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Rumble Fish (1983)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay by: S.E. Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Lawrence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Vincent Spano, Chris Penn, Glenn Withrow and more.


Rumble Fish is the third of S.E. Hinton's novels to be made into a movie (it followed Tex and The Outsiders) and the second film of her books to be directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Rumble Fish was shot in Tulsa after The Outsiders wrapped, and used many of the same Outsiders cast members, like Matt Dillon as lead character Rusty-James, Diane Lane as Rusty's girlfriend Patty and Glenn Withrow as Rusty-James's nemesis, Biff Wilcox. In addition members of their respective groups of friends can be seen in background scenes of the rumble in the Outsiders.

Rumble Fish opens with Rusty-James being told that Biff Wilcox wants to fight him. Despite his older brother, the Motorcycle Boy, brokering a peace treaty between the gangs, Rusty-James elects to attend the fight. He visits with his girlfriend Patty, who worries about him fighting, and is almost late to his own rumble. Biff Wilcox shows up, and instead of the skin on skin fight that Rusty-James was preparing for, Biff Wilcox - high on drugs - whips out a knife. In the middle of the mêlée, the Motorcycle Boy returns, Rusty-James having thought he'd split town for good. After Biff gets in a slash on Rusty-James's midsection, the Motorcycle Boy takes care of the situation. We see that the Motorcycle Boy has a weary view of his former life, not wanting to stumble back to being the man that leads everyone nowhere, while Rusty-James aches for the days of gangs, fights and belonging to something.

Rusty-James has much to deal with during the course of the film. He doesn't have the smarts his father (a former lawyer, now a washed-up alcoholic, played by Dennis Hopper) or his brother does, and is afraid of being alone, likely stemming from their mother leaving him as a child. The Motorcycle Boy reveals that he went to California to meet their mother. Rusty-James also makes poor decisions, as seen when he cheats on Patty, and doesn't understand why she breaks up with him. He later learns his friend Smokey (Nicolas Cage) essentially set him up to cheat, knowing Rusty-James wouldn't have the smarts to put it all together.

In his idoltry of his brother, Rusty-James fails to understand that living up to his brother's reputation will not get him the things he wants in life. When he tags along with the Motorcycle Boy, who is well aware of a local cop who is out to get him, he helps the Motorcycle Boy release some Siamese Fighting Fish from a pet store. The Motorcycle Boy is shot and killed, and Rusty James is left to figure out what it all means.

The movie is shot in black and white, aside from colour shots of the Siamese fighting fish - the rumble fish of the title - and a single shot of a reflection of Rusty-James. Francis Ford Coppola called it an "art film for kids" and it truly lives up to it with gorgeous cinematography and an avant garde soundtrack provided by the drummer for the Police, Stewart Copeland.

Glenn plays Biff Wilcox, and this is the role where I truly noticed him. I had bought Rumble Fish because it was an S.E. Hinton based film, and also had Matt Dillon and Diane Lane in it. When I was told Glenn Withrow was in it, I couldn't remember seeing him in the film and thought the person who told me was crazy. I had to look at the credits to see what role he played and was shocked to find out it was him in the fight scene with Matt Dillon, mostly because he looks like a totally different person from Tim Shepard. Knowing the films were shot months apart, I was quite shocked at what a dramatic departure the character of Biff was from Tim Shepard. Glenn's hair is dyed platinum blond and his demeanor is a complete 180 from the cool, calm and collected Tim Shepard. Seeing that transformation is what interested me in seeing more of his work.

Rumble Fish is definitely a different sort of movie - I think you either love it or hate it. The DVD released in 2005 has some extras, including a "Making Of" feature, some deleted scenes, the music video for Don't Box Me In and a look at how the score was created. There is also audio commentary on the film by Francis Ford Coppola.

Purchase Information

DVD - Available at CDuniverse and Amazon.com.

Pictures
(Click to enlarge)

The aspect ratio is screwed up on some of the pics - my apologies. I can't seem to fix it.



Biff arrives for his fight with Rusty James.



Biff's been poppin' pills. (I love 80s Movie Rewind's description of Biff as "an amphetamine crazed New Romantic" lol.)



Another shot.



Right before the fight starts.



Biff gets Rusty James in the end.



Until he's caught in the headlights, thanks to the Motorcycle Boy. This is, hands down, my favourite screencap ever in the world. He looks freaking amazing. The eyes!



One of only two colour photos I've seen of Glenn in the film, you can really see how blond he went for the role.

Video Clips


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=5rtoEG6uHbk

(Videos are not embeddable, sorry)

The fight scene between Rusty James (Matt Dillon) and Biff Wilcox (Glenn Withrow).