‘Novel’ Indeed
Check out Tom Cruise’s unfixed teeth and marvel in Rob lowe’s agelessness in the 4K, Re-edited ‘The OUtsiders: The Complete Novel’.
The outsiders: The Complete novel
Director: Francis Ford Coppola • Writer: Kathleen Knutsen Rowell, based on the novel by SE Hinton
Starring: C Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, Tom Cruise, Leif Garrett
USA • 1hr 54mins
Opens Hong Kong August 25 • IIB
Grade: B-
Looking back now, it’s easy to see how a movie starring Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise), The Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio), Martha Kent (Diane Lane), Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze, RIP), super cringey Soul Man (C Thomas Howell), the other guy Mary was going out with, Healy (Matt Dillon), White House speech writer Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) and the Mighty Ducks head coach (Emilio Estevez) – all of them – might look like lightning in a bottle. But back in 1983, it’s unlikely anyone suspected almost every single one of The Outsiders’ young stars were destined for fame one way or the other. This is as stacked a cast as you’ll ever see, and the re-edited, 4K remaster is a trip in every way imaginable, particularly in watching director Francis Ford Coppola take advantage of his elite position (at the time) as Great Modern American Auteur to play with the form. Again.
Coppola has become something of a tinkerer in his golden years; like his New Hollywood brethren, George Lucas, he just can’t seem to leave his old shit alone. Though it must be noted, Coppola hasn’t burnt his defining classics to the ground the way Lucas has, but his fidgeting hasn’t necessarily improved Apocalypse Now, The Cotton Club or The Godfather Part III either. The same can be said for The Outsiders, Coppola’s first significant work after the triple threat of The Godfathers, Apocalypse, and the ruinous One from the Heart.
The more things change…
The Outsiders unfolds in small town Oklahoma of the mid-1960s, a time when “greasers” – otherwise known as the working class – and their rich kid counterparts, “socs”, are in a state of constant conflict, ready for a “rumble” at any time. Things come to a head when Johnny (Macchio) and Ponyboy (Howell) get attacked in a park one night by Bob (Leif Garrett), who winds up dead. They go to fresh-out-of-prison delinquent Dallas (Dillon) for help, who sends them on the run. They come back, there’s a rumble, a tragic death, redemption, and Ponyboy seems bound for college.
The thing about The Outsiders is that as hokey and earnest as it seems now, there are some themes that remain current. The story is essentially a class drama, with touches of trigger happy policing and fractured family structures thrown in. Ponyboy lives with older brothers Sodapop (Lowe, these names!) and Darry (Swayze), who work at a gas station to keep a ramshackle roof on the wrong side of the tracks over their heads in the wake of their parents deaths. Greasers watch out for each other, a disadvantaged community looking out for itself. Dallas’s tough kid bravado is simply him overcompensating for an “old man” who doesn’t give a shit. It’s all very melodramatic and simplistic, with and idealisation of character that gives the film the vibe of a fable.
Dancer. Bouncer. Legend
This is not Rumble Fish
The Outsiders – both this and the original 91-minute cut – is imperfect, and the extra 20-odd minutes in The Complete Novel has only a minimal impact on the proceedings. The biggest difference is the extra drama and tears (so many boy tears!) that ultimately make for a teen soap opera. Ponyboy and Johnny are the most sensitive, poetic ’60s greasers of all time (James Dean should be so tortured), with hearts of 24K solid gold. But as imperfect as it is, the film is also a fascinating relic that raises all sorts of questions. Are these performances terrible or are they mimicking Hinton’s stylised vision? She was only 15 when she wrote the book (which could be argued is borderline fan fiction). Is Coppola’s naturalistic construction free-wheeling and casual or meticulous? Just look at those split diopter shots. Magnificent. Ponyboy reads Gone with the Wind to Johnny, and Coppola leans hard into that novel’s fiery sunset imagery (with a huge assist from cinematographer Dean Tavoularis). The sheer volume of captital-F filmmaking going on in The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is commendable, and it should send movie buffs into paroxysms. Plus it has a built-in drinking game: Spot Coppola’s daughter Sofia and nephew Nicolas Cage. No cheating. — DEK