Francis Ford Coppola Made ‘The Outsiders’ Because of a Kids Library Class

One of the most singular lessons that the film industry has learned is that audiences want to see themselves represented on screen, and are more likely to seek out cinema that reflects the same hardships that they go through. Considering that many young audiences flock to the movie theater on a regular basis, telling earnest coming-of-age stories about the realities of adolescence is an important task for the industry. While the 1980s saw a rise of coming-of-age dramedies thanks to the influence of John Hughes, Francis Ford Coppola took a darker slant on childhood trauma with his 1983 classic The Outsiders.

Based on the novel of the same name by S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders tackles topics such as gang violence, toxic masculinity, and broken families with its story of young greasers living without parental supervision. Although stylistically, The Outsiders is indebted to the films of the 1960s, it tackles themes about cultural and infrastructural divisions that are relevant to any generation of young audiences. Coppola elevated the material into a touching, uncompromisingly bleak tribute to the complexities of growing up. However, Coppola wouldn’t have made The Outsiders if it weren’t for a high school library class of students that reached out to him directly.

The Outsiders

Set in a small town, a group of underprivileged teenagers known as the Greasers constantly clash with the affluent Socs. The stark contrast in their socioeconomic statuses leads to a tragic chain of events, testing the bonds of friendship and the notion of loyalty among the Greasers.

Release Date

March 25, 1983

Director

Francis Ford Coppola

Runtime

91 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

Kathleen Rowell , S.E. Hinton

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

A Librarian Inspired Francis Ford Coppola To Make ‘The Outsiders’

Ever since its initial publication in 1967, The Outsiders has been incorporated within many literature courses for its thematic and cultural value. The film’s recurring imagery regarding rainbows, the color gold, and open plains offer young readers a great opportunity to expose themselves to metaphorical writing. When teaching at Lone Star Jr. High School in Fresno, California, the librarian Jo Ellen Misakian found that her students were unusually engaged with the novel, and interested in seeing it translated to a different medium. Misakian decided to write Coppola a personal letter asking him to adapt The Outsiders into a movie. She cited her students’ enthusiasm for the material as a reason why the film would be successful, and referenced Coppola’s previous hits as evidence that he was best suited for the material.

Coppola was arguably at the peak of his career in 1980 when the letter was first written; he had just completed working on his ambitious Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, which earned both the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Although it was instantly hailed as an all-time masterpiece, Apocalypse Now was a grueling production that gave Coppola second thoughts about taking on another project of such a significant scale. This meant that Coppola was in a better position than ever before to take on a smaller scale project that narrowed its focus on a group of isolated characters. Although it seemed unlikely that such an acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker would receive the letter, Coppola’s assistant Fred Roos received Misakian’s note when it was forwarded to American Zoetrope. After researching both the school and source material, Roos passed along the information to Coppola.

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The Outsiders ended up being the perfect passion project for the director, as Coppola was already working on another adaptation of a Hinton novel. 1983’s Rumble Fish was inspired by Hinton’s 1975 film of the same name, and featured an exciting young cast that included both Matt Dillon and Coppola’s nephew Nicolas Cage. Rumble Fish made use of Coppola’s arthouse sensibilities, utilizing dream sequences, black-and-white photography, and ambiguous plot points to create a film reminiscent of both noir classics and the stylized films of the French New Wave. The Outsiders allowed Coppola to experiment further by leaning into the earnestness of 1960s melodramas, creating a film that was perfectly suited for viewers who could relate to the characters.

‘The Outsiders’ Is One of Coppola’s Most Underrated Films

While his classics like The Godfather and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are best known for their significant scale, Coppola is often at his best when working on more intimate projects. The Outsiders rejects narrative cliches common in teen films in favor of a “slice of life” approach. The film centers on the young brothers Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell), Darry (Patrick Swayze), and Sodapop (Rob Lowe) as they are drawn into a dispute with another gang. After Ponyboy goes on the run with his friend Johnny (Ralph Macchio), he begins to face existentialist questions about the future of his family.

Like the novel that it was based on, The Outsiders is very bleak and often quite devastating. The film acknowledges that violence is cyclical when social classes are so divided, and Ponyboy finds himself incapable of protecting his friends from getting in harm’s way. It’s perhaps this darker take on a coming-of-age story that the students of Lone Star Jr. High School found so engaging, and something Coppola certainly respected when crafting his adaptation. The touching final monologue Ponyboy reads is lifted word-for-word from the original novel.

‘The Outsiders’ Launched a Generation of Stars

Coppola has routinely worked with legendary actors like Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, but he’s often shown a key eye for identifying young talent. The Outsiders was a breakout film for many future stars, including several members of “The Brat Pack.” Actors like Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Glenn Withrow, Melanie Griffith, and Heather Langenkamp all make brief appearances in the film; both Hinton and Coppola’s daughter Sofia have cameos as well.

Like many of his films, The Outsiders is a film Coppola has grown interested in tinkering with later on in his career. Coppola released an extended director’s cut of The Outsiders in 2005, which included over 25 minutes of deleted scenes and a different narrative structure. The new version was slightly more faithful to the book, and reinserted some of the violent content that may not have initially made it past the MPAA censors.

The Outsiders is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.

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