In 1983 Francis Ford Coppola directed two films based on S.E. Hinton novels. Everybody seems to remember The Outsiders, 25 years later it's considered a minor classic. "Stay golden Ponyboy." But I don't think I've ever heard anyone mention Rumble Fish, and after seeing it for the first time, I'm incredibly surprised it isn't better remembered.

I think what everybody remembers about The Outsiders is the incredible cast, featuring very early performances by C. Thomas Howell, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane and a few more recognizable faces in there. But the cast for Rumble Fish is nearly as impressive, with an all-star cast, including Mickey Rourke, Nicholas Cage, Lawrence Fishburn, Dennis Hopper, Chris Penn, with Matt Dillon and Diane Lane, being the only repeats from The Outsiders. Both films are expertly crafted, top notch filmmaking by Coppola and his crew.

Where they differ is in the style and execution. The Outsiders is very straight-forward, made in a classic style of filmmaking. While Rumble Fish is very avant-garde. The entire film is shot is stark black & white, with the only touches of colors showing up in the Siamese Fighting Fish the boys admire, and briefly in one key scene towards the end. Shadows are extremely prevelant throughout the film, they often fortell who's coming and what's going to happen. Clouds sped up by stop-motion often drift by in the background. The fight scenes are choreographed more like dances, than anything resembling a gang fight. The score is like nothing I've ever heard before, it's almost like somebody playing chimes with a pair of metal spoons. And those offbeat choices are probably why the film isn't as well remembered.

While I was reading the book a month back, the film I was directing in my head, was similar to the way that The Outsiders was made. It would have been easy for Coppola to do the same thing a second time around. But being a filmmaker that's never played by the rules, that would have been boring for him. I went in expecting that same style, so I was jarred by what I was seeing, it took me at least 15 minutes to adjust to this very different style of filmmaking. So I can imagine that when these films came out six months of each other in 1983, that audiences were thrown for a serious loop. And it shows in the box office numbers from the time, The Outsiders made over 25 million, a tidy sum for that time, while Rumble Fish made around 2 million.

Rusty James, played nicely by Matt Dillon, is a young ruffian, who wants nothing more than to be like his big brother Motorcycle Boy. He hangs around with his low class friends, gets into fights, cheats his girlfriend, gets suspended from school, is basically up to no good. But it's nothing like the good old days, when his brother ran the gangs and ruled the streets. Rusty James talks endlessly about becoming the great leader his brother once was, but he doesn't have the smarts or charisma to do so. When his brother comes back from a trip to California, he follows him around like a lost puppy, wishing and hoping for his idol to bring him into the big time. But Motorcyle Boy has changed, he's done with those days. He's endlessly talented at anything he puts his mind to, but nothing in life interests him. As the story progesses, we learn more about why these kids are the way they are, they don't tell us everything, leaving a lot to read between the lines.

Rumble Fish is a film that deserves to be better remembered. While not as easily accessible as The Outsiders, I think it is the more interesting film of the two. If you appreciate B&W photography, this film is a must see. Coppola uses a lot of techniques from the classic film noir days, with gorgeous lighting and compositions for nearly every shot in the film. The look has a purpose, it shows us how the color blind Motorcylce Boy sees the world. It's a wonderful character study of these two lost boys, a story that speaks to any age or time. There are great performances from a batch of burgeoning young actors, some who went on to become the biggest names in the business. The film might be considered a little strange for those weened on Hollywood blockbusters, but there is a lot here worth seeing. Rumble Fish is a true work of art. - Grade: B+

If you've read this blog at all, you know I'm a huge zombie fan. Of course it all started with Night of the Living Dead, zombie movies I mean, not my obsession. Although I do remember a childhood viewing of Night that freaked the hell out of me. My zombie fetish actually started with Return of the Living Dead, I must have watched it 20 times when I was younger, and it's still my all-time-favorite. It's the film that should be credited with the first "fast-zombies", not 28 Days Later, as everyone wrongly says.

But I should be talking about the old, lumbering, shoot-em-in-the-head zombies, that George A. Romero invented and made famous in Night, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead. Each of which, I've seen numerous times and love for different reasons. I love how Night sets up the new zombie invasion, we're just learning about and dealing with them for the first time. In Dawn, humanity is fighting and losing the war against the zombies. In Day, the zombies have won, and we're stuck with one of humanities last outcrops, trying to figure out a way to turn back the tide.

I saw Land of the Dead in theaters a few years back and wasn't totally impressed. Mostly because I didn't totally understand where the film fit into the series. Running across the film in the DVD discount bin, I couldn't pass up completing my collection. Watching it a second time, I actually appreciated the film much more. It's still nowhere near perfect, but it continues the story much better than I first believed, and Romero's idea of having the zombies learn and organize made sense. It's the next step in their evolution, and they're ending the war with the living for good.

