The Movie

    In 1983 Francis Ford Coppola and S.E. Hinton teamed up to adapt The Outsiders to film. The movie was released in March of 1983 and is noted for its cast of up-and-coming young stars. Hinton was very much involved in the creation of the movie from scouting locations to even playing a cameo role as a nurse in the hospital where Dally and Johnny are treated. Dally throws her out of his room. Despite Coppola’s attempt to adhere as close to the novel as possible, he and many fans were unhappy with the editing after the release. In September of 2005, he re-released the film on DVD, calling it, The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. This new version included 22 minutes of additional footage and new music, making the movie follow the books plot almost exactly.

    An item worth noting is that Francis Ford Coppola had no intention of making this film until a group of middle school students and their Librarian, Jo Ellen Misakian, from Lone Star School in Fresno California wrote to him about adapting The Outsiders to film. After reading the book, Coppola was moved to not only adapt and direct The Outsiders but to do the same thing with Rumble Fish the next year as well.

    On her official website she has a few words on her experience with creating the movie companion of The Outsiders:

The Outsiders was my second movie - what a cast!

I couldn't have asked for better actors for the parts, and couldn't have had nicer people to work with.

The Outsiders was a lot of fun to shoot because of the cast, who were ordinary, goofy, sweet teen-agers off-camera and serous artists in front of it.

I was sort of a greaser den-mother - I still miss my boys.

I think some readers are unhappy with the way The Outsiders was edited, and there are parts we shot I wish were in the final version, but it is a very faithful adaptation.

I play the nurse in Dallas' room - Matt and I had a hard time keeping a straight face during that scene!

Cast of Characters in the Film:              

C. Thomas Howell ...      Ponyboy Curtis

        Matt Dillon      ...           Dallas “Dally” Winston   

 Ralph Macchio   ...         Johnny Cade

 Patrick Swayze ...         Darrel “Darry” Curtis

 Rob Lowe           ...       Sodapop “Soda” Curtis

    Emilio Estevez  ...         Keith “Two-Bit” Matthews

 Tom Cruise        ...        Steve Randle

 Glenn Withrow    ...       Tim Shepard

 Diane Lane         ...       Sheri “Cherry” Valance

 Leif Garrett        ...         Bob Sheldon

 Darren Dalton   ...          Randy Anderson

 Michelle Meyrink ...       Marcia

 Tom Waits          ...       Buck Merrill

Fun Facts About Filming

Interview on location  with S.E. Hinton

* The original release date in the USA was March 25, 1983 and the movie brought in approximately $25,600,000 at the box office during its theatrical run.

* The letter jacket that the "soc" is wearing as he challenges Darrel is the letter jacket from the High School that author S.E. Hinton attended.

* The 'employees' at the Drive-in were actual employees of the Admiral Drive-in Theater.  "Employees" in the concession stand scene were General Cinema employees Damon Fell, his wife, Cindy, and Tom Essley; Mr. Essley either being the Drive-In manager at that time or soon to be the manager of the drive-in. 

*  Tom Cruise, in his desire to develop the character of 'Steve Randall' as in his opinion he is not very well defined in the book, devised that somehow Steve chipped a tooth. Since he is very poor he could never afford to have it fixed. Instead he is proud of it . . . it makes him look tough. He was able to work with a dentist and a make up artist to make the effect.  Also, on Tom Cruise and his character of 'Steve', Tom gained almost 20 lbs to play this character and he did it by drinking McDonald's milkshakes!

*  The scene in the movie where Patrick Swayze's  character 'Darrel' does a little gymnastics stunt as they head for the rumble-  the stunt was actually one written into Hinton's book, and Patrick's own gymnastics background made him a natural to do his own stunt. He also coached Tom Cruise enough to where he did his own stunt off of the truck as well. Emilio, Rob and Tom Howell were also 'in training', but didn't get it down quite good enough by time to shoot that scene. (Patrick attended San Jacinto College on a gymnastics' scholarship. *Thank you to the  'Perfectly Patrick' fan club for this little tidbit of info!*)

* In a recent interview, Ralph Macchio recalls being told he was "too Long Island" by Coppola.  Though crushed, he realized this fact so in order to 'get into the character' of 'Johnny' he didn't shower for a few days and rubbed dirt on himself before shooting scenes.

Courtesy of : http://www.theoutsidersbookandmovie.com