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“The Outsiders,” released in 1983 and starring Thomas Howell, shockingly includes a supporting actor who outshines the star: Ralph Macchio. While Howell plays Ponyboy Curtis, who is a greaser (a lower-class youth gang known for their slick back hair) with his brothers, Sodapop Curtis (Rob Lowe) and Darrel Curtis (Patrick Swayze), Johnny Cade (Macchio), a fellow greaser/gang member of Ponyboy Curtis (Howell). With no doubt, Ponyboy is the protagonist and focus of the movie as he tells his perspective of how he witnesses Cade and Dallas die.
The plot, based on the 1967 book written by S.E. Hinton follows Curtis’s experience as a13 year. After his parents die in a car crash, Curtis and his older brothers live alone in the lower part of society. Curtis is being raised by his older brothers, whom he considers his family.
If the film had more scenes of Cade’s homelife, it could convey better why Cade liked sleeping outside in the lot and hanging around the Curtis house more than his own. Watchers would also better demonstrate why he felt like committing suicide when he and Ponyboy were in the lot. While they were in the lot, they fell asleep, but around 3 in the morning, they woke, and Curtis went home to be greeted by Darry and got into a fight with Curtis about falling asleep in the lot, which made Curtis run away.
It was refreshing to see Cade standing up for Curtis during the fight between them caused by talking to Cherry Valence (Diane Lane) and Marcia (Michelle Meyrink) who are the girlfriends of Bob Sheldon (Leif Garrett) and Randy Adderson (Darren Dalton), once the screen went black as Curtis passes out, but once he wakes up he’s met with a bloody shock looking at Cade and that’s when Cade tells Curtis he killed a Soc crying, they then leave the scene and go to find help from Dally.
“The Outsiders” is an amazing movie. While it sometimes fails to express Johnny’s or the Soc’s points of view, it at least makes it so the viewers can theorize the Soc’s perspective. “The Outsiders” in question makes fighting look like it’s acceptable, only making the story funnier and increasingly exciting. I give “The Outsiders” a solid 4.85 out of 5.0, and strongly suggest watching one of the best Greaser/Soc films of all time.
