The Outsiders was created with an Us vs. Them mentality and has a lot to do with being a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. When two Greasers, Johnny and Ponyboy, are constantly harassed and almost beaten to death one night Johnny takes the life of one of the Soc’s that tries to drown his friend. This fires off a series of events that eventually leads to the downfall of the Greasers and another event that leads to Johnny’s demise. At one point Ponyboy and the others begin to realize that their back and forth battle with the Soc’s is getting them nowhere, but things aren’t bound to change until both sides come to the conclusion that neither of them will win so long as they continue to fight over their differences.
10. The poster was supposed to show the Greasers looking like tough guys but Ralph Macchio made a remark that cracked them all up.
Macchio made a quip to Leif Garret to leave the buffet table for the actors and it was funny enough that other guys busted up.
9. When Dallas fell out of his chair it wasn’t scripted.
It was kept in just because it looked good but Ponyboy looked at the camera for a split second when he started laughing.
8. Coppola’s granddaughter would eventually compile his Director’s Cut.
So many people were upset about the scenes that were left out of the movie from the book that Coppola’s granddaughter started to write them down in class and they became the Director’s Cut.
7. Coppola wanted Matt Dillon to spend a night in jail to get into character.
Dillon flat out refused and suggested that Coppola spend the night in jail.
6. The author had to tell Rob Lowe what happened to his character, Sodapop.
Apparently Sodapop got drafted to Vietnam and died in the line of duty.
5. Coppola purposefully created tension between the actors that played the Soc’s and the Greasers.
He gave the Soc actors all kinds of luxury and didn’t bother to go to much expense for the Greasers. This was to cause jealousy between them.
4. The actors made a big mess of the hotel they were staying in.
The night after the scene in which Bob gets killed and the Soc’s try to drown Ponyboy the actors started fake ‘drowning’ each other in the hotel fountain. Eventually the hotel just got rid of the fountain altogether.
3. There was initial tension between Matt Dillon and Diane Lane.
They didn’t really know how to take one another and as a result really didn’t care for each other. That changed later on in life when they finally got to know each other.
2. The author has a cameo in the movie.
When Dally is threatening the nurse in the hospital with Two-Bit’s knife, that’s S.E. Hinton, the author of the book.
1. The first punch in the film knocked C. Thomas Howell, Ponyboy, out cold.
He says it put him on his butt and he had no idea what hit him.
I kind of wonder if this book is still read in classrooms or if it’s in tablet form now.
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