Romero has never been a filmmaker that's impressed me with his style. He has a classic technique, letting story dictate the pace, the shots, and the look of the film. It's just enough to bring you into his messed-up-world. With Land of the Dead he really lets the actors carry the film, something which most horror films don't do, and they're mostly up to the challenge, offering up some fully realized characters. Simon Baker as Riley, wants to make a life outside of the city, away from the corruption that has overtaken what's left of society. John Leguizamo, as Cholo, is out for himself, always looking for a score, and wants to join the elite. Dennis Hopper, has some fun as the evil leader Kaufman, he gets a chance to chew some cheesy zombie dialog. The always entertaining Asia Argento, is a girl, who is simply trying to survive in this dog-eat-dog world.

I've always liked how Romero focuses on a few main characters among the world's chaos, it brings it to a much more personal level. With Land, he also focuses on a hero-zombie, the one that's smarter than the rest, that leads them into battle, that can figure out problems and seems to have feelings. It's a new wrinkle to the zombie genre; something he started with Bub in Day, but here you get a much better sense of where this world is headed. Although I enjoyed Land of the Dead more this time around, I'd still consider it the weakest entry into his zombie series. (I haven't seen Diary of the Dead yet.) But it's an interesting take on the genre, that probably won't be appreciated beyond anyone that enjoys zombie films. - Grade: C+ (Seen on 7/5/08)

The Osterman Weekend was legendary director Sam Peckinpah's last film; and sadly it shows. It's messy and underwhelming, and most unfortunate of all, boring; with none of the action-fireworks or visceral-punch of his classic films: The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs or The Getaway.

The film is about a CIA agent played by John Hurt, convincing Rutger Hauer's character, a journalist, that his group of long-time friends are in fact traitors, selling secrets to the Russians. And that he can best capture them by getting them all together at Rutger's house for a weekend.

But everything isn't as it seems; with characters playing each other with all kinds of double crosses, everyone has their own agenda. I honestly lost track of what all was going on; only because I was so bored that my mind didn't want to do the work of connecting everything. I tried to enjoy it for the few action scenes, but none of them were very exciting, so I truly lost all interest before the twists started revealing themselves.

That's about all I have to say about this film, it doesn't deserve a full review; I'll let the two film clips below speak for me. - Grade: C-

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A very underwhelming car chase, as Rutger goes after his family's station wagon, the kind with the fake wood paneling on the side, in a beat up old F-150. I guess Peckinpah was going for an everyday kind of car feel, but it's honestly just boring. There is one good crash, as some pipes impale another driver's car.

It's Rutger Hauer vs. Craig T. Nelson (and his ultra-sweet mustache) in a slow-motion fight, featuring all kinds of breaking glass, a theme that runs deep in The Osterman Weekend.

This was a favorite of mine from my childhood, but it had been a long time since I'd seen it. From what I remembered of it, it seemed that it was a fairly well made film, and that it would manage to hold up over 20 years later. And it did, surprisingly well in fact, even much of the special effects, because they didn't try to get too fancy with them, sticking to the basics; including a cool stop-motion dinosaur. (See below) None of the 80's fashions or dialogue is too obnoxious, nothing so distracting that it'll pull you out of the film. I think this film would still work for a kids. It's a fun, whimsical ride.

Mike Harlan is a decent kid, a bit obsessed with cars, in fact it's the only thing he cares about, but he has a good heart. When his science teacher, played by Dennis Hopper in full-on psychedelic mode, asks him to turn in anything for his science project so he can graduate, Mike wants to do it right and go big. So he breaks into the military junkyard that's outside of town, he kills two birds with one stone, by inviting along the nerdy, but cute Ellie, who sort of blackmailed him into a date. While sneaking around the dilapidated war planes, he accidentally falls into a bunker, where he comes across some crazy looking machine; that is originally from a spacecraft from Area 51, but he doesn't know that. On the drive home, we see a sneak peak of the machine's powers, when it drains the battery from Mike's precious car.

While showing it to his buddy Vince, played by the very funny Fisher Stevens, before class, they plug it into the wall and unknowingly jump a few hours into the future. When they show it to their science teacher, even stranger things happen, like Dennis Hopper getting sucked inside to another time. After that, they decide to leave it alone, but when it gets left on by the geeky Sherman, who's jealous of Mike and Ellie's new relationship, all hell breaks loose. And it's up to Mike, Vince and Sherman to travel through all of Earth's history contained within their high school, to save Ellie who's trapped inside. They battle through everything from dinosaurs to futuristic mutants wielding laser guns.