Rumble Fish (1983) User Reviews

A Long Lost Hit From Francis Ford Coppola

[MichaelMargetis · 7/10 · 10 August 2005]

After hearing such rave reviews, I really was excited to see Francis Ford Coppola's indie classic 'Rumble Fish'. The film was shot in black and white and it had an expansive cast of talented actors including Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Waits and Nicolas Cage. I enjoyed Francis Ford Coppola's other films like Apocalypse Now and of course The Godfather Parts I, II & III. From what I heard it was filmed kind of like this year's smash hit 'Sin City' ('Rumble Fish' was black & white but with dashes of color) only on a smaller scale. I rented this indie sensation when I was on vacation because they had it in the hotel video store. I couldn't find it in the Blockbusters in Arizona (where I live) and my portable DVD player was acting up so I couldn't view the DVDs I brought a long with me for the trip. It may have been just fate that I got the opportunity to view Coppola's 'Rumble Fish', definitely one of the most, if not the most inventive motion pictures I ever gazed my eyes upon.

The film is set in a 1950s - 1970s setting. With it's black & white color and just the way the film is presented it gives the audience a feel of the old 1930s James Cagney crime noir flicks. It follows a young and dumb hoodlum named Rusty James (Matt Dillon), whose the leader of one of the two gangs in town. After a huge rumble played out like a West Side Story scene from hell, Rusty is left hurt real bad when the opposing gang leader stabbed him in the gut with a switchblade. Coming to Rusty James' rescue is his older brother, The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke) who hasn't shown his face in town for a year after disappearing to California. The Motorcycle Boy helps his younger brother out, and eventually starts to hang around the neighborhood more. From there, the plot follows the two re-united brothers as they hang around the streets and cause trouble, while the Motorcycle Boy tries to teach his less then intelligent brother the meaning of life. Dennis Hopper stars as Rusty James and the Motorcyle Boy's dad, Diane Lane stars as Rusty James' sweet friend, Tom Waits stars as the grill master in the town's diner, and Chris Penn, Laurence Fishburne and a young Nicolas Cage are featured as some of Rusty James' gang buddies.

First of all, I adored the way 'Rumble Fish' was shot. With his extraordinary talent, director Francis Ford Coppola really creates a thing of beauty and opulence with 'Rumble Fish'. The only real downside of this picture is that the plot drags entirely too much, and that's pretty bad for a film running only 90 minutes. The writing is mostly good, but 'Rumble Fish' seems to be missing a real plot. The film substitutes hypnotic cinematography and cool scenery for an easy-to-follow plot, which in my opinion is a big mistake. Although this kind of bugs me, 'Rumble Fish' is a good film for the most part. The acting is superb with a engrossing and passionate performance by a very young Matt Dillon and a powerful and carefully layered performance by Mickey Rourke who in my opinion should have gotten an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor. Diane Lane is very good in one of her first roles, Dennis Hopper plays the alcoholic clueless dad perfectly and Tom Waits is a pleasure to watch. Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne are also rock solid. If you want to see a film that's really out there and full of likable qualities, I'd recommend picking up 'Rumble Fish' your next stop to the video store. Chances are you'll find something or somethings to love about it. Grade: B

Thin Story, Interesting Visuals

[Lechuguilla · 6/10 · 22 October 2017]

Youth alienation seems to be the obvious theme of this story about a high school kid named Rusty James (Matt Dillon), a big believer in rough, angry neighborhood gangs, and his long-lost older brother who unexpectedly returns. Perhaps at a more subtle level, the story's theme relates to the passage of time, in hours and years, as evidenced by the film's visuals of passing clouds and the presence of clocks in numerous scenes.

The story is thin. Rusty and his "gang" hang out, talk, walk around a lot, get angry, encounter various characters that appear in some scenes, then disappear. Ultimately, the glue that holds the plot together is the relationship between Rusty and his enigmatic, somewhat intellectual older brother, no longer a gang leader, who now functions as Rusty's mentor who over time, wised up. The story's era is unclear.

Casting is okay except for a disconnect between story location and character accents. The setting is supposed to be Oklahoma; yet, most characters, and especially Rusty James, speak with a thick New York accent. Director Francis Ford Coppola made the same mistake in "The Outsiders", using the same location and some of the same actors.

The film was shot in B&W, except for a couple of scenes where aquarium fish appear in red and blue. Overall photography is interesting in that visuals have a look and feel influenced strongly by German Expressionism, and include low-angle, noir lighting, heavy shadows, smoke and fog, and a few weird camera angles. Visuals in many scenes convey a gritty, dingy, urban look.

In the copy I watched, dialogue sounded muffled and hard to understand. Background sounds combined general urban clanking noise with the rhythmic based ticks of a clock and light jazz to create an interesting if perhaps contrived overall soundtrack.

An art film that was not well received by audiences when it came out, "Rumble Fish" would appeal to an art house audience but probably few others. I found the story talky and boring, though the B&W visuals were interesting in a stylized sort of way.

