HairyLime Blog

An 'under the radar' film for Coppola made in the troublesome early eighties, almost a companion piece to the more widely seen 'The Outsiders', based on another of S.E. Hinton's 'troubled teen' books. Much more surrealistic and dreamlike than the other film, though it shares a lot of the brat pack cast, the director really seems to be having fun playing with the medium in this one, odd camera angles and effects, playing with the audiences expectations  -- some fun performances throughout, Matt Dillon's thick skulled 'Rusty James' the wanna-be gang leader, Diane Lane at her pouty best as his girlfriend, Mickey Rourke playing the legendary 'Motorcycle Boy', as a whispering sensitive bookish outgrown juvenile delinquent, Dennis Hopper as their drunken loser of a father, and Tom Waits in a fun cameo as 'Benny' from 'Benny's Billiards' (other future stars have early bit parts here, Christopher Penn, Vincent Spano, Lawrence Fishburne, Nicholas Cage, Sophia Coppolla)...The 'rumble fish' of the title being one of the few things in color in this movie is a little over the top, but effective nonetheless. Also some fun music by the drummer from 'The Police'.

Revisited this one last night, having seen it once shortly after it was released. While I still enjoyed it, it didn't seem quite as remarkable as my first screening. A lot of the scenes kind of dragged, and seemed very self conscious, like the director was pulling everything out of his bag of tricks, afraid to leave anything good on the cutting room floor. Could probably have used a little more editing. There are some good scenes, the wild 'drug heist gone wrong' scene with Alfred Molina still carries a lot of power, and the long tracking shots that frame the movie at the beginning, middle and end are all impressive. Other scenes seemed a little forced (Dirk Diggler's fight with his Mother before he leaves home, The Rollergirl Limo scene, etc) Some of the characters and set-ups were quite moving and funny, while others just seemed to be there for cheap effect. Rather a sad movie, in more ways than one, - you feel bad for these poor pathetic losers, but you see a little of your own shortcomings in them as well -- and also sad to see how too much exploitation of anything can make even sex seem boring and stale.

A bit out of character of the usual Hitchcock output in some ways, but in other ways reminiscent of some of his earlier themes and work. Some masterful sequences, like the rape and murder sequence of the hero's ex-wife in her office (which is almost too unnerving to watch), the tracking shot of the 2nd murder (once his pattern has been established), where we overhear the killer's 'opening line', and then the camera slowly backs away from the apartment door, backs down the stairs and then out the front door to the street to view the apartment building from outside, indistinguishable from its neighbors (quite chilling), and then the desperate killer trying to retrieve a bit of incriminating evidence from the back of a potato truck recalls a similar sequence in 'Psycho' where the audience is unwillingly put on the killer's side for a brief spell, rooting for him to succeed in his grisly task despite our natural contempt for the character.<br><br>A bit strange seeing nudity and the occassional foul language in a Hitchcock film, but it is the 70s after all. But the strangest thing about this film is the absense of the 'Hitchcock' blonde heroine (Tippi Hendron, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, etc - even the ditzy blonde Barbara Harris from the later 'Family Plot' might even qualify), and beyond that, all the women in this film are treated and viewed with a certain malevolent contempt, the women are either frigid suspecting bitches (Jean Marsh) hysterical shrewish housewives, ditzy hotel desk clerks, successful ex-wives who rub your nose in your misfortune,  or foolish homebodies with too much time on their hands making god-awful meals for their poor husbands (Vivien Merchant) - and the one decent woman in the picture, gets killed and stuffed in a potato sack. None of the women are particularly attractive in this film, and the nudity is treated with a certain amount of voyeuristic glee and shot in the most unflattering manner. You wonder what Hitch would be up to had he survived another 10-20 years and was allowed even more leeway on the sex and violence. (but I suppose we have Cronenberg and DePalma continuing in his footsteps)