Francis Ford Coppola

Rumble Fish (1983)

In 1983, Coppola came out with two adaptation of S.E. Hinton novels. The first was an interpretation of her most well known work and mainstay in middle school English classes across the country: The Outsiders. Coppola's adaptation isn't bad, but it's pretty uninteresting and standard fare that doesn't succeed in much beyond being a showcase of several prominent '80s actors who would go on to bigger things (aside from Thomas C. Howell who plays the main character, Ponyboy, and this was the high point). Coppola wanted his next adaptation, Rumble Fish, to be the polar opposite of The Outsiders. Whereas that film had no substantial style or atmosphere to it, Rumble Fish is drenched in brilliantly composed experimentation that people wondering where the Coppola of the '70s had been hiding can point to Rumble Fish as the outlier amidst Coppola's dull output in the decade. He draws on German Expressionism, surrealism, time lapse works, and utilizes some of the matte work he perfected in One from the Heart to great effect here. Along with Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992, this is Coppola's best work as an artist post-Apocalypse Now and only makes admirers lament his downfall even more when you see that just a few years later he made vanilla garbage like Gardens of Stone.

Rusty James, played by the phenomenal Matt Dillon, is aimless and constantly battling the anxiety of not living up to the stature of his older brother, The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke). He's got a girlfriend (Diane Lane) that he treats poorly, his friends (Chris Penn and Nicolas Cage) don't truly respect him, and his father (Dennis Hopper) is too busy drinking his life away to provide any direction. The Motorcycle Boy returns from a trip to California, and he couldn't be more different from the brash and bullheaded Rusty James. He's quiet, reflective, and constantly in his own head. Rourke seems to sort of sleepwalk through the movie like he's the Oracle of Delphi, casually strolling through the chaotic streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma without giving much regard to his surroundings. Coppola utilizes some excellent sequences of Rourke, who's color blind and partially deaf, where he plays with sound and scope that attempted to place the viewer in that enigmatic head of The Motorcycle Boy. This is also coupled with the moody, sharp in contrast black-and-white photography that Coppola uses to pump atmospheric smoke, steam, and sweat into nearly every frame that gives Rumble Fish such a signature look. He casts shadows on walls around the town, adding to this unnerving feeling that danger and decay is around every corner. I decried One from the Heart for being a shallow movie that Coppola used as an experiment to show off some incredible technique but forgot to make his characters and "Las Vegas" (the entire film is done on obviously stagey-looking sets) feel alive and vibrant, which made the film a resounding dud. Rumble Fish on the other hand is another exercise in experimental filmmaking, but this time around he uses Hinton's characters to personify Tulsa's claustrophobic and anarchic setting beautifully. Rumble Fish is a relatively short movie at just around an hour-and-a-half, but Coppola fills it with more energy and experimentation than he did for the rest of his career, sans Dracula.

The plot of the film is not going to work for everyone. In fact, the movie is largely plotless and sort of follows Rusty James and The Motorcycle Boy around town, but my criticism of One from the Heart feeling meandering and pointless aren't so in Rumble Fish. Again, this is largely due to Coppola making the environment feel so chaotically alive. From smoky pool halls to dingy dive bars, Rumble Fish's suffocating environment engulfs Rusty James, who only knows that he wants to be his brother but has no clue on how to actually achieve that, or if it's even feasible. Dillon is an incredibly underrated actor, especially in regards to his work here and in Gus Van Sant's wonderful Drugstore Cowboy. He is the embodiment of the testosterone-driven environment that's ensnared him and keeps pushing him into bad decisions. He's unapologetic, angry, and yet thumbs his nose at who he views are the truly lost causes of society: the heroin users that have "ruined the gangs". Rusty James is a deeply flawed character that will either ingratiate you or fascinate you, but Dillon is able to walk this fine line and come out as a compelling protagonist despite having very few positive traits. While Rumble Fish is certainly not a universally applauded film that everyone will get behind, it was highly refreshing to see Coppola, a filmmaker who as I go through the last entries in his filmography has frustrated me with his weak output in his later career, at the height of his powers. It's his most assured and fascinating work post-Apocalypse Now, and I think it's also his best during this period. The Outsiders represents the Coppola we unfortunately got post-70s, conjuring up bland studio system films that could've been made by anyone. Rumble Fish is our last glimpse at the filmmaker we wish we'd seen more of, and that will forever haunt our cinephile dreams of what could have been.

8/10

I've yet to see Godfather Part III, period.  I've been meaning to, but part of me figures, Part II was so perfect, why bother?  Apart from just seeing it just to see it, etc.  I own the trilogy on Blu Ray, so eventually I will.

I'm holding out until the inevitable Godfather Trilogy 4K boxed set before I pick up Coda.

But those are his best ones!

And produced by George Lucas

It sounds like it should be the title for Dinesh D'Souza's newest film about Tucker Carlson. Let's hope he never comes across this thread and gets inspired.

Exactly. There were decisions made in pre-production, including the inability to come to terms with Robert Duvall, that doomed the film from the start and no amount of restructuring what's been shot can fix that.

The Outsiders audition tapes


www.threads.net/@francisfordcoppola/post/C37CMbduUBC

Exactly. He wanted to make this movie, so he did. Good for Coppola.