Credit: DVDTown
Director:
Francis Ford Coppola
Cast:
Matt Dillon……….Dallas ‘Dally’ Winston
Ralph Macchio……….Johnny Cade
C. Thomas Howell……….Ponyboy Curtis
Patrick Swayze……….Darrel ‘Darry’ Curtis
Rob Lowe………..Sodapop Curtis
Emilio Estevez……….Keith ‘Two-Bit’ Mathews
Tom Cruise……….Steve Randle
Diane Lane……….Sherri ‘Cherry’ Valance
Leif Garrett……….Bob Sheldon
Michelle Meyrink……….Marcia
Tom Waits……….Buck Merrill
Warner Bros. in association with Zoetrope Pictures present The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. Written by Kathleen Knutsen Rowell. Based on the novel by S.E. Hinton. Running time: 113 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for violence, teen drinking and smoking, and some sexual references).
The movie:
Adolescence is a vibrant time for both males and females. They are in the prime of their youth, their bodies changing with each new experience. At this age they believe the world is their oyster. Sadly, hopes and dreams can be dashed in the blink of an eye, or the snap of a switchblade.
Will Rogers High School student S.E. (Suzie) Hinton grew up in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the turbulent times of the 1960’s. As a junior she wrote the novel that would inspire an eighth grade class in Fresno, California – fifteen years after publication – to write a letter to Francis Ford Coppola. They loved the novel so much they wanted to see it adapted to the big screen.
Hinton’s novel was entitled The Outsiders, and the story centered on two social classes: the Greasers and the Socs. The Greasers were white-trash teenagers from broken homes who wore ratty clothes and had oily hair. The Socs were affluent kids that were nicely dressed and drove expensive cars. These two classes constantly clashed with each other, much like Republicans and Democrats or the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story. Though, I have never known a Republican or a Democrat to pull a switchblade on Capital Hill.
The Outsiders is a portrait of Americana. It doesn’t paint the Norman Rockwellian type of picture that gives it a “slice of life” feel. The story is cut and dry in its approach at illustrating two distinct classes. The Greasers are rebels who live by their own set of rules. They are anti-social, only hanging out with fellow outsiders. The Socs simply don’t like anyone who isn’t like them. They keep jockeying for position – fighting to gain dominance – wanting the Greasers to just leave their part of town.
For the life of him Francis Coppola had never heard of the novel. Considering the success Coppola had with The Godfather and The Black Stallion, S.E. Hinton was hesitant about having her work adapted to film. Her reason was because those two films were superior to the original material. The same could be said for Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 cinematic vision, but it is an unfinished film. Scenes were cut at the request of Warner Bros. executives; they felt that the two-hour-plus running time was too long a length for a film about teenagers.
Despite the cuts, The Outsiders did okay business at the box office. But, it was repeat airings on television that made the film a success. Not only that, the film had one of the best casting calls in the history of film. In 1982, if you were under the age of 30 and an actor in Hollywood, you auditioned for this film. Dennis Quaid, Val Kilmer and Mickey Rourke were some of the actors who tested for the film but ultimately weren’t cast as a Greaser or a Soc.
The actors casting director Fred Roos ended up hiring, though, make for a remarkable ensemble. C. Thomas Howell is Ponyboy Curtis, the youngest of the Curtis brothers, and the narrator for this story. It is through his point-of-view that we see the life of a Greaser. His older brothers, Sodapop and Darrel (Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze), butt heads with one another. Darrel is the oldest and became the man of the house when their Mom and Dad died in a car crash. Hopes and dreams dashed, Darrel sometimes blows up at Ponyboy because he doesn’t apply himself in school. He just wants what’s best for his younger sibling. Sodapop is the mediator trying to keep the tensions down in the household. He works as a gas station attendant and has no aspirations of doing anything else, much to the displeasure of his older brother.
A pre-Karate Kid Ralph Macchio is Johnny Cade, a teenager who is sick and tired of his parents always fighting. So much so, he sleeps outside, wrapping himself up in newspaper to protect himself from the cold. Cade is Ponyboy’s best friend and the two are inseparable. But when he commits an act so heinous, it eventually has repercussions affecting each “Outsider”. Matt Dillon plays Dallas Winston with a scary cool swagger.
Rounding out the talent list for the Greasers there is Tom Cruise as Steve Randle and Emilio Estevez as ‘Two Bit’ Mathews, who is always sporting a sleeveless Mickey Mouse shirt. The ever-so-lovely Diane Lane as ‘Cherry’ Valance, a Soc with a gracious heart, and former teen idol Leif Garrett are the two most notable Socs. It is interesting seeing Cruise, at an early point in his career, in a supporting role. A year later he would star in three movies, one of which would make it cool to wear sunglasses and dance around in your underwear. Go figure.
Twenty-three years after its theatrical release, Francis Coppola’s “unfinished film” can finally be seen as a complete work. In The Outsiders: The Complete Novel, the filmmaker has added 22 minutes of new material. Footage that was left on the cutting room floor. Scenes that flesh out characters like Sodapop, allowing the viewer the best understanding of the challenges the boys endure. Their lives are turned upside down; they have no father figures or parents to turn to. All they have are kids just like them, stuck in the same situation. To be a Greaser is to be alone.
