The Ousiders Movies

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The Outsiders is a 1983 American coming-of-age crime drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton and was released on March 25, 1983, in the United States. Jo Ellen Misakian, a librarian at Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, California, and her students were responsible for inspiring Coppola to make the film.[1]

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, most notably for its performances, and performed well at the box office, grossing $33.7 million on a $10 million budget. Over the years, the film has earned a cult following and has spawned a 1990 sequel television series and a successful 2023 stage musical.[3]

The Curtis brothers' parents are deceased, leaving eldest brother Darrel left to raise and support Sodapop and Ponyboy, his two younger brothers, in 1965 Tulsa. The "Socs" harass and assault Ponyboy until some of his fellow greasers chase them off. He and Dallas catch a movie at the local drive-in, where Dallas unsuccessfully flirts with "Soc" Cherry Valance and later leaves in a rage. Cherry invites Ponyboy and Johnny to sit with her and her friend. Their Soc boyfriends take umbrage at this, so the girls leave with them to avoid any escalation.

Pony and Johnny walk to an abandoned lot, to help Johnny avoid his parents' routinely volatile bickering and domestic violence. He laments the hopelessness of his young life and even considers suicide. Ponyboy falls asleep and awakens a few hours later and rushes home where Darrel and Soda are waiting up for him. Darrel confronts Ponyboy, ending in Darrel violently knocking Ponyboy to the floor. Ponyboy runs off to a local park with Johnny. They reminisce about their childhood until they are confronted and attacked by Bob and three other Socs. Johnny is beaten, and when Pony is almost drowned in the park's fountain, Johnny fatally stabs Bob.

Ponyboy and Johnny find Dallas, who gives them money for food and a loaded firearm. They flee to Windrixville after hopping on a train and hide out in an abandoned church, where they cut their hair, dye Ponyboy's hair blond. They read Gone with the Wind aloud to pass the time. Dallas visits, taking them to get a meal at a local restaurant. A note from Sodapop urges Ponyboy to come home, as Cherry is willing to testify on their behalf. Johnny favors turning themselves in, but Dallas disagrees.

Returning to the church, they discover that it is on fire with children trapped inside. They manage to rescue them from the inferno but are burned. Johnny breaks his back when a part of the structure collapses on him. Ponyboy reunites with his two older brothers in the hospital and then returns home. Their heroic deed makes the front page of the local paper, but the judge may send Ponyboy to a boys' home. Randy peacefully talks to Ponyboy about the upcoming rumble. Ponyboy and Two-Bit visit Johnny and Dallas in the hospital. Ponyboy asks Two-Bit to buy another copy of Gone with the Wind at the hospital gift shop. Johnny's mother comes, but he refuses her visit, and she takes out her ire on Ponyboy and Two-Bit, who decries her as a bad mother.

Dallas encourages them to win the upcoming rumble for Johnny. Ponyboy meets with Cherry about the trial. She refuses to visit Johnny at the hospital because he killed Bob. The greasers win the rumble. Dallas drives an injured Ponyboy to the hospital to see Johnny. Dallas tells him about the greasers' victory, but Johnny is dismissive and dies after telling Ponyboy to "stay gold".

Dallas robs a store but is pursued by the police. He calls Darrel to meet him in the park and help hide him. The police arrive first. He commits suicide by cop. The judge exonerates Ponyboy for Bob's death in court and places him in Darrel's custody. Cherry sees Ponyboy and ignores him. He is offered a passing grade by his English teacher if he writes a quality essay but is uninspired. He finds a letter from Johnny explaining how saving the children was worth sacrificing his life and advising Ponyboy to "never change". Johnny's letter inspires Ponyboy's essay. The story begins. "I had only two things on my mind."

In addition, Sofia Coppola (credited as Domino), daughter of the film's director, plays the child asking the greasers for 15 cents, and S. E. Hinton plays Dally's nurse. Brief uncredited appearances include Nicolas Cage, Melanie Griffith, and Heather Langenkamp.[4] Additionally, Michael Peter Balzary (bassist "Flea" from Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Cam Neely (former NHL player and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame) had uncredited appearances as rival gang members during the rumble scene.

