 Director Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S. E. Hinton’s novel about troubled teenagers growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the early '60s. It’s a memorable movie, not so much for Coppola’s stylized treatment of the story as for the cast, which includes so many soon-to-be movie stars, among them Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, and, seen here as a toothy young lad, Tom Cruise. Although the movie is very much an ensemble piece, top billing and narrative viewpoint go to C. Thomas Howell, playing one of three orphaned brothers from the wrong side of tracks. He and buddy Ralph Macchio (pre-Karate Kid) belong to the Greasers, a gang of tough, poor kids headed by Dillon. Their enemies are the Socs, arrogant boys from the wealthier part of town. Ambushed by the Socs one night, Howell and Macchio fight back, and the latter ends up killing one of the attackers; to escape the law they take refuge in an abandoned rural church, where they ponder the tough decisions that lie ahead. Trailer available at the link site: http://video.barnesandnoble.com/DVD/The-Outsiders/C-Thomas-Howell/e/883929035427/?itm=2
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