Score: 9/10
THE DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel has an all-new digital transfer from restored picture elements. It’s a great transfer considering there’s 22 minutes of new footage and it is integrated so seamlessly into the film. The colors are vibrant. So many times with films on DVD you will find problems with grainy images, especially during nighttime scenes. Not so in this Coppola masterpiece. There are so few imperfections you’d have to look for them to really notice any. The film is presented in its anamorphic widescreen ratio of 2.35:1.
Score: 9/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
It has been a long time since I’ve seen the original version of Francis Coppola’s film. But, what I do remember is that the soundtrack was mostly orchestral, a film score by Coppola’s father Carmine. For the complete novel cut most of the film score has been replaced by a new rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack with six songs by “The King”. Previously, the only rock tune was a song by Van Morrison. Besides the new music, the film has a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. You can also view the film with English, French, or Spanish subtitles.
Score: 9/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: A new cut of The Outsiders, two commentaries, deleted scenes, and featurettes.
On the first disc the only extras you will find are two audio commentaries. The first commentary is by director Francis Ford Coppola. He comes off very educated while informing the listener about The Outsiders. Coppola spends a great deal of time dissecting the dynamic of the characters and exploring the social impact of the story. Prior to this complete version audience viewers never got to experience the family bond that the Curtis boys had. With those added scenes you get an idea of the Gone With the Wind-esque type of epic Coppola wanted to make.
The second commentary features five Greasers and a Soc. Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Diane Lane visited Coppola’s vineyard in 2004 and sat together during a screening of the new cut of the film. As they watch the complete novel they made comments that were later used for this commentary. Integrated into their commentary track are remarks made by Rob Lowe and Matt Dillon who viewed the film on separate occasions. The commentary is very tongue-and-cheek, but they talk about everyone in the film, film flubs (look for the handkerchief in Ponyboy’s mouth), and stories from the set. Prior to this commentary I had no idea that Coppola shot the film in the same order as the book.
The second disc contains the majority of the extras. The first is a documentary entitled Staying Gold: A Look Back at The Outsiders (26:22). This minidoc tells the interesting story of how S.E. Hinton’s novel made it to the silver screen. How Coppola heard about the book is the first topic of discussion. He was so touched that each student signed the letter that he just had to read The Outsiders. The featurette intercuts vintage footage of Coppola shooting the actors on videotape to get a good idea of how the shots would look once they started rolling film. Nevertheless, the best bit of behind-the-scenes information comes from cinematographer Steve Burum. He recounts how various scenes were shot, including: the beam hitting Johnny in the burning church, Ponyboy and Johnny talking up on a hill, and the importance of shooting The Outsiders with a Cinemascope-like experience. In this featurette you can also hear sound bites by most of the cast (sorry, no Tom Cruise comments), and S.E. Hinton.
Suzie Hinton takes the viewer on a tour of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as she points out some of the sights depicted in her novel and the film. S.E. Hinton on Location in Tulsa (7:32) also has Hinton telling stories about the director and the cast. Like how Matt Dillon falls out of his chair at the Drive-in. That was not supposed to happen, but it was left in as a useable film flub. Hinton acted as “Greaser Den Mother”, tending to the actors. She helped motivate Tom Cruise so he could perform his back flip off of a car’s hood. I guess the motivation paid off, because now Cruise makes twenty million a picture.
The Casting of The Outsiders extra is a personal favorite. This 13-minute feature includes never-before-seen screen tests and auditions of the actors in the finished film as well as Kate Capshaw, Adam Baldwin, and Anthony Michael Hall. Fred Roos, the casting director behind such films as The Godfather and American Graffiti, recounts how he got into the business and how he went about casting The Outsiders. Coppola always experiments with the way he casts his films. The testing process was very elaborate as a soundstage was rented and all the actors were brought in and grouped into parts. The director would randomly select actors to get on stage and perform a scene. This allowed for actors to audition for two or three different roles. Nice experiment. Too bad other filmmakers don’t use it to find some untapped potential in Hollywood.
For Readings, seven cast members read passages from the novel that recount and describe the characters they play. As they read the expositions you can make your own determination if the actors were chosen correctly.
The NBC News Today Segment: The Outsiders Started by School Petition is a four-minute rehashing of information we have already gained by watching the first minidoc. However, it is only in this segment that you can hear comments by the school’s librarian Jo Ellen Misakian and by some of students who signed the letter.
Supplementing the extras already discussed are six additional scenes that did not make it back into the complete novel and the theatrical trailer. The scenes run over ten minutes and are very rough (bad tracking and a stamped time code is present). Moreover, the scenes are merely extensions to those already in the film.
Outsiders‘ purists will want to buy this DVD to see the extras, but more importantly to see the new 113-minute cut. It’s a shame that they couldn’t include both the “complete novel” cut and the original, 91-minute version through a branching feature. Better get the bare-bones original in a bargain bin if you want to do any sort of comparison.
Score: 8.5/10