Three slices of the same film

[The_Movie_Cat · 8/10 · 10 December 1999]

Television rarely provides film certificates as a guide, and so I must confess to having first seen Rumble Fish when I was considerably younger than its "18" certificate. Crowbarred into the middle of a season of 50s biker movies, I mistakenly BELIEVED this black and white film to have been made during that era. Innate stupidity and unfamiliarity with cinema at that time meant I failed to recognise such contemporary actors as Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke and Nicolas Cage. To this end I came to the conclusion that with its earthy language, slight sexual content and violence, Rumble Fish was a movie way ahead of its time. Its parting rhetoric, really just a flimsy song by an ex-member of The Police, seemed to wrap the whole thing up and imbue it with meaning.

Around eight years later it received a video release in England, and I bought it the first day it came out. Maybe it was the feeling of idiocy on my part that made me hate it second time around. The film showed the divide between BEING a 50s gang movie and pretentiously PRETENDING to be a 50s gang movie. Worst still, the philosophical musings over time and the nature of insanity made it wholly indulgent, while the authentically retro dialogue sounded self-conscious coming from 1983. This might be directed by the same man that gave us The Godfather, but that is also the same man who gave us Bram Stoker's Dracula.

So to consolidate these two vastly differing viewpoints I decided to give Rumble Fish a third viewing. While it still contains more naivety than meaningful insight, it is outstanding in the field of cinematography. Direction, while showy, is virtually flawless, each scene taken from the point of view of distant shadows, causing an air of unsettled menace throughout. Writing is generally high, though a little clumsy, while acting (backed up by Dennis Hopper) cannot be faulted. Rourke is every inch the cool, ubiquitously-admired Motorcyle Boy, while the rolling clouds and clockface imagery leave a perfect spin on the film.

Of course, on the latest viewing, further elements come to light; it is never stated, nor even particularly implied, that the film is set in the fifties. Its noir leanings are an echo of The Motorcycle Boy's colour blindness, as is (presumably) the awful sound quality supposed to represent his slight deafness. Or maybe I just bought a bad tape. These may seem like fairly self-explanatory observations, and go without saying, but locked within the mindset of a pubescent youth were all these misconceptions. All of which goes to prove how a film can be many things and of many merits, depending on the circumstances of viewing, and who is watching it... even if that "who" turns out to be the same person.

A box of nowhere to go....

[Autonome · 21 February 2002]

I have to admit having a soft spot for this film as I have for Apocalypse Now, though perhaps Coppola could never quite carry out a truly inventive directing style. His films mostly seemed somehow constrained to an unchallenging format, and avoided the complexity, surrealism or depth so often used to great ends by film directors. Coppola's films will always seem to this author to be part of that distinct class of "Hollywood Films", though some are arguably "really good" Hollywood films.

As often the case with good films, Rumble Fish featured a fantastic collaboration of other great artists. This talent comes together to create something memorable on film which communicates, as few films have, a certain mood or feeling that is perhaps peculiar to the American midwest, especially during the 1980's. Something about the antipathy of growing up in such a vast, apathetic, culturally blank, comfortably mediocre place and attempting to go beyond it or find something in it, like punching your way out of a cardboard box only to find that things seem just as dark and empty on the outside. It should be made clear that this author also comes from that midwest and identifies with this theme, so there is some bias in this review, but this may apply to other "midwestern refugees" as well.

Fans of S.E. Hinton, on who's book the film was based and who co-wrote the screenplay, will appreciate the film, as well as fans of Tom Waits, Stuart Copeland (of the Police and little known project Klark Kent- which closely resembles the soundtrack), Mickey Rourke, or any of the (then) young, up and coming actors like Matt Dillon, Nicolas Cage and Diane Lane.

Rourke is at one of the peaks of his young career here, a cool rebel without a cause type, vaguely reminiscent of young Peter Fonda or James Dean- a striking character. The film has memorable scenes and lines, one of which is Dillon's character saying to the fatalistic older brother- "Motorcycle Boy" played by Rourke, something like- "People would really follow you anywhere, why don't we do something?", to which Rourke responds- "Yeah, they'd probably follow me right down to the river...and jump in."

Similar scenes and numerous references to time passing away seemed to summarize the hopeless stagnation of growing up nowhere and proceeding to go nowhere. Groping in the dark for everything or anything meaningful in the context of a forgotten, lifeless irontown where even the young seem more like ghosts trying desperately to become tangible in some sense, and the middle aged are already on some other world.

Other films that come to mind- James Dean films; "Reckless", another Hollywood film released a year later, with Aidan Quinn (as "Rourke"- coincidence?), and Daryl Hannah, was semi-successful in making the occasional reference to a similar blighted steeltown theme, though overall it was spotty; "Dogs in Space" with Michael Hutchence of INXS was a punk classic, and had some of that "nowhere with style" appeal with an Australian twist; two other 1980's films the author never saw- "Down by Law" and "Rivers Edge" probably fit somewhere in here as well.

A film with promise but not well executed

[Nate-48 · 6/10 · 10 April 2020]

To sum up my interpretation, this movie doesn't appear to get the full attention it needed from Coppola as it was filmed just a few months after The Outsiders (same writer) was released and just a month before filming on The Cotton Club would begin.

The direction of this film gives the impression that Coppola was distracted by his plans for The Cotton Club, which would have six times the budget ($58 million) as this movie ($10 million) and perhaps publicity needs for The Outsiders which was being released internationally at the time.

My main issue is the cast is such a strong one and I feel like they were let down by the script and direction. The dream sequence in this film really sums it up - this was too much of a dreamy movie by Coppola. And I am a fan of dreamy movies as I consider myself a dreamer but it never really adds up.

