DVD Review: The Outsiders - The Complete Novel

The movie, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, captures the power of S.E. Hinton’s novel about a group of friends and the hardships they faced growing up on the “wrong side” of the tracks in the 1960s.It was also a great commentary on the 1960’s social classes through the “turf war” that takes place between the blue-collar Greasers and wealthy Socs. This conflict claims the life of a couple of the cast members, and the fight at the end captures all of the tension that has been building throughout the film.The movie is loaded with stars, mostly unknowns in 1983, including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Patrick Swayze. The entire cast does a great job of capturing the characters of Hinton’s novel, and the movie still holds up today.The Complete Novel two-disc version of the film includes an all-new digital transfer of the movie and has an additional 22 minutes of footage.The new footage is mostly more character development, but also includes a new beginning to the film, and an ending that is closer to Hinton’s novel than was first released.The Complete Novel set also has a new “rock ‘n’ roll” soundtrack that includes songs from Elvis Presley and other key musicians of the time period.

The actors in The Outsiders capture the characters of the book

The new soundtrack actually bothered me because it made the film feel more like a gritty version of American Graffiti or a dark episode of Happy Days. It doesn’t ruin the film or take away from the performances of the actors, but can be distracting.

The movie shows the true friendship between the characters

They include 10 more minutes of additional scenes; a making of documentary; casting auditions and test; readings from the book by some of the cast members; and S.E. Hinton on location in Tulsa, OK.The making of documentary is really the best special feature and includes interviews with a lot of the cast of the movie, Coppola and Hinton. The casting and test auditions are also great to watch to see how Coppola started shaping the movie even in the audition process and to catch glimpses of these actors in their early days.During the making of documentary, Coppola and some of the cast members talk about how the director went to different extremes to keep the actors that were Greasers and those that were Socs separated. This included having the Greasers sleep in a house with no heat or air condition, and making them cook their own food. Coppola also set up sport competitions between the two groups of actors with the Socs getting nice athletic outfits and the Greasers getting cheap gym clothes.During the making of feature, Coppola also talks about how he came to be involved with the project through a group of students. He discusses how a group of students sent him a letter signed by the entire class asking him to make the book into a movie, and how that letter made him want to do it.

The movie illustrates the difficulties between the social classes

The Outsiders is a great film, and the two-disc Complete Novel DVD release is perfect for any fan of the book or movie. It has a great transfer of the movie, and comes with a ton of special features that will appeal to fans. It is also great to see some really good actors when they were just starting out. I highly recommend the DVD to any fan of the movie, or anyone who has never taken the time to actually see The Outsiders. It is a great movie that captures both the innocence and harshness of the ‘60’s.The Outsiders – The Complete Novel is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information.

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helloMar 28th, 2006 - 22:46:23

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