best movie i've ever seen.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

2/4Before I critique the movie (which will be painful to do) I would like to observe the pools of talent involved in the making of this movie. We have director Francis Ford Coppola (known for The Godfather and Apocalypse Now) working with C. Thomas Howell, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, and Patrick Swayze. The classic S. E. Hinton novel adaption is, for lack of better words, not very good.This film seems very textbook, and that's the main reason I wasn't a fan. Coppola refuses to stray from the confines of the book. In other words, it's not original. He teamed up with Hinton to try and provide the audience the most accurate presentation of the book, and that's something I very much respect. However, staying with source material doesn't mean you should the very camera angles predictable.One thing the movie succeeds at addressing is its title-you feel like an outsider. Coppola has skill at developing characters at a steady pace, and then developing the characters relationships. This is a real shame, because it feels Coppola is giving his actors more depth then they can handle. The performances from Howell and Macchio (the two main characters) are unfortunately the most inept on the set. They can't convey their roles with the proper gusto.One thing I really enjoyed about The Outsiders is the atmosphere. He was able to portray the times well. Coppola put effort into creating the feel of a 50's Oklahoma town. It's a very subtle touch, but I throughly enjoyed it.When it comes down to it, The Outsiders is not a bad movie, but it's definitely no good either. It does a great job of re-telling the book in the exact same way, which for me was a pointless excersise.

Francis Ford Coppola stated he was inspired to make this movie after by being lobbied to do so by middle-school students. S.E.Hinton's 1967 juvenile novel, "The Outsiders," was a required reading staple for American middle-school students throughout the 70's and 80's. So, Coppola and his financial backers probably thought they had a built-in money-maker due to virtually every American teenager being exposed to the book.Set in mid-1960's Oklahoma, "The Outsiders" is about a group of working-class teens and their lives in a very socially stratified small city. The "Greasers," the poor kids from the other side of the tracks, are locked in constant conflict with the "Socs"- the well-to-do kids from the nice parts of town. The story is told from the viewpoint of "Ponyboy Curtis" (C. Thomas Howell) a young Greaser who is being raised by his older brothers, "Darry" (Patrick Swayze) and "Sodapop" (Rob Lowe), after their parents' deaths.Ponyboy and his best friend, "Johnny" (Ralph Macchio), get into a confrontation with some drunken Socs who take offense to Ponyboy and Johnny being too friendly with Soc girl, "Cherry" (Diane Lane). Violence ensues and a Soc ends-up dead. Ponyboy and Johnny flee with the assistance of Greaser bad-boy "Dally" (Matt Dillon). Will they ever find peace where people are just people rather than members of "tribes?"Hinton's novel is really juvenile with its ridiculous character names and teen fantasy world in which everyone seems to be devoid of parents. However, that's not surprising considering Hinton was just a teen herself when she wrote it. Still, its unique narrative structure and its plea for understanding between social groups quickly made it a teaching tool for middle-schools. It's possible a good movie could have been made from it.This isn't it. Instead, Coppola created a ninety minute ad for Tiger Beat magazine aimed at pleasing adolescent/teenage girls. One knows one is in trouble from the opening credits with its bombastic "Gone With The Wind" style title and treacly Stevie Wonder song. It only gets worse as the movie introduces supposedly "tough" characters played by actors who are almost as pretty as Diane Lane. The cast is a who's who of early 1980's "non-threatening boy" actors. It's the pin-up boys from the puppy-crush, fangirl mags: Howell, Macchio, Lowe, and even Leif Garrett makes an appearance. They're all filmed to look "adorable" and make little girls' ***** tingle. Their acting on the other hand? Ugh. Stiff, silly, and overwrought. The only actor who comes off fairly well is Tom Cruise prior to having his teeth fixed. He has a very small role, but he does make an attempt to approximate a working-class Oklahoma accent.The entire film is a melodramatic mess. Virtually every scene is over-acted with an absurdly maudlin and overripe musical score courtesy of Coppola's composer father, Carmine. (Even Coppola has recognized how that terrible score undermined this film because he replaced it in one of the DVD releases. Of course, this was done after his father had passed.)It's still shocking that this teeny girl, pin-up sapfest is a Coppola film. After the incredible struggle to complete "Apocalypse Now," it appears Coppola just wanted to coast on his rep and his heart was no longer into film-making. That may explain why "The Outsiders" and Coppola's other adaption of a Hinton book, 1983's "Rumble Fish," are so terrible.

The Outsiders had a all star cast of known 80's actors. C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise of course. Charlie Sheen must of been on vacation somewhere to miss out!?! Oh I forgot and Diane Lane was also part of the class. Surprisingly Matt Dillon had the stand out role as the troubled youth. Sadly, Matt Dillon became type cast as the troubled leather jacket youth the rest of the his career. Macchio, Howell and the rest did a decent job considering the material. I never read the Outsiders but the movie must of followed the book closely. The Outsiders gets across more like a book than a movie. Frequently, great books badly transition to the screen. The Outsiders has an interesting story, with a social message of what is good person? The Macchio characters vs the Dillon creates the movie's argument of Plato's what is the good person/life question? The surprise ending pounds the message! Regrettably, The Outsiders gets across more like play then a movie, with the dialog and acting. The camera and set work was like the movie 300 with a feel of a comic book. If the director/scrip write does not tweak the story and character book movies comes across as dry. Omitting characters, changing scenes, condense the story is usually done to avoid a dry story. I would not call The Outsiders a Classic movie, but not a bad movie either. 6 out of 10 stars.

It is the 1960s and a US town is divided in two along social lines. The youths of each side form gangs in line with these two camps: the working class Greasers and the wealthier South Side gang, the Socials. The two sides use any opportunity to niggle each other and whenever they meet there is friction. Then one night a gang of Socials attack two Greasers, Johnny (Ralph Macchio) and Ponyboy (C Thomas Howell), and Johnny kills one of the Socials with a knife. This sets off a chain of events.Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, The Outsiders is a gritty, engaging exploration of social divides and the innocence of youth. We see the tensions between the social classes in the town and the consequences thereof. We also see how tragic events can make people rethink old feuds and see the bigger picture. In addition, it's a story of retaining one's innocence and sense of wonder and making the most of one's youth.In spite of the engaging plot and the profound themes, the most amazing thing about the movie is the cast. While the only known names at the time in the cast are Tom Waits and William Smith (and each of them has about 30 seconds of screen time and 2-3 lines), it is the then- unknowns whose names boggle the mind. Coppola could not have known at the time but he inadvertently cast the greatest all- star cast in the history of movies: Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C Thomas Howell. All of these became stars, but were relatively unknown at the time.The extras even include Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) and Heather Langenkamp (Nightmare on Elm Street).Just about every character you see is played by someone who was then unknown but later became huge. Great for star-spotting, especially to see the origins of current stars, and so many of them too.A great movie with a great, stars-in-the-making cast.