But this should have been a slam dunk film with these stars, starting with Matt Dillon who leads a cast featuring Mickey Rourke (who is portrayed like a mix of Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront and The Wild One), Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Nicholas Cage (a standout), Chris Penn (underutilized), Laurence Fishburne (underutilized), Tom Waits and a young Sofia Coppola.

Perhaps shooting this film in the middle of the summer in Oklahoma contributed to its failings but I was majorly disappointed.

A forgotten classic

[oshram-3 · 9/10 · 14 July 2004]

Like most who saw this film, I would guess, I was exposed to it in college, and I have to admit much of it went past me at the time. I liked the stark and unusual visuals, and I liked most of the story, but I'd be lying if I said I understood everything that was going on. Not that 'Rumble Fish' is particularly deep, just that in college I wasn't. Viewing the movie with a more mature mind now, I appreciated it much more than I did when I was nineteen.

Based on the S.E. Hinton novel (Coppola also translated 'The Outsiders', which remains remarkable even today for its amazing cast), 'Rumble Fish' follows the story of one Rusty James (Matt Dillon, in full bad-boy mode) stuck in the middle of nowhere (Tulsa, actually), dissatisfied with his life but not really bright enough to know why. His older brother, the Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke, long before he became a punchline), wheels back into town from a long sojourn, and what there is of a plot begins.

Much of this movie is atmosphere, which normally irritates me but for some reason works incredibly well here. The black and white film is actually part of the story, which is in itself unusual, but it complements the storytelling and actually adds depth to the film. Though we see eighties-era cars, some of the movie has an almost fifties-feel to it, and like Rusty James, the viewer is never sure when, or where, he is. The bleak setting of Tulsa only reinforces the sense of both isolation and containment, which is the central theme of the film.

Dillon is very strong here. His seething anger can never really find a way to express itself adequately, and Dillon spends the whole film out of sorts in his own skin, giving a remarkable performance. Diane Lane, whom I suspect was hired for her stunningly good looks, has a smaller role but is very effective as the put-upon Patty. Most of the rest of the young cast – unknowns or relatives or friends of the director at that point in time (Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, Lawrence Fishburne, Tom Waits, even a very-young Sophia Coppola) are all very, very good. Waits and Fishburne have tiny roles but large presences on screen, and they stick in the viewer's mind even when they aren't there. Dennis Hopper is unusually relaxed and natural as Rusty James' dad (called only Father); sometimes Hopper can get gimmicky or artificial with his acting, but here he is subtle and wholly effective as a drunken shell of a man.

But the standout performance is really Mickey Rourke, reminding us that before he pissed his career away on crappy low-budget films with the likes of Don Johnson, he was actually a decent actor. Rourke imbues the Motorcycle Boy with a wholly different restlessness than Dillon's Rusty, and makes him both compelling and sympathetic. Honestly it helps that Rourke has some of the best lines in the film, most notably one of my favorite quotes from any film: 'You want to lead people, you have to have some place to take 'em.' Motorcycle Boy is also something of a transitional hero, knowing he is damned to live, and die, in this hellish world but making sure the path to redemption (and escape) is secured for his follower (he even says of Rusty, 'His only vice is loyalty.')

'Rumble Fish' is mostly an artsy character piece, the type of film that normally does not appeal to me, but Coppola displays such skill with the material and is so willing to subvert the very conventions of his film so that they further serve the characters and their development that the movie works, and works very well. Though the color tricks betray themselves rather badly on DVD (we were never meant to see this movie this clearly), the film still carries an enormous punch on the small screen as it did on the large. A bleak film that nonetheless carries within a message of hope, that one can escape the cages of one's surroundings if one tries hard enough.

my favourite film

[alexataisling · 10/10 · 23 November 2006]

I saw Rumble Fish in a small a cinema in Dublin when it came out in 1983. It became a cult hit around town and was shown every Monday afternoon for for £1 for months. I bunked off work often to see it as did many people, I got to know. It's hard to say what made it quite so special, god knows I've tried over the years in those party/pub moments when the conversation is flagging and someone asks, 'what is your favourite film?' Obviously they want to know why when you come up with something they've never heard of, hate or are indifferent to. I read Susie Hinton's books afterwards and also sought out the Outsdiders (also from a Hinton novel) which was made at the same time and was a good film with some of the wistful intensity of teenage life so strong in Rumble Fish but was like the straight, conventional brother by comparison. I think Susie Hinton went straight to Coppola's heart and she worked with him on the two films, even appearing in cameo in both. It is amazing to me that her books were marketed as teenage fiction, they are to my mind mature American fiction and transpose beautifully to the screen. The plot is a simple one and necessarily so yet the implications are universal. The style, camera-work, casting and soundtrack work together so well. I don't think that even in the Godfather Coppopla ever got it so right. The dreamy quality of the film, the distorted imagery and the fantastic soundtrack reflect the physical and mental damage suffered by the James family, Rusty's brain damage from one too many rumbles, Dad's alcoholism and the Motorcycle Boys colour blindness, depression and death wish. It's like an elegy for the old west and the constraints of small town life, John Ford meets David Lynch. It also marked the beginning of the end for Zoetrope studios and we'll never know what great movies we lost when that motorcycle gang left town.

