The Outsiders (1983)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenplay by: Technically Francis Ford Coppola, but Kathleen Rowell got the credit.
Starring: Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, Leif Garrett, Glenn Withrow, Tom Cruise, Darren Dalton and more.
Rating: PG (original release), PG-13 (Complete novel 2005 release)


The Outsiders was written between 1964 and 1965, while author S.E. (Susan) Hinton was in high school. It was published in 1967, while she was a freshman in college. Since that time, the book has been taught in schools for years, usually between grades 6 to 9. A group of students were the catalyst for this movie being made, as they wrote Francis Ford Coppola and asked him if he would direct it, which he did.

The Outsiders was filmed in the spring of 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Francis Ford Coppola had S.E. Hinton on hand to consult. If you'll allow me to jump ahead a little, Warner Brothers thought the final cut of the film was too long, and Coppola was forced to cut the film down by 20 minutes. All of the opening scenes of the book, as well as most of the end scenes, were cut out of the film. While the film makes a lot of sense if you've read the book, the original cut is a little jarring - we get very little information on the Curtis brothers and their plight, and the whole reason Pony is writing at the beginning of the film is never explained by the end.

So that being said, I'll review the extended edition, The Complete Novel, which was released in 2005. This version has the 22 minutes of footage restored and paints a more complete picture of the book than the original cut ever did.

In particular, the opening of the film gives us a great overview of these guys, as they arrive to save Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) from a jumping by their cross town, rich kid rivals, the Socs. There is oldest brother Darry (Patrick Swayze), a too-serious-for-his-age leader who is now caring for his younger siblings since their parents died, middle brother Soda (Rob Lowe), whose easygoing ways make him Pony's confidant, and Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell), the youngest brother, who has a fascination with movies and books, and things you wouldn't peg a greaser to be interested in.

They have grown up with the other boys we are introduced to - wisecracking Two-Bit Mathews (Emilio Estevez), Soda's best friend Steve Randle (Tom Cruise) who seems to have a dislike for Pony, quiet and nervous Johnny Cade (Ralph Macchio) who is sporting a serious scar on his cheek from an attack by the Socs, and tough talking Dallas Winston (Matt Dillon) who has just been released from jail.

When Ponyboy, Johnny and Two-Bit end up walking two Soc girls, Cherry (Diane Lane) and Marcia (Michelle Meyrink) home from the drive in movie and their boyfriends Bob (Leif Garrett) and Randy (Darren Dalton) show up, the girls leave with them to avoid a fight. When Pony later falls asleep outside with Johnny and is late getting home, Darry blows his top and hits him, causing Pony to run away.

It's just the beginning of his troubles, as he and Johnny make their way to a park, where they are spotted by an angry and drunk Bob and Randy and their friends. When they attempt to drown Ponyboy, Johnny stabs Bob, killing him.

Now faced with being responsible for a murder, Johnny and Pony run to Dallas who tells them of a place out of town to hide. The boys escape to Windrixville, hiding out in an abandoned church. After a week alone, alternately dealing with the grim reality of their situation and passing the time reading Gone With The Wind and talking, Dallas shows up. As they talk at a drive-in restaurant, Johnny tells Dally that he thinks they should turn themselves in, as Cherry has agreed to testify that Johnny killed Bob in self defence. Dallas is angry with Johnny's decision and tries to talk him out of it, as he thinks prison will turn Johnny hard like he is.

On the way back, they see the church they were hiding out in is on fire, likely from one of their cigarettes. As they hear the screams of some local school kids who had been picnicking in the area, Ponyboy runs into the church to save them, Johnny on his heels. The boys manage to find and rescue the children, but Johnny is trapped in the church when a beam breaks, and Dallas goes in after him.

Ponyboy is home the next day when he discovers the police are considering charging Johnny with manslaughter and now the social services people are considering putting Soda and Pony in a boys' home. Pony and Two-Bit go to visit Johnny and tell him about the impending rumble with the Socs, to settle their beefs once and for all. Johnny is in bad shape and may not survive. Dallas is also in the hospital with a burnt arm, angry he's going to miss the rumble and even more angry at how ill Johnny is. He takes Two-Bit's prized possession, his knife.

That night the gang is preparing for the rumble. They meet up with the Shepard gang, including their leader Tim Shepard (Glenn Withrow). The Socs arrive, as does Dallas Winston, who has used Two-Bit's knife to get himself out of the hospital. The greasers win the fight against the Socs, and Dallas pulls an injured Pony out of the fray to get him to the hospital - Johnny is getting worse.

They arrive at the hospital to tell Johnny they beat the Socs, but Johnny tells them fighting does no good. Dallas tells Johnny he's proud of him and then Johnny dies. Dallas, having just lost the one person in the world he cares about, leaves the hospital.

Ponyboy has gone home, where the gang is recovering from the rumble. Meanwhile, Dallas, slowly self-destructing, robs a convenience store at gun point and gets himself shot. Bleeding and running, he stops to call the gang and tell them to meet him at the park. As Dallas runs into the park, followed by several police cars with sirens blaring, the gang runs up just in time to see Dallas pause, raise his gun and get shot by the police. He crawls onto the pavement and (eventually lol) dies.

Ponyboy ends up having to go to court and is allowed to stay with his brothers. He is rebuffed at school by Cherry, despite their shared outlook about the fighting. Pony's teacher then tells him that since his grades have slipped, he has to write a theme, which he is not thrilled about.

