The rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, only heats up when one gang member kills a member of the other.
After directing three of the finest films in American history, “The Godfather,” “The Godfather: Part II,” and “Apocalypse Now,” Francis Ford Coppola set his sights on author S.E. Hinton’s novel, ‘The Outsiders,’ and adapted it into a feature-length movie that told the story of the conflict between two rival gangs divided by their socioeconomic status. The story takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1962 and centers on two gangs; the working-class “Greasers” and the upper-class “Socs” (Socials). While some praised the film for humanizing the Greasers, instead of labeling them with the stereotypical negative image they had amassed over the years, in the end, I found the movie to be devoid of heart and soul, no matter how hard Coppola tried to infuse it throughout.
The film focuses on Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell), a member of the Greasers gang. Ponyboy is not your typical Greaser, he likes to read and go to the movies and has plans for his future but when he meets and falls for Sherri Valance (Diane Lane), a girl who has just broken up with her Soc boyfriend, things become more difficult for him. One night, Ponyboy and his friend Johnny (Ralph Macchio), are attacked by five Socs and after trying to drown Ponyboy, he passes out but when he wakes up a short while later, Johnny is sitting over the corpse of one of the Socs he killed who tried to drown him. At the behest of one of the older Greasers, Dallas (Matt Dillon), the two boys go on the run but it only makes things worse for them when they return. Now the two gangs will come face to face and afterward, things will never be the same again.
There is a very talented cast on display here; C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane but sadly, this was before they all came into their own. Their performances, at best, are underwhelming and, at times, feel very forced, to the point of embarrassing awkwardness. Coppola made several films during the early ’80s and for the most part, they were not well received, “The Outsiders” included. The movie never feels authentic, while it most certainly “looks” the part, its inner workings are nowhere to be found. The emotional connection between brothers Ponyboy, Sodapop (Rob Lowe), and their older brother Darrel (Patrick Swayze), never once feels like a family network, instead, scenes they share feel like they were created simply for drama’s sake and while they look and sound good on screen, there is zero rapport between them.
The dramatic scenes are heavy-handed and uninspiring, leaving you to wonder what exactly happened to Coppola in the four years since his last great directorial outing, “Apocalypse Now.” This was my first time watching “The Outsiders,” in all the years since its release, the trailers and artwork never made an impression on me so I’m glad I actually got to see it but in the end, it left no lasting emotional impact on me, at least not the type Coppola was aiming for.
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