OK, but not great

[grantss · 6/10 · 10 April 2015]

An OK, but not great, Francis Ford Coppola movie.

Had the makings of a great story, but wasn't entirely coherent, or completely formed. Seemed contrived at times and basically didn't flow entirely well. Still, interesting enough.

Probably the highlight of the movie is all the appearances of current- day stars, before they were stars: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Nicolas Cage (Francis Ford Coppola's nephew), Diane Lane, Chris Penn, Laurence Fishburne. Coppola's daughter Sophia gets a minor role, and there is a minor appearance by Tom Waits. Dennis Hopper is the only then-known- actor in the cast. All give good performances.

My favorite film of all time

[fandoreth · 10/10 · 20 May 2002]

I realize that's not saying it's the best ever made, but it certainly marked me so much as to regard it as my all-time fave.

The movie reminisces of Elia Kazan's Dean movies, and "The Wild One" starring Marlon Brando. Just as those movies (and much better done, IMHO), Rumble Fish is about violence as a consequence of uncomprehension; loneliness; and family relations in a sordid, black and white environment. Not even this choice is random, as its B&W filming (and somewhat deficient sound quality) is yet another commentary on life as seen through the eyes of its characters - and author.

Every scene in this movie brings a realization, though some of the dialogues are indeed a bit naive when seen after its time. And here I could engage in a debate on "naiveté" vs. "savvy", and whether an innocent view of life really means less message depth (or whether a jaded outlook really guarantees understanding), but I digress. The point is, I'm a 27-year old man and I still cry every time I see this movie.

The first time I saw Rumble Fish, I thought I identified with the Motorcycle boy and his alienation from the world he was put in. After a few more times, I realized more and more that I "was" Rusty-James - That, to an extent, EVERY man is a little Rusty-James; trying to live up to a hero image, and helplessly watching as your ideal slips past your reach and lets himself be killed, without you ever understanding anything until it's too late... or is it?

Where Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis speak to the hero we WANT to be, Matt Dillon speaks to the MEN who want to be that hero, and leads the way out.

*sigh*

The astounding soundtrack, exquisite photography and perfect takes don't hurt any, either.

Buy it, rent it, whatever. See the goddamn movie. It is worth a try (and a much, much better score than 6.7).

Neo-art film is must-see. Flawed as it is, its absolutely stunning visually.

[Ben_Cheshire · 7/10 · 29 July 2004]

Take,

1) The structure and expressionistic approach to the gangland world of West Side Story,

2) the serious youth angst of Rebel without a Cause,

3) An art film aesthetic,

4) Juvenile, teen-gang subject matter,

5) An 80's-esque electronica soundtrack.

And you've got a sort of tacky-classy, strange neo-art film for early 80's teens.

Its look is so serious, you'd imagine its more important than Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia, but its narrative content is rather juvenile gang-warfare. Who can take seriously, for example, someone who everyone calls "The Motorcycle Boy." Or a main character who talks like Vinnie Barbarino?

To call it a bad film would be an absolute travesty, considering what an accomplished film it is: every single frame is absolutely gorgeous, and every scene well-done.

The strangest element of it is the soundtrack - wheareas its look is the classical beauty of The Godfather, its electronica soundtrack matches the early-80's teen angst of its characters.

Coppola is a hard-working and talented filmmaker, there's no doubt about it. And he really loves film. Rumble Fish is a beautiful film as a result - it looks absolutely stunning.

Why is it not a great film, though?

1) The "story" is next to nothing - unless its subtextual. Narrative drive is not high.

2) And it has the feel of somebody who over-intellectualises every moment of the script during production: which you may realise Coppola does if you've seen the documentary on the Godfather box set: but when you describe the emotion an actor must achieve in a scene so much, it ends up sounding so complex the actor clearly feels they fail to achieve it, and the moment ends up false.

So it comes off as very self-conscious and studied.

3.5/5 - It would be insulting to 5 star films like The Godfather to give this four stars, but i urge you, its an experience to have. A definite thing to see.

one of Coppola's very best; delivers a plethora of sharp visuals and terrific cinematography/performances

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 28 January 2004]

I saw Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish in a film class, and it was interesting to see how certain scenes were made (seeing transitions and shots in slow motion, stopping to point out things), among the plot. From S.E. Hinton's novel, he assembles a breakthrough cast (a lot of teens) who show they can get into the characters quite effectively. And for those who love the technical side of a film- how it was made and what went into the shots and the meanings of shots- will have a feast that will turn them off or have them asking for more (or the rumored 8-hour cut, perhaps).

The story deals with characters who are struggling through life, stuck in a town where the environment seems nostalgically black and white, and only glimpses of color arise. We are given the story of two brothers- the one who takes a chunk of the story is Rusty James (an excellent, young Matt Dillon), a tough, sometimes ignorant teen who has all the strengths and weaknesses of the high-school 'rebel', taking after his AWOL older brother. The other is Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke, perfect in his quiet and touching presence), who left his town and his reputation behind to go to California. He returns to find Rusty James getting in over his head, and all his best efforts to keep him cool are mired by old wounds (some wounds involving their parents, others by the effect the atmosphere left on him). There's also keen supporting work by fresh faces- Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, and Laurence Fishburne as friends and sometimes followers of Rusty; Diane Lane (wonderful even in her youth) as a sweet/sour love interest; and Dennis Hopper as the father of Rusty James, who appears just enough to get the psychological points across to the viewer.

