Rusty James

"Rumble Fish" (1983) Rated "R" by the MPAA for Adult Situations, Profanity, Brief Nudity, Some Violence, Minor Gore, Brief Drug Use & Underage Alcohol Use. Running Time 1hr&34mn. My Take: ***1/2 (Out of ****)

"Rumble Fish" just might be Francis Ford Coppola's most overlooked film.

This movie, based on the Susan E. Hinton novel, tells about young street tough Rusty-James (Matt Dillion) who idolizes his older brother known only as 'The Motorcycle Boy' (Mickey Rourke).

Rusty-James longs for the days of rumbles and being a part of a gang. His friends are somewhat reluctant to feel the same way. His girlfriend Patty (Diane Lane) goes to an all-girl prep school. She's supportive of Rusty-James' need for acceptance and wanting to be cool like his estranged brother. "You're better than cool", she reminds him. "You're warm!" That's also a warning. Will Rusty-James heed?

Subtly, this is a film about the failure of the 'American Dream' and making choices, whether right or wrong. After all, Rusty-James' family fell product of the socialization process. They live in the slums, but that may not always have been the case. The boys' alcoholic father, memorably played by Dennis Hopper, was once a well-to-do lawyer earlier in life. What about the enigmatic Motorcycle Boy? Is he truly crazy? Or does he have 'an acute perception' that drives him crazy?

Brilliantly shot in black & white, Stephen H. Burum's cinema-photography makes "Rumble Fish" feel like something out of a chaotic dream. Everything is surreal, yet relative to each other. Clouds stream by overhead symbolizing the passage of time. Clocks appear throughout the movie suggesting time-is-a-burnin'. The suggestion here is: don't waste the time you do have while you still can. Stewart Copeland's almost all percussion and highly rhythmic score adds to that effect.

In "Rumble Fish", Coppola skillfully addresses the need to belong, to lead, to have goals, to have vision and warns not to fall deeper into an urban trap. Will Rusty-James discover what it means to step out and become his own identity before it's too late? As The Motorcycle Boy points out, "If you're going to lead people, you need to have somewhere to go."

That's good advice.

After hearing such rave reviews, I really was excited to see Francis Ford Coppola's indie classic 'Rumble Fish'. The film was shot in black and white and it had an expansive cast of talented actors including Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Waits and Nicolas Cage. I enjoyed Francis Ford Coppola's other films like Apocalypse Now and of course The Godfather Parts I, II & III. From what I heard it was filmed kind of like this year's smash hit 'Sin City' ('Rumble Fish' was black & white but with dashes of color) only on a smaller scale. I rented this indie sensation when I was on vacation because they had it in the hotel video store. I couldn't find it in the Blockbusters in Arizona (where I live) and my portable DVD player was acting up so I couldn't view the DVDs I brought a long with me for the trip. It may have been just fate that I got the opportunity to view Coppola's 'Rumble Fish', definitely one of the most, if not the most inventive motion pictures I ever gazed my eyes upon.

The film is set in a 1950s - 1970s setting. With it's black & white color and just the way the film is presented it gives the audience a feel of the old 1930s James Cagney crime noir flicks. It follows a young and dumb hoodlum named Rusty James (Matt Dillon), whose the leader of one of the two gangs in town. After a huge rumble played out like a West Side Story scene from hell, Rusty is left hurt real bad when the opposing gang leader stabbed him in the gut with a switchblade. Coming to Rusty James' rescue is his older brother, The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke) who hasn't shown his face in town for a year after disappearing to California. The Motorcycle Boy helps his younger brother out, and eventually starts to hang around the neighborhood more. From there, the plot follows the two re-united brothers as they hang around the streets and cause trouble, while the Motorcycle Boy tries to teach his less then intelligent brother the meaning of life. Dennis Hopper stars as Rusty James and the Motorcyle Boy's dad, Diane Lane stars as Rusty James' sweet friend, Tom Waits stars as the grill master in the town's diner, and Chris Penn, Laurence Fishburne and a young Nicolas Cage are featured as some of Rusty James' gang buddies.

First of all, I adored the way 'Rumble Fish' was shot. With his extraordinary talent, director Francis Ford Coppola really creates a thing of beauty and opulence with 'Rumble Fish'. The only real downside of this picture is that the plot drags entirely too much, and that's pretty bad for a film running only 90 minutes. The writing is mostly good, but 'Rumble Fish' seems to be missing a real plot. The film substitutes hypnotic cinematography and cool scenery for an easy-to-follow plot, which in my opinion is a big mistake. Although this kind of bugs me, 'Rumble Fish' is a good film for the most part. The acting is superb with a engrossing and passionate performance by a very young Matt Dillon and a powerful and carefully layered performance by Mickey Rourke who in my opinion should have gotten an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. Diane Lane is very good in one of her first roles, Dennis Hopper plays the alcoholic clueless dad perfectly and Tom Waits is a pleasure to watch. Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne are also rock solid. If you want to see a film that's really out there and full of likable qualities, I'd recommend picking up 'Rumble Fish' your next stop to the video store. Chances are you'll find something or somethings to love about it. Grade: B

Like most who saw this film, I would guess, I was exposed to it in college, and I have to admit much of it went past me at the time. I liked the stark and unusual visuals, and I liked most of the story, but I'd be lying if I said I understood everything that was going on. Not that 'Rumble Fish' is particularly deep, just that in college I wasn't. Viewing the movie with a more mature mind now, I appreciated it much more than I did when I was nineteen.

