The Outsiders Review

Director: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now)     
Screenplay: Kathleen Rowell
Starring: C. Thomas Howell (Red Dawn, The Hitcher), Matt Dillon (There's Something About Mary, Crash), Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid, My Cousin Vinny), Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Ghost), Rob Lowe (The West Wing, Brothers and Sisters), Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club, The Mighty Ducks), and Tom Cruise (Risky Business, Mission Impossible)
Gross revenue: $25,697,647
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 66%
IMDB Rating: 7/10

     The 1980’s were a time like no other.  While many people try not to remember their time in the 80’s (mostly due to wardrobe choices), no other decade has produced such a stellar track record of teenage-related films.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire are all exemplary examples of films that truly capture perhaps the most tumultuous and complicated time period in a person’s life: the teenage years.  No other time period causes such confusion, angst, and troubles in a person’s life, and no other decade has more realistic examples of what teenagers are really like than the 1980’s.  By any indication, The Outsiders should join the ranks of these great films in their nuanced portrayal of adolescence.  Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the mastermind behind The Godfather trilogy, and starring a plethora of some of the 1980’s most famous child actors, many members of the famed “Brat Pack”, and features a timeless story of a boy coming-of-age in confusing world.  Unfortunately, The Outsiders falls short of these films and fails to present a coherent coming-of-age story and social commentary on the dangers of class division and gang warfare, and is instead an unintentionally comical farce with a muddled storyline, one-note characters, and uneven direction.
     The Outsiders takes place during the 1960’s, and features the conflict between two social groups: the “Greasers”, poor kids who are notorious for their greasy hair, and the “Socs” rich kids who drive Mustangs and always wear khakis.  It is never explained why these groups hate each other so much, but this is insignificant, all that is important is that these two groups are constantly at odds, often to the point of violence.  The film stars C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis, a Greaser with a heart of gold and prefers reading and watching movies to fighting in brawls.  He lives with his two older brothers: Darrel (Patrick Swayze) and Soda-Pop (Rob Lowe), and tensions in the family run high as Darrel and Ponyboy are always fighting, with Soda-Pop caught in the middle.  After Ponyboy’s friend and fellow Greaser Johnny (Ralph Macchio) kills a Soc after a rough fight, they flee town with the help of their friend Dallas (Matt Dillon), and inadvertently start a course of events that will change both of their lives forever.
     The movie strives for two things: to tell the coming-of-age story of Ponyboy Curtis as his world around him begins to fall apart, and provide a social commentary on the dangers of class division and gang warfare.  It fails on both parts, mostly due to the muddled screenplay and uneven direction.  Francis Ford Coppola is never able to find the balance between telling Ponyboy’s story and the story of the gang war.  As a result, both stories are shortchanged and underdeveloped.  Ponyboy’s journey to manhood is triggered by a traumatic event, but never given explanation or analysis beyond that, as the movie then returns to focus on the conflict between the Greasers and the Socs.  The Greasers and Socs are both one-dimensional characters, who have no motivation for fighting each other besides the fun and thrill of it.  Instead of providing a commentary on the problems caused by gang warfare, the movie instead finds it more important to show a five-minute brawl, with no consequences other than injuries to the characters’ faces.  An important lesson to be learned: when somebody gets punched in the face, it hurts.
     Some may argue that the character of Dallas is a complex and layered character, who is portrayed as the “good guy” despite the terrible actions he commits during the movie, with deep and hidden reasons for these actions. Dallas is little more than a thug with no compassion outside his inner circle of friends, and any attempts at revealing layers to this character are stifled by Coppola’s poor direction and desire to focus the story elsewhere.  The inherent problem with ensemble casts is that many characters often are underdeveloped and lack emotional depth; unfortunately, all of the characters in the movie are this way, which makes for a rather boring movie.
     What makes these shortcomings even worse is that the movie began quite well and enjoyably.  There was a fine balance between the “coming-of-age” story, and the “gang warfare” story.  However, after a certain church scene, the movie bounces around from scene to scene with very little cohesiveness.  It’s as If the director was not even reading the script while editing; he just spliced scenes together in any random order.
     Supporters  argue that the film is cheesy because it was made in the 1980’s, and that therefore gives it an “excuse” to be cheesy.  This is incorrect as many movies made in the 1980’s, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, are still as touching and relevant today as they were nearly 20 years ago.  Not just the wardrobe and the dialogue (it is a period piece so it is excused from this), but the acting is just overly dramatic and cheesy.  Most of the actors here are very young with very little experience portraying a range of emotions, and their stunted efforts are a hallmark of this film.
      Despite early promises and impressive pedigree surrounding this film, The Outsiders ultimately falls short.  It is neither a poignant coming-of-age tale nor a social commentary on the nature of teenage gang warfare.  Instead, it is a muddled jumble of one-dimensional characters, underdeveloped plotlines, and overdramatic acting, due to its unfocused script and haphazard direction.  The Outsiders’ muddled screenplay and uneven direction result in a film that should have been a classic in teen angst, but instead is underdeveloped, overdramatic, and unfocused.  It should have been better.  2.5/5.
"Stay gold Ponyboy"