Coppola tends to use his symbols rather thickly, and it's arguable if he may show things too much, or maybe if he shows them just enough (i.e. skies darkening, clocks). Yet it doesn't stop him from creating indelible images- practically all the shots in the film could be put on a wall and look as great as any other by a professional photographer. With Stephen Barum and Dean Tavoularis (photographer and designer, respectively) scene after scene experiments with techniques (the fish is just a taste of this), and it's rather authentic in its respectfulness of the material. For example, in the gang fight, the style with which Coppola introduces characters controls the mis en scene, the editing and the use of shadows, all of this in this one sequence displays the tremendous directorial vision Coppola can have on a film.

It's not really a joyful film, and the downward spiral motif of the story may make some depressed with what they're seeing. But, if you want to see a very well-crafted film, the kind that gets better on repeat viewings (as with the Godfather films and Apocalypse Now), check it out- at least a viewer will get the sense of concise, complex film acting by young stars.

"To Rusty James, He Was One Cool Dude"

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 26 November 2009]

Following up the success that the team of director Francis Ford Coppola and writer S.E. Hinton had with The Outsiders, they decide to team up to film another one of Hinton's teen angst novel Rumble Fish. The title refers to some tropical fish in a pet store that fascinate Mickey Rourke. The fish are the only ones in the film photographed in color, a technique that was later used in Schindler's List.

Those fish are Siamese fighting fish and it's their nature to tear each other to pieces which is why they're kept in separate tanks. Of course I'm sure they must mate some time to keep the species going. But they fight like they breathe as apparently Rourke as the former street gang member who has returned to the dingy midwest rust belt city where he grew up in.

Where Rourke's younger brother Matt Dillon has a reputation as the toughest street fighter out there in the new generation. Will he turn his life around or become another version of Rourke? I'm not sure the film totally answers that in the end, it's one of those you can draw your own conclusions.

Diane Lane as Dillon's girlfriend and Vincent Spano as the nerd kid who hangs around the gang members and functions as Dillon's sidekick are also in the cast. Further down the list is future Oscar winner and Coppola family member Nicholas Cage as another gang member. The most prominent adult cast members are Dennis Hopper as the alcoholic father to Rourke and Dillon and William Smith, one mean cop with a score to settle with Rourke who's not pleased to have him back.

The film does have it's violence quotient for a film about youth violence, but in fact it's a character study. The characters are good and the players do a fine job. I don't think it's half as good as S.E. Hinton's other film The Outsiders from Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Glenn Withrow as another gang member and rival to Matt Dillon were also in.

Still Rumble Fish is a film that will appeal to the younger generation and to those who were the younger generation when Rumble Fish first was on the big screen.

used to be cool

[stusrt · 4/10 · 26 October 2023]

I saw this when it came out in the 80's. I was about 12. Just about the age when I thought Matt Dillion and Mickey Rourke where as cool as can be. Their tough-guy characters in this movie was awesome to 12 year old me. Didn't really care about the story, just the cool factor.

Saw it again this year since it was Amazon Prime. I was excited to experience these characters again. And the black-and-white photography made it badass.

Well, it did NOT stand the test of time. Now an adult, these guys seem silly. The fights are ridiculous and the dialogue is weak. I still don't really get the story, nor why this was even made.

I'm glad I saw it "back in the day" when I enjoyed it. I can understand how others enjoy and the look and feel of this movie. It just doesn't do it for me as an adult.

One of the best films to re-watch!

[busterlarry · 19 May 2008]

Yes, this was an effective, well-acted and visually stimulating art-house movie - the forgotten masterpiece of Francis Ford Coppola. I just recently watched this again and fell in love with it. I was a big fan of S.E. Hinton's writings growing up and this film did it justice. It's interesting that author S.E. Hinton claims that the script to this movie was written "on one of the first personal computers" in less than two weeks. How technology has changed nowadays with Final Draft. Matt Dillon gives his best performance as Rusty James, a 1950s street punk whose alcoholic father has all but walked out on him, and whose older brother (an enigmatic figure known only as The Motorcycle Boy) has left and moved to California some time ago. Dig this one up again. It's a classic.

A Story That Means Well, But Does Not Fully Deliver!

[gab-14712 · 7/10 · 24 October 2019]

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

Coppola's Most Underrated Work

[MC1-Bjornson · 9/10 · 23 March 2007]

"Rumble Fish" (1983) Rated "R" by the MPAA for Adult Situations, Profanity, Brief Nudity, Some Violence, Minor Gore, Brief Drug Use & Underage Alcohol Use. Running Time 1hr&34mn. My Take: ***1/2 (Out of ****)

"Rumble Fish" just might be Francis Ford Coppola's most overlooked film.

This movie, based on the Susan E. Hinton novel, tells about young street tough Rusty-James (Matt Dillion) who idolizes his older brother known only as 'The Motorcycle Boy' (Mickey Rourke).

Rusty-James longs for the days of rumbles and being a part of a gang. His friends are somewhat reluctant to feel the same way. His girlfriend Patty (Diane Lane) goes to an all-girl prep school. She's supportive of Rusty-James' need for acceptance and wanting to be cool like his estranged brother. "You're better than cool", she reminds him. "You're warm!" That's also a warning. Will Rusty-James heed?

