The Outsiders / Rumble Fish

THE OUTSIDERS, 1983, 91 min. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of S. E. Hinton’s novel of 1960s teen gang violence in Oklahoma pits the “Greasers” against the “Socs.” Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Vincent Spano and Patrick Swayze head an all-star ensemble cast, representing the two sides of the tracks.

RUMBLE FISH, 1983, Universal, 94 min. Director Francis Ford Coppola again adapts an S.E. Hinton novel, reuniting with Matt Dillon. Shot in black-and-white with stylized use of color and professed to be among Coppola’s personal favorites, it’s grittier and more phantasmagorical than THE OUTSIDERS. Here, Dillon plays Rusty James, a young gangbanger who looks fondly back on the days of yesteryear when his loner brother, Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), held court as the king of the street toughs. Look out for Dennis Hopper as the boys’ ne’er-do-well father and William Smith as one of the meanest small-town cops in movie history.