Crime

Drama

Romance

Rumble Fish

American Zoetrope

Hotweather Films

United States of America

English

Matt Dillon

Mickey Rourke

Diane Lane

Dennis Hopper

Diana Scarwid

Vincent Spano

Nicolas Cage

Chris Penn

Laurence Fishburne

William Smith

Michael Higgins

Glenn Withrow

Tom Waits

Herb Rice

Maybelle Wallace

Nona Manning

Sofia Coppola

Gian-Carlo Coppola

S.E. Hinton

Emmett Brown

Tracey Walter

Lance Guecia

Bob Maras

J.T. Turner

Keeva Clayton

Kirsten Hayden

Karen Parker

Sussannah Darcy

Kristi Somers

Francis Ford Coppola

Doug Claybourne

Fred Roos

Stewart Copeland

Stephen H. Burum

Dean Tavoularis

Richard Beggs

Barry Malkin

August Coppola

Roman Coppola

Thomas M. Hammel

David Valdes

Mark Radcliffe

Marjorie Bowers

Edward Beyer

Leslie Shatz

Robert Randles

Jeff Block

John Robert Askew

Janet Hirshenson

Teri Fettis-D'Ovidio

Laurel Walter

Paul Tompkins

Daniel R. Suhart

Ted Bokhof

Dustin Blauvelt

Steven Hiller

James Zenk

Sandy King

Mary Swanson

Dennis Gassner

Robert C. Goldstein

Nick F. Caprarelli

Donald Elmblad

Sue Belknap

Douglas

Allan Kuhn

Ernest Misko

David Parker

Randy Thom

Buddy Joe Hooker

Tim McNally

Jeff Kennemore

Susan Mills

Peter Tothpal

Dennis Dion

Martin Bresin

Robert Spurlock

Lou Tobin

Alex Skvorzov

John Englert

Ben Beaird

Larry Lydia

Bill Fleming

Jack Bauer

John O'Connell

John J. Rutchland Jr.

John J. Rutchland III

Kurt Ehlers

Joseph W. Hunt

William Jakubecy

Corky Coble

Richard Fitzgerald

Maurice Schell

Michael Jacobi

C.J. Appel

Kevin Lee

Mark Rathaus

Marissa De Guzman

Tom Bellfort

James Austin

Billy Hank Hooker

Tim A. Davison

Freddie Hice

Dick Ziker

_**Artsy flick about lost souls wandering the city in the Midwest, trying to find answers**_

In the Tulsa area, a teen delinquent (Matt Dillon) idolizes his charismatic older brother (Mickey Rourke), who had left the area a couple months prior. When his sibling suddenly returns he’s no longer interested in gangs or rumbling. They wander the town with their pal (Vincent Spano) hanging out at various places trying to find meaning and purpose.  

The peripheral cast includes Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Diana Scarwid, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne and William Smith with Sofia Coppola as the little sister.    

Filmed in B&W, “Rumble Fish” (1983) was the second of two flicks based on SE Hinton’s young-adult novels shot back-to-back by Francis Ford Coppola. The first one was “The Outsiders” (1983) and it was successful at the box office while this one failed to draw an audience. Unlike “Outsiders,” which takes place in 1965, this one is set in the modern day, 1982, the time of shooting (or at least the late 70s). Hinton, by the way, has a cameo as the hooker on the strip that propositions Rusty James (Dillon) and Steve (Spano).

She was only 16-17 when she wrote “The Outsiders” and so that movie is from the perspective of a mid-teenager. By contrast, she was in her mid-20s when she wrote “Rumble Fish” and this is also reflected in the corresponding movie: The Motorcycle Boy (Rourke) has grown-up and is no longer interested in juvenile delinquency, which confuses Rusty James. 

Both “The Outsiders” and “Rumble Fish” are arty, but this one is more so. It’s a mix of “The Outsiders” and Coppola’s experimental “One from the Heart” (1981), along with bits of “The Warriors” (1979) and “Grease” (1978). Like “One from the Heart,” the story is very basic while the filmmaking is highly stylized, which results in a beautiful film that’s entertaining on a visual & audio level, but not very absorbing story-wise.

What’s it all about? Some answers include: The challenge of unconventional people in a conventional world, living in someone’s shadow, the cult of personality, growing up while simultaneously giving up childish things, setting others free, how envy murders others (figuratively or literally), the potential corruption of authority, the resultant injustice and sacrificing oneself for loved ones.

I can’t close without noting how Cage is in the prime of his life and surprisingly good-looking (speaking as a staunch heterosexual). Not that he later became Quasimodo, but I never viewed him as a handsome actor, like say George Clooney.     

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot in the Tulsa area, as was “The Outsiders.”

GRADE: B-

Rumble Fish (Modern Trailer)

Matt Dillon and Diane Lane on RUMBLE FISH

Richard Linklater presents Francis Ford Coppola's RUMBLE FISH at the Marchesa

Original theatrical trailer

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Matt Dillon

Mickey Rourke

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Laurence Fishburne

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