Outsiders
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"The Outsiders"
If you were to say this film was popular, a Box Office hit even, you would be wrong. The ratings show that "The Outsiders" seems to have only appealed to the critics and has failed to capture the attention of the millions of cinema goers. This is the one film where now international superstars Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise did not attract thousands of screaming girls to the premiere. The fact is "The Outsiders" was truly an experiment of hit director Francis Ford Coppola's. It's strange to think that this low budget movie starring so many unknown child actors would kick start the careers of some of the world's most famous people.
"The Outsiders" follows the tradition of "West Side Story" in the style of two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs. C. Thomas Howell stars as Ponyboy, a young Greaser growing up in the 1960's with his gang on the poor side of town. Shot in small-town Oklahoma, "The Outsiders" reflects attitudes that many people had in the sixties the feelings towards gang rivalry and the way young people fit into society are a key part to the plot.
The themes that underlie the action of the film are identification and belonging to a gang, group rivalry and the feeling that so many young people get of being an outsider...