{"id":13431,"date":"2011-11-08T14:59:21","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T14:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=13431"},"modified":"2015-06-21T23:57:17","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T22:57:17","slug":"the-outsiders-blu-ray-coppola-hinton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/11\/08\/the-outsiders-blu-ray-coppola-hinton\/","title":{"rendered":"The Outsiders"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel didn’t scale the heights of his best work, but provided an interesting showcase for actors who would go on to stardom in the ensuing decade.<\/p>\n

What happened to Coppola after his dizzying creative heights of the 1970s?<\/p>\n

After making some of the greatest films in the history of American cinema with The Godfather<\/a>\u00a0I & II, The Conversation<\/a> and Apocalypse Now<\/a>, his work in the 1980s represents a mixed bag to say the least.<\/p>\n

One from the Heart<\/a> (1982) was a creative and financial disaster, but his following project had an unusual genesis, where a group of Fresno school children wrote to him\u00a0requesting that he adapt their favourite novel.<\/p>\n

That was Hinton’s coming-of-age story<\/a> which she wrote as a teenager in the late 1960s about a group of friends in Tulsa, Oklahoma known as ‘Greasers<\/a>‘ and their battles with the richer Socs (pronounced “soashes” – short for ‘social’).<\/p>\n

The story focuses on the lives\u00a0of Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell), his two brothers (Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze), as well as friends Cade (Ralph Macchio), Dally Winston (Matt Dillon), Two-Bit Matthews (Emilio Estevez), Steve Randle (Tom Cruise) and an out of reach girl (Diane Lane).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Looking back it was an extraordinary cast, filled with actors who would go on to bigger things, although the focus is largely on Howell, Macchio and Dillon and future stars like Cruise and Swayze remain tucked away in supporting roles.<\/p>\n

Shot on location in Oklahoma<\/a>, the period is impressively evoked by Coppola and his production designer Dean Tavalouris and the performances are all believable, effectively bringing Hinton’s world to life.<\/p>\n

The widescreen visuals by cinematographer by Stephen H. Burum are not\u00a0up to the iconic work of Gordon Willis on The Godfather or Vittorio Storaro’s work on Apocalypse Now, but they are often elegantly framed and look as good as they’ve ever done on this Blu-ray release.<\/p>\n

However, there’s something about the film that lacks the magic ingredient to make it truly special and three years later Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me<\/a> (1986) would capture a similar period with much more weight and charm.<\/p>\n

It seems Coppola never fully recovered from the arduous production of Apocalypse Now and the personal hell of that period perhaps meant he wasn’t prepared to go to the creative extremes that he had previously.<\/p>\n

That said, this Blu-ray is interesting as it features the special DVD cut which came out in 2005 after the director decided to reinsert scenes which were omitted for commercial reasons first time around.<\/p>\n

Part of Coppola’s deal after the huge success of The Godfather was ownership (or part-ownership) of his work\u00a0and one of the benefits is that his company Zoetrope keeps the negatives in decent condition.<\/p>\n

The 1080p restoration presented in its proper aspect ratio of 2:35 is excellent and makes the period come alive in a way that earlier formats didn’t allow, with the colours and tones looking resplendent.<\/p>\n

A new 5.1 DTS HD Master audio track is also solid, boosting the dialogue and early 1960\u2019s soundtrack.<\/p>\n