Matt Dillon

Mickey Rourke

Diane Lane

Dennis Hopper

Diana Scarwid

Vincent Spano

Nicolas Cage

Chris Penn

Laurence Fishburne

William Smith

Michael Higgins

Glenn Withrow

Tom Waits

Herb Rice

Maybelle Wallace

Nona Manning

Sofia Coppola

Gian-Carlo Coppola

S.E. Hinton

Emmett Brown

Tracey Walter

Lance Guecia

Bob Maras

J.T. Turner

Keeva Clayton

Kirsten Hayden

Karen Parker

Sussannah Darcy

Kristi Somers

Stephen H. Burum

Richard Beggs

Barry Malkin

Doug Claybourne

Dean Tavoularis

Francis Ford Coppola

Fred Roos

Stewart Copeland

August Coppola

Roman Coppola

Randy Thom

Tim McNally

Robert Randles

Laurel Walter

James Zenk

Allan Kuhn

Daniel R. Suhart

Douglas

Buddy Joe Hooker

Thomas M. Hammel

Edward Beyer

Dustin Blauvelt

Steven Hiller

Dennis Gassner

Robert C. Goldstein

Nick F. Caprarelli

Ernest Misko

Janet Hirshenson

Mary Swanson

Jeff Block

Marjorie Bowers

Leslie Shatz

Sandy King

Paul Tompkins

John Robert Askew

Jeff Kennemore

Sue Belknap

Susan Mills

David Valdes

Ted Bokhof

Mark Radcliffe

Donald Elmblad

David Parker

Teri Fettis-D'Ovidio

Richard Fitzgerald

Marissa De Guzman

William Jakubecy

Robert Spurlock

Lou Tobin

Mark Rathaus

Larry Lydia

John J. Rutchland III

Corky Coble

C.J. Appel

Dennis Dion

Maurice Schell

Tom Bellfort

John Englert

Ben Beaird

Michael Jacobi

Alex Skvorzov

Jack Bauer

Kevin Lee

Joseph W. Hunt

Billy Hank Hooker

Peter Tothpal

John J. Rutchland Jr.

Kurt Ehlers

Bill Fleming

John O'Connell

James Austin

Martin Bresin

Tim A. Davison

Freddie Hice

Dick Ziker

Crime

Drama

Romance

Rumble Fish

American Zoetrope

Hotweather Films

United States of America

_**Artsy flick about lost souls wandering the city in the Midwest, trying to find answers**_

In the Tulsa area, a teen delinquent (Matt Dillon) idolizes his charismatic older brother (Mickey Rourke), who had left the area a couple months prior. When his sibling suddenly returns he’s no longer interested in gangs or rumbling. They wander the town with their pal (Vincent Spano) hanging out at various places trying to find meaning and purpose.  

The peripheral cast includes Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Diana Scarwid, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne and William Smith with Sofia Coppola as the little sister.    

Filmed in B&W, “Rumble Fish” (1983) was the second of two flicks based on SE Hinton’s young-adult novels shot back-to-back by Francis Ford Coppola. The first one was “The Outsiders” (1983) and it was successful at the box office while this one failed to draw an audience. Unlike “Outsiders,” which takes place in 1965, this one is set in the modern day, 1982, the time of shooting (or at least the late 70s). Hinton, by the way, has a cameo as the hooker on the strip that propositions Rusty James (Dillon) and Steve (Spano).

She was only 16-17 when she wrote “The Outsiders” and so that movie is from the perspective of a mid-teenager. By contrast, she was in her mid-20s when she wrote “Rumble Fish” and this is also reflected in the corresponding movie: The Motorcycle Boy (Rourke) has grown-up and is no longer interested in juvenile delinquency, which confuses Rusty James. 

Both “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish” are arty, but this one is more so. It’s a mix of “The Outsiders” and Coppola’s experimental “One from the Heart” (1981), along with bits of “The Warriors” (1979) and “Grease” (1978). Like “One from the Heart,” the story is very basic while the filmmaking is highly stylized, which results in a beautiful film that’s entertaining on a visual & audio level, but not very absorbing story-wise.

What’s it all about? Some answers include: The challenge of unconventional people in a conventional world, living in someone’s shadow, the cult of personality, growing up while simultaneously giving up childish things, setting others free, how envy murders others (figuratively or literally), the potential corruption of authority, the resultant injustice and sacrificing oneself for loved ones.

I can’t close without noting how Cage is in the prime of his life and surprisingly good-looking (speaking as a staunch heterosexual). Not that he later became Quasimodo, but I never viewed him as a handsome actor, like say George Clooney.     

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot in the Tulsa area, as was “The Outsiders.”

GRADE: B-