The 1983 Francis Ford Coppola homoerotic classic The Outsiders is set for rerelease this weekend. In 1983, when the film adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s classic novel debuted, the world was very different. Madonna was actually played on the radio and Joan Collins was the Nicolette Sheridan of television. The film’s gritty look and somber tone did not connect with audiences of the 1980s.
The movie has become a gay cult classic though. Never before and never since has such a young, hot, and intense group of actors shared a stage. Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, and Matt Dillon. This was before scientology and hair loss, a time when these kids had stars in their eyes and tight butts in their jeans. When not focussing on the pretty faces and bulging denim of the brat packers, a trained eye will spot a young Diane Lane, the author Hinton, and Sofia Coppola, many years before she would become the darling of Hollywood, in smaller roles.
The movie is in theaters September 9th and released on dvd on September 20th.
