Review | The Outsiders: The Complete Novel movie review – Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 ensemble masterpiece about violent rivalry between teen gangs
- Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Matt Dillon feature in this extended version of Coppola’s tale of teenage gang violence
- The director, who had just made Vietnam war film Apocalypse now and musical One From the Heart, was convinced to make the film by US schoolchildren
4.5/5 stars
Coming after the massive Apocalypse Now and the colourful musical One From the Heart, Francis Ford Coppola’s relatively small-scale drama The Outsiders was a surprise when it was released in 1983.
The movie has aged well, and today impresses on all counts. The story and characterisation are intelligent and play-like, the camerawork is interesting, and the acting – by a large cast whose members went on to be known as the “Brat Pack” – is sensitive and involving.
Even the theme of teenage angst, usually reduced to a cliché in movies, is carefully handled, with Coppola and company working hard to deliver touching scenes full of humanity.
This “complete novel” version was first released in 2005 on DVD, and reinstates 22 minutes that were excised from the original, as distributors Warner Brothers thought the movie was too long. The new scenes, added at the start and the finish, set the background for the main story and also tie up loose ends.
The new version also features a soundtrack of songs by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, et al, in place of the Hollywood-esque score composed by the director’s father, Carmine.