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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 16-year-old high-school dropout that works full time at a gas station to help make ends meet, and their oldest brother Darrel (Darry) (Patrick Swayze). Darry has had an strained relationship with his brothers since their parents died (a flashback Ponyboy has later on suggests that their parents died after a train hit their car), especially Ponyboy and he took over responsibility for the household by working long hours in a construction. Ponyboy and Soda are very close with each other and Soda is frequently the mediator between Darry and Ponyboy whe they fight. Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio) is a 16-year-old whose parents neglect and abuse him and are constantly arguing with each other, which causes Johnny to crash at one of the other Greaser's houses most of the time. He's always on edge, due to him being severely beaten by a group of Socs, one of who scared his face from rings on his hands while he was beating Johnny and has carried a knife in his pocket ever since. Dallas Winston (Dally) (Matt Dillon) is an older (most likely in his early 20s like Darry is), hotheaded troublemaker. Not much is known about Dally's home life, except that like Johnny, he has a father who neglects him. Dally also seems to favor Johnny over the others. 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 also works at the gas station. The Socs include Bob Sheldon, the leader of a Soc group and the one who scarred Johnny's face, (Leif Garrett) and Randy Adderson, who at first is against the Greasers, but later decides he can accept them for who they are (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. The Socs are chased off by the Greasers who happened upon the scene. 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 Darry knocks Ponyboy down during an argument. As the two boys rest in a park, Bob, Randy, and two other Socs spot them in the park and are drunk. After insults by both parties, the Socs attack them and after kicking Johnny to the ground, they try to drown Ponyboy in the fountain and he soon passes out. When he awakens, he finds that the Socs are gone and Bob is laying in a pool of blood. Sitting near Bob is a shaken up Johnny, who's holding his switchblade covered in blood. Johnny tells him that he stabbed and killed Bob because they were close to actually killing Ponyboy. Terrified, the boys run to where Dally lives for his help.

Dally tells the boys to hop a train going to a distant town and to take shelter at an old, abandoned church at the top of a hill and gives them some money and a gun. He tells them that once the story of Bob's death dies down and it's safe to come back, he'll get them. Ponyboy and Johnny hop the train and soon come across the church. At the church, the boys get some sleep and Ponyboy wakes up and sees a note from Johnny saying he's gone into town for supplies. When Johnny comes back, he has bought food, a copy of Gone with the Wind, and peroxide to dye Ponyboy's hair blonde so they won't fit their descriptions while the police are looking for them. Later that evening, Ponyboy and Johnny are watching a sunset and Ponyboy quotes the Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Sometime later, Dally arrives and takes them to lunch and announce that Cherry has offered to support the boys in court. Johnny then decides that he wants to go back to turn himself in and that Cherry and Ponyboy's statements will help him get off easily. Dally disagrees with Johnny and while arguing with him about it, they drive back to the church and are stunned to find it in flames. A group of kids and chaperones were up there for a picnic and some of the kids are missing. Suspecting that the fire was started by a lit cigarette, Ponyboy and Johnny rush into the church to save the kids, despite the chaperone and Dally's attempts to stop them. They find the kids and they pass them out the window to Dally. Before Ponyboy and Johnny can out, the ceiling beams burn off and land on Johnny, knocking him to the ground. Dally pulls Ponyboy out of the window and quickly takes off his jacket and uses it to put out the flames on Ponyboy. He passes out for a brief moment and awakens in an ambulance. One of the kids chaperones is with him and tells him that he's being taken to the hospital and that Dally and Johnny are in an ambulance behind them. The man with him tells him that they're heroes for what they did. Ponyboy is soon released from the hospital's custody, only suffering from minor injuries. He sees Dally and Johnny being brought in. Dally has a severe burn to his arm that he got after pulling Ponyboy out of the church, but Johnny is unconscious with burns on his body and a broken back. Ponyboy then sees Soda and Darry coming off the elevator. Ponyboy runs into Soda's arms and they hug. Ponyboy sees Darry behind Soda and then hugs him. Darry starts to cry as he tells Ponyboy that he and Soda thought they lost him for good and Soda is pulled into the hug. 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 Dallas "Dally" Winston
• Rob Lowe as Sodapop "Soda" Curtis
• Patrick Swayze as Darrel "Darry" Curtis
• Diane Lane as Sherri "Cherry" Valance
• Emilio Estevez as Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews
• Tom Cruise as Steve Randle
• Glenn Withrow as Tim Shepard
• Leif Garrett as Robert "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