The Greasers vs. The Socials

The Outsiders (1983)

What's in common with Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez and Ralph Macchio? Well they all starred in this movie, but also they all sucked in acting when they started their careers, though some of them suck even today. So the acting is quite bad in this one, though I must say Emilio Estevez wasn't that bad and luckily at least C. Thomas Howell managed to put some effort into his part. Anyway the movie is set in the late 50's and tells the story about a boy whose home town is torn in half by the two sides of wealthy kids and the poor kids. The boy is called Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell), he's a dreamer who writes a diary about his life in this town as an outsider stuck in the poor side of it with the "Greasers" as they call themselves. His best friends are Johnny (Ralph Macchio) and Dallas (Matt Dillon) and they end up in trouble with the "Socials", the rich kids. During a fight one of the "Socials" ends up dead and Ponyboy and Johnny need to run away from the town. Ponyboy's bigger brothers Darrel (Patrick Swayze) and Sodapop (Rob Lowe) are also "Greasers" and they try to keep Ponyboy out of trouble, but as a big fight between the two gangs is about to erupt things get out of hand. Well, despite the name of the main character and the strong male bonding going on in the movie, he's not gay, or at least that's what the movie tries to tell us. This movie has become a classic nowadays and the fans love it, but I must say I was far from impressed. Now I haven't read the book, so I have no idea how well it's adapted on screen, but what I saw was quite weak. Now I already bashed the bad acting, but really the characters are quite weak also, meaning that the bad actors don't really have much to go with in the first place. That of course doesn't help it one bit. I know there's a longer version of the movie, but I saw the 90 minute theatrical cut so maybe the characters are given a bit more depth in the long version. I hated the overly dramatic music, it watered down all the little drama there was in the first place and made it seem more like a farce. The movie isn't horrible by any means, it has a bit too much syryp for my taste, but it has it's moments also. It was entertaining enough and the ending is quite dramatic so it ended with the right note. Wouldn't give it another try though.
59%