Subtly, this is a film about the failure of the 'American Dream' and making choices, whether right or wrong. After all, Rusty-James' family fell product of the socialization process. They live in the slums, but that may not always have been the case. The boys' alcoholic father, memorably played by Dennis Hopper, was once a well-to-do lawyer earlier in life. What about the enigmatic Motorcycle Boy? Is he truly crazy? Or does he have 'an acute perception' that drives him crazy?

Brilliantly shot in black & white, Stephen H. Burum's cinema-photography makes "Rumble Fish" feel like something out of a chaotic dream. Everything is surreal, yet relative to each other. Clouds stream by overhead symbolizing the passage of time. Clocks appear throughout the movie suggesting time-is-a-burnin'. The suggestion here is: don't waste the time you do have while you still can. Stewart Copeland's almost all percussion and highly rhythmic score adds to that effect.

In "Rumble Fish", Coppola skillfully addresses the need to belong, to lead, to have goals, to have vision and warns not to fall deeper into an urban trap. Will Rusty-James discover what it means to step out and become his own identity before it's too late? As The Motorcycle Boy points out, "If you're going to lead people, you need to have somewhere to go."

That's good advice.

Artsy flick about lost souls wandering the city in the Midwest, trying to find answers

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 17 May 2022]

In the Tulsa area, a teen delinquent (Matt Dillon) idolizes his charismatic older brother (Mickey Rourke), who had left the area a couple months prior. When his sibling suddenly returns he's no longer interested in gangs or rumbling. They wander the town with their pal (Vincent Spano) hanging out at various places trying to find meaning and purpose.

The peripheral cast includes Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Diana Scarwid, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne and William Smith with Sofia Coppola as the little sister.

Filmed in B&W, "Rumble Fish" (1983) was the second of two flicks based on SE Hinton's young-adult novels shot back-to-back by Francis Ford Coppola. The first one was "The Outsiders" (1983) and it was successful at the box office while this one failed to draw an audience. Unlike "Outsiders," which takes place in 1965, this one is set in the modern day, 1982, the time of shooting (or at least the late 70s). Hinton, by the way, has a cameo as the hooker on the strip that propositions Rusty James (Dillon) and Steve (Spano).

She was only 16-17 when she wrote "The Outsiders" and so that movie is from the perspective of a mid-teenager. By contrast, she was in her mid-20s when she wrote "Rumble Fish" and this is also reflected in the corresponding movie: The Motorcycle Boy (Rourke) has grown-up and is no longer interested in juvenile delinquency, which confuses Rusty James.

Both "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish" are arty, but this one is more so. It's a mix of "The Outsiders" and Coppola's experimental "One from the Heart" (1981), along with bits of "The Warriors" (1979) and "Grease" (1978). Like "One from the Heart," the story is very basic while the filmmaking is highly stylized, which results in a beautiful film that's entertaining on a visual & audio level, but not very absorbing story-wise.

What's it all about? Some answers include: The challenge of unconventional people in a conventional world, living in someone's shadow, the cult of personality, growing up while simultaneously giving up childish things, setting others free, how envy murders others (figuratively or literally), the potential corruption of authority, the resultant injustice and sacrificing oneself for loved ones.

I can't close without noting how Cage is in the prime of his life and surprisingly good-looking (speaking as a staunch heterosexual). Not that he later became Quasimodo, but I never viewed him as a handsome actor, like say George Clooney.

The film runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot in the Tulsa area, as was "The Outsiders."

GRADE: B-

Stylish,

[barfly99 · 10/10 · 19 May 1999]

Francis Ford Coppola's most personal film is also one of his best - in its own way just as good as APOCALYPSE NOW and THE GODFATHER films. Those who wonder why Mickey Rourke is so revered by cult film fans need look no further than his almost-hypnotic performance as The Motorcycle Boy. But Matt Dillon is just as good as his younger brother, and when you also have the likes of Nic Cage, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, and Chris Penn in the supporting cast, you know it's a once-in-a-lifetime movie. The look of the film - a sparse black-and-white urban landscape - is perfect, as is Stewart Copeland's atmospheric music. But aside from the visual and aural pyrotechnics, what really singles this out as a bona fide classic is its spot-on portrayal of disaffected youth. When Hopper describes to Dillon how Rourke has simply been "miscast in the play", I still feel shivers running down my spine...

Another Round of Applause for Francis Ford Coppola

[short_dancer3 · 6/10 · 6 July 2006]

This movie is done in black and white except for the "rumblefish" and the end scene when Matt Dillon is looking in the police car window. I liked this movie but, I was left thinking if the Motorcycle Boy was really crazy or not. It makes you think and I liked the visuals in the movie as well. S.E. Hinton wrote this novel as well and she has a small part as a hooker in one scene. Francis Ford Coppola started working on this movie right after The Outsiders. The fight scenes were great. Dillon's character was portrayed as more of a jerk than he kind of came off as in the book. But, the movie relatively good and stayed true to the book. I think if you liked The Outsiders, you'll like Rumblefish.

An effective, well-acted and visually stimulating art-house movie - the forgotten masterpiece of Francis Ford Coppola

[MovieAddict2016 · 9/10 · 26 October 2005]

They say art films died out in the '80s, and they also say Francis Ford Coppola sold out after "Apocalypse Now," but this is truthfully his last visionary film. It may not be a flawless masterpiece on the same level as the aforementioned movie or "The Godfather," or even "The Conversation" (one of his absolute best), but it's still very good - beautiful to look at, poetic, and visually stimulating.

