Whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying what an auteur Francis Ford Coppola is. He works incredibly hard to make changes within Hollywood and always experiment with new techniques. He does have a flair for extreme visual style, which is prevalent in his 1983 film Rumble Fish. I admired this film, but I was left in too many bouts of frustration to truly enjoy it. Coppola chooses style over substance and that may have doomed the film in my eyes.
This was Coppola's second film of 1983-his first was The Outsiders which I thoroughly enjoyed. The screenplay was written and adapted from a novel by Coppola and the novel's author, S.E Hinton. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Hinton also wrote the novel The Outsiders. Both are relatively similar films that deals with themes of brotherhood, parenthood, and the life of being hoodlums in the 1950's. Coppola was attracted to this film because of the theme of brotherhood. This movie has the main character Rusty James looking up to his intellectually superior brother, only known as the Motorcycle Boy. Coppola had the same relationship with his elder brother.
There is really not much meat to the bones when it comes to the story. Rusty James (Matt Dillon) is the leader of a gang in an industrial town that is slowly dying. He lives in the shadow of the former leader-the legendary Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke). Rusty has no meaning in his life. He has a relationship with a calculating girlfriend, Patty (Diane Lane), a father that is a drunk (Dennis Hopper), a mother that left, and no education is worth much to him. When he is drawn to gang fight, which was outlawed several years prior, the Motorcycle Boy may make a reentrance in his life.
The performances are what may have saved this film from complete failure. Matt Dillon gives a more mature performance and you kind of feel for what his character is going through. Mickey Rourke gives an interesting performance. Sometimes it feels like he is sleepwalking through this role, although that may have been intentional. Rourke later said he pursued his character as an actor who doesn't care anymore. Hopper was always a delight to see. Keep an eye on solid performances from the younger actors such as Laurence Fishburne and Nicolas Cage.
The film does have a stylistic element to it. Sometimes it looked great, other times I was left in frustration. The black-and-white cinematography (filmed by Stephen H. Burum) was interesting. I kept wondering what the point of this was. I later understood when it was mentioned Rourke's character was colorblind. Coppola kept using low angles and lots of smoke. He definitely fell in love with the smoke. Also, the music! After much deliberation, I decided that I actually liked the score. Coppola was originally going to do the score himself, but it was later decided he needed an actual professional musician to help him. He went to then drummer of the Police, Stewart Copeland. Copeland gave the film an experimental score that I think actually worked.
I really wanted to like Rumble Fish. Coppola made several of my favorite films, so I always want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I could not fully get attached to the movie. It's well-made on a technical level, but the story is slow, meandering, and pointless at times. The themes of brotherhood are there, but do these themes really motivate the story? It's hard to say because I was undeniably frustrated throughout. Thankfully, there are strong performances to back up the attempt to tell the story. It's watchable, but certainly not a great movie. Apparently, people thought the same when the film was shown for the first time at the New York Film Festival. There were many boos, catcalls, and walkouts. Coppola designed this film as "an art film for teenagers," but maybe he would have been better off making a straightforward film?
My Grade: C
This was Coppola's second film of 1983-his first was The Outsiders which I thoroughly enjoyed. The screenplay was written and adapted from a novel by Coppola and the novel's author, S.E Hinton. If that name sounds familiar, it's because Hinton also wrote the novel The Outsiders. Both are relatively similar films that deals with themes of brotherhood, parenthood, and the life of being hoodlums in the 1950's. Coppola was attracted to this film because of the theme of brotherhood. This movie has the main character Rusty James looking up to his intellectually superior brother, only known as the Motorcycle Boy. Coppola had the same relationship with his elder brother.
There is really not much meat to the bones when it comes to the story. Rusty James (Matt Dillon) is the leader of a gang in an industrial town that is slowly dying. He lives in the shadow of the former leader-the legendary Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke). Rusty has no meaning in his life. He has a relationship with a calculating girlfriend, Patty (Diane Lane), a father that is a drunk (Dennis Hopper), a mother that left, and no education is worth much to him. When he is drawn to gang fight, which was outlawed several years prior, the Motorcycle Boy may make a reentrance in his life.
The performances are what may have saved this film from complete failure. Matt Dillon gives a more mature performance and you kind of feel for what his character is going through. Mickey Rourke gives an interesting performance. Sometimes it feels like he is sleepwalking through this role, although that may have been intentional. Rourke later said he pursued his character as an actor who doesn't care anymore. Hopper was always a delight to see. Keep an eye on solid performances from the younger actors such as Laurence Fishburne and Nicolas Cage.
The film does have a stylistic element to it. Sometimes it looked great, other times I was left in frustration. The black-and-white cinematography (filmed by Stephen H. Burum) was interesting. I kept wondering what the point of this was. I later understood when it was mentioned Rourke's character was colorblind. Coppola kept using low angles and lots of smoke. He definitely fell in love with the smoke. Also, the music! After much deliberation, I decided that I actually liked the score. Coppola was originally going to do the score himself, but it was later decided he needed an actual professional musician to help him. He went to then drummer of the Police, Stewart Copeland. Copeland gave the film an experimental score that I think actually worked.
I really wanted to like Rumble Fish. Coppola made several of my favorite films, so I always want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I could not fully get attached to the movie. It's well-made on a technical level, but the story is slow, meandering, and pointless at times. The themes of brotherhood are there, but do these themes really motivate the story? It's hard to say because I was undeniably frustrated throughout. Thankfully, there are strong performances to back up the attempt to tell the story. It's watchable, but certainly not a great movie. Apparently, people thought the same when the film was shown for the first time at the New York Film Festival. There were many boos, catcalls, and walkouts. Coppola designed this film as "an art film for teenagers," but maybe he would have been better off making a straightforward film?
My Grade: C