This 1983 black and white Francis Ford Coppola film based on the book by S.E. Hinton is a forgotten little pearl. Too sad that it has been put completely in the shadows of Coppola's later merits. Rumble Fish is probably something completely different than what you would expect from what appears to be a teen movie. It may not have a strong narrative that has appeal to the majority of movie watchers. Watching it may at times be more amusing than impressive. It may even be annoyingly arty and stylistic for some. But oh, take it for what it is, and enjoy it.
What a cast of young actors! Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Vincent Spano, Nicolas Cage (Coppola's nephew), Laurence Fishburne, and not to forget Tom Waits as an enjoyable bartender and billiard keeper. And what a score by Stewart Copeland. Accompanied by smoke, looming shadows, the sound of clocks ticking all around, clouds running by at great speed, all filmed in black and white. It is a tale of simple, forgettable lives in a small Oklahoma town, and the way it is presented gives you a sense of claustrophobia and overhanging doom the impression of time rushing by, and of life being passed through without being lived.
Rumble Fish is a coming-of-age story. Its main character, Rusty James (Matt Dillon) tries hard to be a gang leader, and to live up to the days when his elder brother (Mickey Rourke) led the rumbles in the streets. His brother has left town and is now but a figure of mythic proportions in the boys' minds and conversations, known only as The Motorcycle Boy. However, he returns one day.
The Motorcycle Boy is tired of his reputation as the gang leader who ran the whole side of town. His mind is elsewhere. He has grown. He has been on the outside, and he wants to show his little brother that there is more to life. He tries to show him this through the metaphor of the Siamese fighting fish at the local pet store. The 'rumble fish' will fight their own reflection if they don't have other fish to fight but then perhaps they wouldn't fight any more if they were put into the river and sent out into the ocean.
Above all, Rumble Fish is a touching character study. A 19 year-old Matt Dillon shines as the reckless, simple-minded teenager who has a somewhat limited ability of expressing himself verbally, but in return he holds endless admiration of his elder brother. It is this admiration of his brother's past merits that directs all his actions and desires. At one point his frustrated girlfriend says, "You always try so hard to be like your brother, Rusty James" to which he answers, comically proudly, "Hey, my brother's the coolest!"
Dennis Hopper is also brilliant as the boys' alcoholic father, who has failed his children but still conveys a touching insight of his eldest son's condition the son who is an incarnation of the woman he lost. "He's merely miscast in a play. He was born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river. With the ability to do anything he wants to do and finding nothing that he wants to do."
But Mickey Rourke steals the movie. Oh, that man can act. He literally illuminates the screen with his enigmatic presence, and when he speaks, his voice is quiet and mysterious. You hear clocks ticking, his heart pounding, and you see his world in black and white all with the exception of the colourful rumble fish, representing those who, unknowingly, still have the possibility of a different life, outside these claustrophobic borders.
What a cast of young actors! Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Vincent Spano, Nicolas Cage (Coppola's nephew), Laurence Fishburne, and not to forget Tom Waits as an enjoyable bartender and billiard keeper. And what a score by Stewart Copeland. Accompanied by smoke, looming shadows, the sound of clocks ticking all around, clouds running by at great speed, all filmed in black and white. It is a tale of simple, forgettable lives in a small Oklahoma town, and the way it is presented gives you a sense of claustrophobia and overhanging doom the impression of time rushing by, and of life being passed through without being lived.
Rumble Fish is a coming-of-age story. Its main character, Rusty James (Matt Dillon) tries hard to be a gang leader, and to live up to the days when his elder brother (Mickey Rourke) led the rumbles in the streets. His brother has left town and is now but a figure of mythic proportions in the boys' minds and conversations, known only as The Motorcycle Boy. However, he returns one day.
The Motorcycle Boy is tired of his reputation as the gang leader who ran the whole side of town. His mind is elsewhere. He has grown. He has been on the outside, and he wants to show his little brother that there is more to life. He tries to show him this through the metaphor of the Siamese fighting fish at the local pet store. The 'rumble fish' will fight their own reflection if they don't have other fish to fight but then perhaps they wouldn't fight any more if they were put into the river and sent out into the ocean.
Above all, Rumble Fish is a touching character study. A 19 year-old Matt Dillon shines as the reckless, simple-minded teenager who has a somewhat limited ability of expressing himself verbally, but in return he holds endless admiration of his elder brother. It is this admiration of his brother's past merits that directs all his actions and desires. At one point his frustrated girlfriend says, "You always try so hard to be like your brother, Rusty James" to which he answers, comically proudly, "Hey, my brother's the coolest!"
Dennis Hopper is also brilliant as the boys' alcoholic father, who has failed his children but still conveys a touching insight of his eldest son's condition the son who is an incarnation of the woman he lost. "He's merely miscast in a play. He was born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river. With the ability to do anything he wants to do and finding nothing that he wants to do."
But Mickey Rourke steals the movie. Oh, that man can act. He literally illuminates the screen with his enigmatic presence, and when he speaks, his voice is quiet and mysterious. You hear clocks ticking, his heart pounding, and you see his world in black and white all with the exception of the colourful rumble fish, representing those who, unknowingly, still have the possibility of a different life, outside these claustrophobic borders.
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