knight (04/05/83)
PREFATORY DISCLAIMER: I'm not entirely impartial on this film; I'm one of the zillions who read The Outsiders in junior high school, and always fancied that it'd make a terrific movie. So, although I tend to frown upon "the-book-was-better-than-the- movie" types of criticism, this review appeals to the book's handling of the plot more than a few times. In my own defense, I did see the movie twice (even though I didn't much care for it the first time) to make sure I wasn't just bitter about it not living up to my own inflated expectations. Coppola's The Outsiders has more than a few things to recommend it; the acting is uniformly excellent, the camera work is effective, and there are moments where it is simply marvelous. But Coppola's pacing is too rapid and Rowell's screenplay is too terse to allow through any of the marvelous characterizations that make the book such a success. Hence, a lot of things, such as Pony's recitation of the Robert Frost poem, are just plain unbelievable, because Coppola and Rowel have shown us a Ponyboy who's too much Greaser and not sensitive. Likewise, we don't get enough background to believe Johnny's situation is bad enough to have him consider suicide--only fifteen seconds of hearing his parents fight, and Pony's mention of his bad home life. There's way too much of this--hearing about something but not seeing it in action--in the film. (That is, it carries much more weight to see Pony and Sodapop together than to have Cherry say "you talk so much about your brother Soda...") The result is that too many of the emotions in the Greaser's relationships are lost and carry no emotional impact on screen. The Curtis brothers' reunion at the hospital is one such loss, because there have been a grand total of thirty seconds spent on their relationship up to that point. I don't see how someone who hasn't read the book is supposed to be able to pick up on how close Pony and Soda are from the two lines they speak to each other and Cherry's throwaway question to Pony. In the same way, there's absolutely nothing to show Johnny's status as Dallas' pet, nothing to indicate that Dallas wouldn't have been as affected if it had been Pony in the hospital. I can't think of a stronger indictment of this lack of character development than the fact that I haven't found one person who's seen the film without reading the book that wasn't very confused about some major elements of the story. For instance, more than a few people I've talked with didn't have any idea that the Greaser/Soc war was a long-standing rivalry, but thought that the incident with Cherry started everything--a confusion that would have been dismissable if not for the inexplicable exclusion of the book's opening scene, where a group of Socs jump Ponyboy without any provocation. This would have also helped immensely with developing the Greasers' characters. There's certainly room for it when the film only runs 90 minutes as is. As a final note, Carmine Coppola's score is awful. I suppose when your studio's in trouble you find a composer where you can (particularly if it's your father), but Coppola's lush melodies are the sort that worked very well in The Black Stallion and don't work at all here. The last thing I want to hear when Dallas is running from the police is a melodious, stirring theme in the background. In the end, it's a lost opportunity. Coppola could have made a great film, but settled instead for a mediocre gang movie, as that's all that comes across clearly. It's not worth $4.00, but probably is worth a $2.00 matinee when there's not much else to do. If you've read the book, be prepared to be disappointed, as the characters from Hinton's pen aren't half as rich viewed through Coppola'a camera. Sorry to run on like this, but I said I wasn't impartial... Steve Knight ihnp4!stolaf!knight