Based on the S.E. Hinton novel (Coppola also translated 'The Outsiders', which remains remarkable even today for its amazing cast), 'Rumble Fish' follows the story of one Rusty James (Matt Dillon, in full bad-boy mode) stuck in the middle of nowhere (Tulsa, actually), dissatisfied with his life but not really bright enough to know why. His older brother, the Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke, long before he became a punchline), wheels back into town from a long sojourn, and what there is of a plot begins.

Much of this movie is atmosphere, which normally irritates me but for some reason works incredibly well here. The black and white film is actually part of the story, which is in itself unusual, but it complements the storytelling and actually adds depth to the film. Though we see eighties-era cars, some of the movie has an almost fifties-feel to it, and like Rusty James, the viewer is never sure when, or where, he is. The bleak setting of Tulsa only reinforces the sense of both isolation and containment, which is the central theme of the film.

Dillon is very strong here. His seething anger can never really find a way to express itself adequately, and Dillon spends the whole film out of sorts in his own skin, giving a remarkable performance. Diane Lane, whom I suspect was hired for her stunningly good looks, has a smaller role but is very effective as the put-upon Patty. Most of the rest of the young cast – unknowns or relatives or friends of the director at that point in time (Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, Lawrence Fishburne, Tom Waits, even a very-young Sophia Coppola) are all very, very good. Waits and Fishburne have tiny roles but large presences on screen, and they stick in the viewer's mind even when they aren't there. Dennis Hopper is unusually relaxed and natural as Rusty James' dad (called only Father); sometimes Hopper can get gimmicky or artificial with his acting, but here he is subtle and wholly effective as a drunken shell of a man.

But the standout performance is really Mickey Rourke, reminding us that before he pissed his career away on crappy low-budget films with the likes of Don Johnson, he was actually a decent actor. Rourke imbues the Motorcycle Boy with a wholly different restlessness than Dillon's Rusty, and makes him both compelling and sympathetic. Honestly it helps that Rourke has some of the best lines in the film, most notably one of my favorite quotes from any film: 'You want to lead people, you have to have some place to take 'em.' Motorcycle Boy is also something of a transitional hero, knowing he is damned to live, and die, in this hellish world but making sure the path to redemption (and escape) is secured for his follower (he even says of Rusty, 'His only vice is loyalty.')

'Rumble Fish' is mostly an artsy character piece, the type of film that normally does not appeal to me, but Coppola displays such skill with the material and is so willing to subvert the very conventions of his film so that they further serve the characters and their development that the movie works, and works very well. Though the color tricks betray themselves rather badly on DVD (we were never meant to see this movie this clearly), the film still carries an enormous punch on the small screen as it did on the large. A bleak film that nonetheless carries within a message of hope, that one can escape the cages of one's surroundings if one tries hard enough.

Yes, this was an effective, well-acted and visually stimulating art-house movie - the forgotten masterpiece of Francis Ford Coppola. I just recently watched this again and fell in love with it. I was a big fan of S.E. Hinton's writings growing up and this film did it justice. It's interesting that author S.E. Hinton claims that the script to this movie was written "on one of the first personal computers" in less than two weeks. How technology has changed nowadays with Final Draft. Matt Dillon gives his best performance as Rusty James, a 1950s street punk whose alcoholic father has all but walked out on him, and whose older brother (an enigmatic figure known only as The Motorcycle Boy) has left and moved to California some time ago. Dig this one up again. It's a classic.

Rumblefish is one of Coppala's best and his last truly great movie. Taking place in a small industrial town, the film follows Rusty James as he aspires to live up to his notorious brothers reputation through gang life. His brother, known as 'the motorcycle kid', disappeared for reasons at first unknown but he makes an unannounced return whilst his younger brother is fighting a rival gang leader. Throughout the duration of the movie we see James trying to connect with his aloof brother and idol amongst rumours that he's 'crazy'.The films settings and characters are based heavily on 50's culture and there is also an interesting cameo from Tom Waits. The film is shot almost entirely in black and white with stunning cinematography and brilliant acting, especially from Matt Dillon and Dennis Hopper as the alcoholic father. A great drama and a must-see for movie fans.