Outsiders…

I was recently “tagged” for something a little different by Gill of RealWeegieMidget Reviews. Thanks Gill.

The rules (as taken over from Gill as taken over from Rebecca of Taking up Room) are as follows (and very simple to explain):

• Nominate one or more people to review the film or films of your choice. Or you can request they review something from a certain year, genre, or star. Everyone can review the same thing, or you can request each person cover something different. As long as it’s something they haven’t written about yet, you’re good.

• Nominees are allowed to request a different pick for whatever reason no more than five times. Stuff happens. We all know it.

• Nominees must thank the person who nominated them and provide a link their blog.

• Nominees may nominate others to keep the tag going. Picking the person who nominated them is allowed, or they can nominate someone else. Maybe both.

• All participants need to include these rules in their post, whether they’re nominees or picking nominees.

• All participants should use the “Pick My Movie” banner or something similar in their posts.

• Have fun!

With that out the way, let me go on. The movie I was tagged for was “A Brat Pack Movie”. Well Gill, I’m so glad this is what I was given because…actually, I’d never seen one of those classified as such (granted, Young Guns and Young Guns II I’ve obviously seen but with it starring only one Brat Pack Member i.e. Emilio Estevez, I don’t see this as truly counting). So, off for some reading I went. And found that the term was first used in a magazine story and ultimately to be a core member of The Brat Pack meant having starred in either St. Elmo’s Fire or The Breakfast Club. The former movie didn’t really appeal (reading the plot outline) and I’m sorry but I recently started watching the latter one but somehow didn’t get very far (maybe I should try again?) so, off I went to find another option. To stumble upon The Outsiders (1983).

So glad I did. Totally not what I expected. Well, to be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect but definitely not such a serious movie.

It deals with the “two sides of the track” i.e. the Greasers and the Socs (Socials). The Greasers come from broken families or those who just struggle to get by/aren’t socialites or spoilt kids. But, that doesn’t mean that the kids from these families don’t have ambitions. Yes, some have ended up with not such a clean track record while others are really acting out in the only way they know. Or, in the way that keeps them liked or feeling as belonging.

Among them are Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) who, after various incidents, find themselves in a tumble with the Socs. Having passed out from a near drowning, Ponyboy comes to, finding Johnny holding a knife and a dead Soc. The two boys go into hiding but there another tragic incident, seeing the boys trying to do good, brings more sad consequences. I won’t give away all the details because I’d hate to spoil it – I was so glad I had no idea what I was in for when watching this. All I can add is that each of the other Greasers are trying to get by in their own way, given how they have been brought up or the hand that life has dealt them. This brings up some tender, sad, tragic, anger-inducing and hopeful moments/scenes, each in their own way matching the boy it affects (and I’m not saying “deserving” at all…just that it all makes sense, be it good or bad).

Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane (I barely recognised her) and Tom Cruise all have fantastic roles in this coming of age movie. It is a really good movie, but then what else is to be expected from director Francis Ford Coppola.

So, I know that the pool of bloggers I know is quite small and have already been nominated by Gill or be Rebecca, so, instead of us all pinging back and forth, I’m going to set out the nomination: any “classical, spaghetti or epic style” Western because we watch way too few westerns these days. So, “modern” ones like “No Country for Old Men”, the alien/fantasy ones like “Cowboys & Aliens”, Horror, Space, Sci-Fi etc are all excluded from this Tag.