Despite the events, Darry and Pony are still not getting along, when Soda angrily tells them he can't take it and runs off, the two brothers chase him down. They finally talk about how they need to work together to stay together, and not become what Dallas Winston had become. Pony decides to write about his experience with his friends in hopes of helping others. His first line is the opening line of the film, and we see it fade up in a theatre, ending where we began.

Even though the book was written and set in the '60s, the theme of the book and movie still resonate today.

The film is beautifully shot, and the use of anamorphic widescreen pays off with so many beautiful shots, especially of the sunrises and sunsets. Most TV airings are a pan and scan version, which loses a lot of the frame because of it, so this movie is very worth owning just to see the full scope of each shot. The Complete Novel DVD also contains interviews, a casting special, location information, deleted scenes, commentary and a ton more goodies, which make it worthwhile. There is some complaint by some viewers about the change in music - instead of the operatic score (which I felt was a bit over-the-top), the score has been replaced with music like Elvis, the Marketts etc. I am personally a fan of the change, although I feel the music is a bit loud in some scenes, to the point where it's a bit jarring.

All of the actors do a great job with their characters. Tom Cruise is probably the most out of place to me as Steve; I'm not shy about my preference of Harold P. Pruett's interpretation of Steve in the TV series. But the rest of the cast seemed to suit their characters wonderfully. Emilio Estevez gives Two-Bit a perfect amount of seriousness mixed in with the humour. Rob Lowe definitely brings a sensitive and playful attitude to Soda, despite not being a total match to the description in the book. Patrick Swayze was perfectly cast as Darry, playing the older brother thrust into a parental role with a toughness and sensitivity that isn't lost on viewers who know Darry is more than what Pony thinks in the beginning. Ralph Macchio is a picture perfect Johnny, and watching him play the character as nervous and scared in the beginning to taking charge of their escape from Tulsa and hiding out, really shows the tougher qualities of Johnny present in the book that so many people seem to miss. C. Thomas Howell is a great Ponyboy, and I preferred his performance over Jay R. Ferguson's in the TV series because of the toughness Tommy gives Pony. There is a sense of Pony being closed-off to people outside his gang, yet open with the people he's comfortable with. I always felt Jay had played Pony a little too open and happy-go-lucky, while Tommy's Ponyboy seemed to be quieter and more reflective, while keeping up the exterior.

Matt Dillon also worked for me as Dally. Despite not matching the description of Dally in the least, I think Matt got it with the portrayal. The "New York tough guy" may have been played a little big, but I think he gave Dallas the right amount of outward anger, explosiveness and generally being unable to control what he feels in so many ways. You get a sense of the ticking time bomb right from the beginning, and Dallas's fate doesn't seem like a huge surprise because of it.

Glenn appears as Tim Shepard. The character of Tim Shepard has always been interesting to me. He appears for about 3-4 pages in the book, during the rumble sequence. But even before this we have learned much about him. Ponyboy lets out lots of little details about Tim and his brother Curly, and therefore there's a big lead up to Tim's appearance. S.E. Hinton seemed to enjoy the character as well, bringing Tim back in her second book, That Was Then, This Is Now, where we also meet his sister Angela.

Despite the short appearance in the book, the character of Tim is wildly popular, especially among fan fiction writers. He has the same type of description as Dallas - wild, tough, not one to mess with - yet doesn't come to Dallas's tragic end, which makes for an attractive option for a writer. Glenn plays Tim as very controlled and a man of few words, a portrayal that has continued in much of the fan fiction about the character (including my own). The vibe he gives Tim suits what we know of him in the book - in both books, when it comes down to it. Whereas Matt Dillon's Dallas is very uncontrolled and spontaneous, Tim comes off as the opposite - in control of every aspect of himself and what he's allowing to go on around him.

The character of Tim is also interesting for a second reason - Tim Shepard has been portrayed by two other actors in two other projects. Brooks Gardner portrayed him briefly in the film That Was Then, This Is Now (which was set in the '80s instead of the '60s and filmed in Minnesota rather than Oklahoma). Robert Rusler played the role of Tim in the short-lived Outsiders TV series.

While Rusler may match the physical description of Tim more closely (Tim is described as having curly black hair), Glenn outshines both Rusler and Gardner as Tim Shepard. (Yeah, yeah, you're all saying "Biased a little, Jen?" But it's true.) The qualities of Tim Shepard from the novel shine through in Glenn's performance, whereas Rusler suffered at the hands of poor writing and Gardner had too little screen time to really make an impact. Judging by the fact that Glenn appeared in four more of Francis Ford Coppola's projects, I'm not the only one who was impressed by his performance in this film.

For those of you who enjoy Glenn's acting, pick up the extended Complete Novel version, as there's an added scene featuring Tim.

Overall, the film is a great adaptation of the book - but make sure it's the Complete Novel version you pick up (actually, get both to compare, you'll see what I mean). The extended footage, the special features and the commentaries make it more than worth it. I think the majority of us fans came to the Outsiders fandom through the book, but the movie is so closely intertwined with it that it is commonly used as canon in the fan fiction world. So many books-to-film fail at connecting with the readers of the original material, but Francis Ford Coppola captured the essence of the book in his film.

Purchase Information

DVD - There are TWO versions available - the 1983 cut and the 2005 cut (which is better because it has more Glenn).