It was the second film he released in 1983 adapted from an S.E. Hinton book. His first ("The Outsiders") was cleaner than this. "Rumble Fish" has a lot of violence, a lot of swearing, and a decent amount of sex/nudity. It is the flip side to "The Outsiders"; and in my opinion, the more mature work of the two (although both are very good).

Matt Dillon gives his best performance as Rusty James, a 1950s street punk whose alcoholic father has all but walked out on him, and whose older brother (an enigmatic figure known only as The Motorcycle Boy) has left and moved to California some time ago.

We are led to infer that The Motorcycle Boy was a sort of rebel hero - a type of Robin Hood, as Rusty James says - and the entire town loves him. As a result, Rusty James "can't live up to his brother's reputation...and his brother can't live it down," to quote the film's tagline.

But The Motorcycle Boy returns one day in the form of Mickey Rourke. He rescues his kid brother from a violent underground fight with a group of thugs and takes him back to the safety of their home.

The Motorcycle Boy has come back in order to make amends, one supposes; or at least because he feels as if he has an obligation to see his father and brother again.

Meanwhile, Rusty James - in a desperate intent to match his brother's reputation - continues his downward spiral of street fights and violence, resulting in more than a few bloody brawls.

"Rumble Fish" is displayed in grainy black-and-white, and the soundtrack itself is surreal, often featuring fragments of distorted audio matched with hazy visuals. At first it doesn't seem to make sense, but then it is revealed that The Motorcycle Boy has a hearing problem that comes and goes at random (typically when he is under stress) - and is colorblind, which explains the b&w photography.

This is a great decision by Coppola because it gives the film an authentic feeling; at first, we feel as if we are following Rusty James' plight, but then once we pull back it becomes obvious we are watching through the eyes of The Motorcycle Boy himself. Coppola's experimentation with color in a few shots is something we're only now seeing take form again in movies like "Sin City" (which also featured Rourke). "Schindler's List" had a few moments of color and b&w, too, but it wasn't as frequent.

The performances are excellent. An all-star cast includes not only Dillon and Rourke but also Diane Lane (who was also in "The Outsiders" with Dillon), Dennis Hopper, Diana Scywid, Vincent Spano and Nicolas Cage.

Dillon's performance is key to the film because essentially this is his story, but it's being narrated to a certain effect by The Motorcycle Boy (at least insofar that it's his problems taking form in the narrative) - and Rourke gives a terrific performance. His moody, quiet embodiment of The Motorycle Boy leaves a lasting impression; his character comes across as a somber, reflective and ultimately regretful man who made bad decisions in his past and now wants to protect his brother from the same thing. It is implied that he may even have become a mail hustler on the streets of CA; his persistence to not tell any details of his adventure, and the fact that he sees a photo of himself posing in front of a bike ("taken by a guy in California," he tells his brother) in a magazine, and then asks Rusty James not to tell anyone, could be perceived as such. Or maybe not. It all depends on how far you want to look into it.

"Rumble Fish" may not be Francis Ford Coppola's best film, but it is one of his most sadly underrated movies and is probably worth mentioning in a list of the best films of the 1980s. In a decade where American art-house seemed to be a lost thought, "Rumble Fish" stands out as one of the few.

Liked it a lot.

[Amyth47 · 7/10 · 21 February 2019]

My Rating : 7/10

After making four smash-hits, Coppola went on to do more work albeit this time being rather Anti-Hollywood or perhaps more akin to his indulgent sensibilities. 'Rumble Fish' is one such example where we see Coppola experimenting as if he's an independent filmmaker and the outcome isn't as important as pleasing his own artistic leanings.

Rumble Fish reminds me of a very Pre-Sin City world except there is more innocence in all of it's frames and a certain stubbornness throughout. It's shot in black and white, has a rebellious 'A Streetcar Named Desire','The Wild One'- vibe going and is a lot of fun to spot the likes of a young Nicolas Cage (Coppola's nephew), Laurence Fishburne before they became stars.

A stylish, rebellious affair - it could easily pass off as an indie film. A very good one at that! Thumbs up 👍

I thought I was the only one who loved this movie

[thelonelyroadoffaith · 10/10 · 4 September 2005]

I was surprised about how many people wrote good reviews about this movie.I thought I was the only only one who appreciated the artistic value of Rumble Fish.It's my favorite movie and it finally got the special edition DVD it deserves.Most people don't get the deeper meaning of the film because nowadays people don't wanna think too hard watching a movie.It's a piece of art just as much as it is entertainment.You can get lost in the film for the visual and musical boundaries it pushes.I've watched it a thousand times and I never lost my appreciation for it's beauty.It's groundbreaking and a masterpiece in film making.

Anger, violence, and drunkeness in a big city ghetto

[helpless_dancer · 6/10 · 9 January 2000]

Offbeat film about violent inner city youths who brawl and fornicate for the want of anything else to do. Brought up in a jungle atmosphere with drunken, useless parents, they lead a wasted life. Lots of good dialogue and some good action scenes made for a mostly entertaining picture.

All style. No substance.

