-release of the film removes much of Carmine Coppola's original score, and instead replaces it with many songs that were hits from the 1960s when the film takes place, including:

• Real Wild Child - Jerry Lee Lewis
• Gloria - Them
• Out of Limits - The Marketts
• Tomorrow is a Long Time - Bob Dylan (performed by Elvis)
• Mystery Train - Elvis Presley
• We're Gonna Move - Elvis Presley
• Lend Me Your Comb - Carl Perkins
• Milky White Way - Elvis Presley
• Teen Beat - The Ventures
• Stay Gold - Stevie Wonder

References

1. ZOETROPE.COM
2. Confirmed by author S. E. Hinton FAQ at sehinton.com]
3. "The Outsiders" movie, shot in Tulsa, page 1 from tulsatvmemories.com
4. G. Phillips, Godfather: the intimate Coppola, p. 208
5. Hirshenson, A Star is Born, p.86

External links

• Official site
• The Outsiders at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• The Outsiders at Box Office Mojo
• Coppola Pays a Return Visit to His 'Gone With the Wind' for Teenagers, a New York Times review of the 2005 version
• S.E. Hinton's Website

• 1980s drama films
• 1983 films
• American coming-of-age films
• American teen drama films
• American Zoetrope films
• English-language films
• Films based on novels
• Films directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• Films set in Oklahoma
• Films set in the 1960s
• Films shot anamorphically
• Films shot in Oklahoma
• Gang films
• Warner Bros. films