Francis Ford Coppola had not intended to make a film about teen angst until Jo Ellen Misakian, a school librarian from Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, California, wrote to him on behalf of her seventh and eighth grade students about adapting The Outsiders.[5][6]

Approximately 15 pages of children's signatures were attached to the letter written in different colors. Moved by the letter, Coppola read the book and was impressed by the relationships between the greaser kids. It brought back memories of when he had been a drama counselor working with children at a summer camp in his youth.[7]

The casting process led to debut or star-making performances of actors who would be collectively referred to throughout the 80s as the Brat Pack: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise.[8] Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Scott Baio, and Dennis Quaid also auditioned for roles but were not cast.[9][10] Producer Fred Roos, a frequent collaborator with Coppola, was partially responsible for the film's casting. In particular, he scouted Patrick Swayze based on his performance in the roller skating movie Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979).[11] Val Kilmer was approached for a role in the film, but he turned it down as he was prepping for a Broadway play (The Slab Boys).[12]

Ralph Macchio stated that during auditions, Coppola "wanted everybody to read for a different role".[13] He said that Coppola had all of the actors "in one room watching each other audition...It's brutal because you're becoming self-conscious of any choices because you're watching reactions based on other actors and watching the filmmakers and how they respond because you're all trying to get the job. For Francis, it was about mixing and matching the ensemble, saying 'Dennis Quaid, you read this, and Rob Lowe, you read that.'"[5] As a New Yorker who didn't know any of the other actors auditioning, Macchio also stated that he felt like an outsider during the process.[9] Lowe also said that Tom Cruise went "ballistic" over sharing a room with him during the auditions.[14] He accidentally struck him in the face during rehearsals.[15]

The film was shot on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[16] Filming took place from March 29 to May 15, 1982. A newspaper used to show a story about the three greasers saving the kids in The Outsiders includes a real story from 1982 regarding the death of a man hit by a train in Boston.[17] 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 downpour doused.[18]

The original length of the film was two hours and 13 minutes. Warner Bros. felt that the film was a mistake and was too long.[7] As a result, Coppola cut it down to 91 minutes for the theatrical release.

The pranks that went on during the filming have become legendary, mostly initiated by Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, and Patrick Swayze.[5] The targets were often C. Thomas Howell and Diane Lane.[5] Ralph Macchio was not involved because he was so focused on getting his role right.[5] The author of the original novel, S. E. Hinton, was involved during the filming as she and Coppola wrote the screenplay together; she appears as a nurse during a hospital scene in the film.[5] She also later stated that she served as an informal "den mother" to many of the actors, as she was "close to all of them".[5]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has a rating of 70% based on 50 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "The cracks continue to show in Coppola's directorial style, but The Outsiders remains a blustery, weird, and fun adaptation of the classic novel."[21] Roger Ebert rated the film two and a half out of four stars, citing problems with Coppola's vision, "the characters wind up like pictures, framed and hanging on the screen."[22] Metacritic assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[23]

Stphane Delorme, in his book on Coppola, wrote: "The Outsiders is a wonder. And wonder is also the subject of the film. 'Stay Gold', says the song over the title credits. (...) The artificiality of the rural setting, which is as fake as in The Night of the Hunter, places us in the distant, mythical past. It takes only dye to turn these blond heads into golden heads, and thus to go from nostalgia for one's youth in the 1960s to a general regret for a golden age."[25]

The Outsiders was nominated for four Young Artist Awards, given annually since 1978 by the Young Artist Foundation. C. Thomas Howell won "Best Young Motion Picture Actor in a Feature Film". Diane Lane was nominated for "Best Young Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture". The film was nominated for "Best Family Feature Motion Picture".[26] Francis Ford Coppola was nominated for the Golden Prize at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival.[27]

On September 20, 2005, Coppola re-released the film on DVD, including 22 minutes of additional footage and new music, as a two-disc set called The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. Coppola re-inserted some deleted scenes to make the film more faithful to the book. This brought it up to a 114-minute running time. At the beginning of the film, he added scenes where Ponyboy gets stalked and jumped, the gang talks about going to the movies, Sodapop and Ponyboy talk in their room, and Dally, Pony, and Johnny bum around before going to the movies. At the end, Coppola added the scenes taking place in court, Mr. Syme talking to Ponyboy, and Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Darry in the park.

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