The Outsiders is a 1983 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. The film was released on March 25, 1983. Jo Ellen Misakian, a librarian at Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, California, and her students were responsible for inspiring Coppola to make the film.[2]

The film is noted for its cast of up-and-coming stars, including C. Thomas Howell (who garnered a Young Artist Award), Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane. The film helped spark the Brat Pack genre of the 1980s. Both Lane and Dillon went on to appear in Coppola's related film Rumble Fish; Dillon and Estevez also starred in Tex (1982). Emilio Estevez went on to write and star in That Was Then... This Is Now (1985), the only S. E. Hinton film adaptation not to star Matt Dillon.

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, most notably the performances, particularly Macchio being singled out for praise, and performed well at the box office, grossing $33.7 million on a $10.0 million budget.

PODCAST NOTES

Peter O'Connor joins Jason to talk about his favorite movie, 'The Outsiders' (0:01), 'The Outsiders' emotional pitch and tone and Coppola's intentions setting out in capturing a certain tenor of emotional height in the movie (3:00), Matt Dillon as Dally intro scene (3:00), C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy intro scene (4:23), Tom Cruise and whether or not he nailed the accent in the movie (5:00), the infamous audition process for the film (6:00), Drive-In scene with C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane and Michelle Meyrink (6:30), Michelle Meyrink as Jordan in hilarious bathroom clip from 'Real Genius' with Gabriel Jarrett (8:00), Cast members age during filming (9:00), Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business', 'All The Right Moves' and 'The Outsiders' all in 1983 (9:30), Peter O'Connor's acting and career discussion of on-set behavioral norms changing over time, including the infamous Christian Bale caught-on-audio outburst on the 'Terminator' set (10:00), Auditioning for 'The Outsiders' including audio from some other actors' auditions (10:30), Rob Lowe on the audition process (12:00), Coppola's Zoetrope Studios 'One From The Heart' trailer with Teri Garr, Frederick Forrest, Tom Waits, Nastassia Kinski and Raul Julia (15:00), Peter emotionally defends 'Godfather 3' (16:30), the amazing story of how an elementary-school teacher caused S.E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders' to get made as a movie (18:30), Coppola's filming of the entire 'Outsiders' movie on one of the first VHS cameras (19:00), Greaser cast members vs soc cast members anecdotes (20:00), Peter's blue-collar acting chip on his shoulder (24:00), clip of the Gold poem scene with Johnny and Ponyboy from 'The Outsiders' (27:00), Panavision filming techniques used in 'The Outsiders' (28:00), Church fire scene and male teacher hilarious denial (30:00), S.E. Hinton's backstory writing 'The Outsiders' (31:00), Alternative Casting for 'The Outsiders' featuring Anthony Michael Hall, Kate Capshaw, Helen Slater, Val Kilmer, Mickey Rourke, Glenn Scarpelli, Vincent Spano, Adam Baldwin (35:00), 'My Bodyguard' scene with the incredible Adam Baldwin, Scott Baio, Dennis Quaid (36:30), Darren Dalton with C. Thomas Howell pre-rumble car talk scene from 'The Outsiders' (38:00), Leif Garrett scene from 'The Outsiders' (42:00) Peter's journey to acting (45:00), Peter's side hustle driving Al Pacino for 10 years in NYC (46:30), Matt Dillon in the brilliant 'Over The Edge' from 1979 (53:00), Matt Dillon's career including 'Crash', 'To Die For', 'Singles, and 'Drugstore Cowboy' (57:30), Peter telling Al Pacino he's the reason Peter became an actor (1:11:00), Phillip Seymour Hoffman as  an influence on Peter; as probably the greatest actor of his generation and his great appearances in 'The Great Lebowski', 'Moneyball', 'Along Came Polly' and 'Charlie Wilson's War' (1:12:00), Peter meeting Meryl Streep in his underwear (1:15:00), 'Stay Gold, Ponyboy' 1:16:00), the 'Complete Novel' version of 'The Outsiders (1:18:00), Peter's 'Latch Key TV' choices, with 'The Incredible Hulk', 'The Dukes Of Hazzard', and 'The Muppet Show' (1:20:00).