Rumble Fish (1983)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers:

S.E. Hinton (novel)
S.E. Hinton (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 October 1983 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The Motorcycle Boy's Never Coming Back

Plot:

Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.

Plot Keywords:

Motorcycle | Fight | Thug | Gang Warfare | Neo Noir

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Matt Dillon	...	Rusty James
Mickey Rourke	...	The Motorcycle Boy
Diane Lane	...	Patty
Dennis Hopper	...	Father
Diana Scarwid	...	Cassandra
Vincent Spano	...	Steve
Nicolas Cage	...	Smokey
Chris Penn	...	B.J. Jackson (as Christopher Penn)
Laurence Fishburne	...	Midget (as Larry Fishburne)
William Smith	...	Patterson the Cop
Michael Higgins	...	Mr. Harrigan
Glenn Withrow	...	Biff Wilcox
Tom Waits	...	Benny
Herb Rice	...	Black Pool Player
Maybelle Wallace	...	Late Pass Clerk

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White | Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 (1984) | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Sapulpa, Oklahoma, USA

Company:

Hotweather Films

Trivia:

The only adaption of an S.E. Hinton novel not to feature Emilio Estevez.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the arcade, Rusty James is playing the video game "Pole Position", but the sound effects are from the game, "Pac Man".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Midget: Biff Wilcox is looking for you, Rusty James. He's gonna kill you, Rusty James.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Charlie Rose Show: Quentin Tarantino" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Don't Box Me In

Coppola's Minor Masterpiece

Instead of writing a really long review, I could say only one thing: Rumble Fish is excellent. But, I kind of like speaking of the virtues of such a wonderful movie. Rumble Fish is one of the best movie Francis Ford Coppola ever made. There is so much going for it in this brilliantly made picture. Matt Dillon is in his best role ever, the actors are all great, but Mickey Rourke definitely commands the show. He is in his best performance ever (losing only for his role in Sin City) as the Motorcycle Boy, a gang commander that returns to his hometown next to his brother and dad. The movie has a good story, and the movie is so well done. The poetic ending is one of the most remarkable endings I have ever seen. The movie unrolls in extreme perfection, providing a great experience. Rumble Fish is one of Coppola's best movies and definitely his one minor masterpiece.