The Outsiders – 3 ½ / 5 stars

Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.

In a rural Oklahoma town, there is a class divide between the Greasers and the wealthy Socs (So-shiz), two rival teen gangs at odds with one another. But after things are taken too far one night and a Soc is killed, it leads to an all-out-brawl between the two sides.

With the release of HBO Max, I was pleasantly surprised to find The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather), as well as so many other classics available to stream. I, along with probably almost every other 7th grader ever, read The Outsiders book by S.E. Hinton for class and got to see this movie. My Dad mentioned that he even got to go see the movie at the movie theater when he was in middle school. Since I haven’t seen this film since and have been wanting to give it a rewatch, it was awesome seeing it pop up on the new platform.

Something that surprised me about the movie was how many actors I recognized and how young they all were. The ensemble cast was composed of C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy, Matt Dillon as Dallas, Ralph Maccio as Johnny, Patrick Swayze as Darry, Rob Lowe as Sodapop, Emilo Estavez as Two-Bit, and Tom Cruise as Steve.

I thought they all did a great job, especially Maccio as the shy and reserved Johnny and Dillon as the bad boy Dallas. If you, too, read the book, you have an idea of the story. For the most part, the story seemed the same, although it was a bit more rushed trying to fit the whole story in the hour and a half time constraint. As per usual, the book was better.

The movie did do a good job showing Ponyboy and Johnny’s innocence, despite growing up dealing with the harsh realities of life. Even with all the struggles, the boys still enjoyed watching the sun set, sitting in a church all day talking, sleeping and smoking, and reading Gone with the Wind. Johnny urges Ponyboy to “Stay gold” and to keep that innocence that sets him apart from the other Greasers. 

Overall, the movie was good and I’d rate it 3 ½ / 5 stars. It reminded me a lot of Stand By Me, another classic film I’ve watched recently, with its “coming of age” story about a group of kids and the loss of innocence with growing up. Both of these films, while they weren’t great, I was still glad I saw them and got to experience their stories.