[TOMASBBloodhound · 3/10 · 25 February 2007]

The film looked great. I'll give them that. Rumble Fish was yet another of those films of the early 80s based on Susan Hinton's books about disillusioned youth. Of the four, this was probably the worst, however. Francis Ford Coppola, probably realizing there wasn't much of a story here, went to the art-house for this one. The result is a film that is visually appealing, but nothing more.

Nobody back then played an angry young man better than Matt Dillon. Here he plays a teenager named Rusty James. James sees himself as one of the last true gang leader types in a world where gangs have all but died out. His older brother, known only as "Motorcycle Boy" was the toughest kid around before he went off to California. Motorcycle Boy, played by Micky Rourke, shows up about fifteen minutes into the film. He brings with him a new philosophy about how gang life was b.s., and nobody is more disappointed in hearing that than Rusty James. The bulk of the film follows these characters around from one meaningless scene to the next. There is so little to the plot, that there really isn't much more this critic could say about it.

The acting is for the most part acceptable. Dillon is good as always. So are most of the supporting players, many of which are easily recognizable. Micky Rourke as the Motorcycle Boy is pretty awful, though. He's trying way too hard to be Marlon Brando, and it really doesn't work at all. His performance is nothing short of embarrassing. Dennis Hopper and Diane Lane are decent enough, but they don't get nearly the screen time you'd want.

The biggest problem we have is the lack of a plot. Author Susan Hinton also helped write the script, so she's as much to blame as Coppola. There really isn't much more than just enough narrative here for a film short. Characters appear and disappear for no reason. Some characters (Fishbourne, for example) seem to exist for no reason at all. It looked like we had some good tension going when Nicholas Cage moves in on Diane Lane who is supposed to be Dillon's woman. The subplot is introduced, yet nothing becomes of it. The film culminates with a character letting several animals, including the "Rumble Fish" out of a pet store. Apparently in Oklahoma, that crime is punishable by death.

As I mentioned before, there is a neat dreamlike quality to the film in terms of how it looks. B&W gives a certain dignity to most films, and this one is no different. Loved the fast-moving clouds overhead, too. I guess they are supposed to be symbolic for how quickly our youth passes us by or something.

The film bombed at the box office, and it isn't hard to see why. Coppola still hasn't directed anything interesting since the 1970s.

3 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

Probably the last great Coppola film... a modern classic.

[ThreeSadTigers · 12 February 2008]

Rumble Fish is a strange and hypnotic film that follows the character of Rusty James, a young punk growing up in a small sleepy mid-western town, shackled to a drunken father, a group of fickle friends, and continually in the shadow of his enigmatic brother, The Motorcycle Boy. The film, although seemingly set in the present day, uses the style of the old 50's melodramas to great effect, referencing the likes of Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One with it's stark, stylised black and white photography and it's bizarre compositions, whilst director Francis Ford Coppola uses a number of audio and visual effects familiar from his previous films, most notably, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now and One From the Heart, to give the film a strange, hypnotic and dreamlike quality that lingers throughout the film.

As with many of the other films that it references, the plot to Rumble Fish is quite simple, with Coppola building the film around the enigma of The Motorcycle Boy and around the ideas of family ties, small-town ennui and personal redemption. Although Rusty James is the film's central character, he is constantly overshadowed by his mysterious brother, who seems almost shell-shocked by whatever it is that he's witnessed during his years away from home. He is certainly one of the most interesting characters from any of Coppola's greater films, and is perfectly brought to life by Mickey Rourke in what is possibly his greatest performance ever (although, I think he's equally spellbinding in both Angel Heart and Year of the Dragon). Here, Rourke possess all the cool and feckless attitude of Brando and James Dean, but he also brings that damaged, somewhat alienated quality to role, which suggests so much about the characters and his past and also, about the possible future of the younger Rusty James.

The cinematic style of the film is exquisite, with Coppola invoking a real period feel through the use of photography and production design, which jars beautifully against Stuart Copeland's very 80's, very anachronistic score. The percussion suits the staccato editing style that Coppola uses in the first few scenes (which highlights the escalating boredom of the characters), whilst the use of time-lapse photography (inspired by the film Koyaanisqatsi, which Coppola produced) works perfectly in demonstrating the idea of time frittering away. The black and white photography works well, conveying the literally "black and white" view point of Rusty James, whilst the titular rumble fish (glimpsed through the window of the local pet store) are the only objects in the film that appear in colour (a nice metaphor). The sound design is purposely muddy, attempting to convey along with the images that skewed, slightly alienated view of the world that these characters possess, whilst Copeland's music also merges with the sound design to heighten the overall atmosphere of the film.

The acting is strong throughout, with Rourke coming across as the real standout, although the performance of Matt Dillon as the hotheaded and arrogant Rusty James is also impressive. The supporting cast features a wide array of cult performers and (then) unknowns that have now gone on to greater things, notably Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane, William Smith, Laurence Fishburne, Nicolas Cage, Tom Waits and Chris Penn. After Rumble Fish, Coppola would produce the problematic Cotton Club (possibly underrated), before cementing his reputation as something of a has-been with the third Godfather film, and throwaways like Jack, Peggy Sue Got Married and The Rainmaker. Because of this, Rumble Fish stands as something of a relic to the time when he was one of the most interesting American directors of his era... and is probably a film to rival the greatness of The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now.