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With this adaptation of S. E. Hinton's debut novel "The Outsiders", Francis Ford Coppola introduced a whole new generation of actors, who would go on to become some of Hollywood's biggest stars over the course of the next few years and decades. The story is a coming-off-age tale set in an unspecified American town during the early 1960s, where the dividing line between the north and south side of town, between the working-class "greasers" and the upper-class "socs", defined the upbringing, youth years and prospects for the future for all the characters we get to meet. Focusing on the greasers - and more on the ties and comradery between them than on the greaser culture as such - The Outsiders is a tenderhearted, unobtrusive film full of semi-obvious observations and character-developments. As such, it feels like the school essay that the novel more or less started out as. Still, the film has a perception and understanding for these kids, their time and their surroundings that makes it resonant and believable. Artistically, this is by no means Coppola's best work, and all of these actors would go on to deliver better work later on in their careers, but their characters and their performances have stood the test of time quite well. Look for Coppola's pal Tom Waits in a cameo as a bouncer in a bar. C. Thomas Howell won the Young Artist Award for Best Young Motion Picture Actor for his performance as Ponyboy Curtis.

This lovely film was universally trashed and smashed by all the critics. FF Coppola directed it, but they still smashed it. I don't get that.

The then unknown cast was: Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, and Leif Garrett. All these actors went on to fame, but the whole movie, the performances, the writing, were trashed.

I thought the cinematography was exceptionally lovely. The "Nothing Gold Can Stay" sunrise scene was gorgeous. The camera angles during the hair cutting scenes were creative and intimate. The music was "epic" sounding, yeah, but this film had a huge tie in with Gone With The Wind, remember. I thought the soft lighting and the creamy edging made the film look very much like IT was filmed in 1939!!!

I don't know. I thought the chracters were very engaging and the performances excellent. Lots of people loved this film, regular people like myself, that is.

I might have enjoyed this a bit more if I didn't know Coppola directed it. I mean the guy who already made the Godfather films and Apocalypse Now didn't know how to properly adapt a novel seems ridiculous. One of the main problems with the film is that every frame of it tells you that it's based on a book. There really doesn't seem to have been any effort in the script other than shooting the important part of the novel and without all the details in the novel that is a disastrous choice.

Still, even with all those problems, it does manage to be pretty decent. Even though a lot of stuff does seem stupid, it tries to explore a handful of themes in a way that is also appealing to teenagers without completely losing its footing. The ensemble teenage cast is such a wonder to look back now, who would've thought a lot of them would go on to become some of the biggest names in the industry, let alone the delinquent friend side character would go on to become one of the biggest stars in the whole world. The issues dealt with seems a bit heavy-handed and artificial which wouldn't have felt as problematic if the direction was a bit more cleaner and more importantly if the writing was better.

I might not get the highest possible rating for my comments on this movie but I'm going to be totally honest. First, I read the book and then shortly afterward saw the movie. In my opinion the movie did a good job of getting the whole story from book to screen. A lot of the scenes caught the mood I felt when I read the book, or even shed some light on them for me. C. Thomas Howell played his part very well and showed acting skill, but he just seemed too nice, too sensitive to enjoy fighting for its own sake the way his brothers did. I could believe Darry and Soda looking forward to a fight with the Socs but I just did not get the feeling from PonyBoy that he was a fighter. Even Johnny Cade seemed more on edge, more 'ready to fight' than PonyBoy, who played all his scenes really well - he just didn't convince me he was someone who enjoyed a fight.

Of all the actors cast for the film, and really all were done well, I think Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade was the most perfectly cast based on how I perceived him to be from reading the book.

To be honest, when reading the book I could tell it was written by a woman. I enjoyed it very much, and would say if you have a few hours, the book is not too long to read and I'd recommend it even more highly than the film.

The Outsiders is a very good film in any case and worth watching.

First let me say that this will not be a comment where the author will be gushing about how "hot" the cast is! Like a lot of people who have commented on this film I, too, read the book first in school and then proceeded to seek out the film to see how the story translated to the screen. I thought esteemed director Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) did a fairly competent job of adapting the book (there will always be somerevisions and omissions in such an enterprise). He preserved the essence of the class struggle: the eternal conflict between those who were better favored by birth and station (Socs) with those less favored (Greasers). Coppola elicited more than competent performances from the young up-and-coming cast he assembled. All in all, a very good coming of age film.