In 1983, Francis Ford Coppola adapted S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel, 'The Outsiders', about growing up in 1950s-era rural Oklahoma, into a motion picture. In September 2005 (some 22 years later), the DVD of 'The Outsiders: The Complete Novel' was released with 22 minutes of cut scenes reinserted into the film as well as audio commentary and a new soundtrack.
Susie Hinton wrote 'The Outsiders' when she was a sophomore at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. Susie told fans, "This is where I went to high school. This is where I first became extremely aware of all the groups (or tribes) - the (better-off) Socs (pronounced 'soshes', short for 'socials') and the (misunderstood) Greasers. I wrote 'The Outsiders' while I was a junior here (Susie was 15 year-old at the time).
"I write it for a lot of reasons. First was, I just like to write. I love to read. And I write it because I was mad about the social situation (tribal divisions/rival gangs) with everybody getting into their little groups and staying in their little groups and not having friends outside their groups. So I took two extremes to write about the (poor North Zone gang) Greasers and the (wealthy South Zone gang) Socials. When I was in high school I saw a lot of rough things going on. There was none of this in the literature at the time so 'The Outsiders' was usually credited for starting the trend - realistic young adult fiction."
Working with Francis Ford Coppola, Susie Hinton recalled, "It's really fascinating because he took the book and he outlined the thought in one color, the action in one color, the dialog in one color and kind of just chop the book up into pieces like that and from there wrote the screenplay (some 14 drafts were reportedly written). It's just been amazing to me how this book keep speaking to each new generation because now parents are given their children the book and saying 'I really like this one when I was a kid, I bet you will too.'"
Susie Hinton wrote 'The Outsiders' when she was a sophomore at Will Rogers High School in Tulsa. Susie told fans, "This is where I went to high school. This is where I first became extremely aware of all the groups (or tribes) - the (better-off) Socs (pronounced 'soshes', short for 'socials') and the (misunderstood) Greasers. I wrote 'The Outsiders' while I was a junior here (Susie was 15 year-old at the time).
"I write it for a lot of reasons. First was, I just like to write. I love to read. And I write it because I was mad about the social situation (tribal divisions/rival gangs) with everybody getting into their little groups and staying in their little groups and not having friends outside their groups. So I took two extremes to write about the (poor North Zone gang) Greasers and the (wealthy South Zone gang) Socials. When I was in high school I saw a lot of rough things going on. There was none of this in the literature at the time so 'The Outsiders' was usually credited for starting the trend - realistic young adult fiction."
Working with Francis Ford Coppola, Susie Hinton recalled, "It's really fascinating because he took the book and he outlined the thought in one color, the action in one color, the dialog in one color and kind of just chop the book up into pieces like that and from there wrote the screenplay (some 14 drafts were reportedly written). It's just been amazing to me how this book keep speaking to each new generation because now parents are given their children the book and saying 'I really like this one when I was a kid, I bet you will too.'"
The making of the 1983 film started in 1972 when librarian Jo Ellen Misakian from the Lone Star School in Fresno, California passed the book to her 13-year-old son, ''I had been so frustrated because the kids, the boys especially, didn't read. Somehow, 'The Outsiders' caught on.'' Jo Ellen Misakian then started a petition to have 'The Outsiders' movie made. Some 324 children from kindergarten through the eighth grade signed the petition. A letter to Francis Ford Coppola ('The Godfather') at his New York address followed. Eventually Francis Ford Coppola secured backing from Warner Bros.
'The New York Times' continued, "Movies get made because they are sequels to successful movies or because horror has been selling tickets, and one might as well jump in before the slice-and-dice cycle is over. Movies emphatically do not get made because a group of seventh and eighth graders from a country school sends a letter to a director asking him to please make a movie from their favorite book." Jo Ellen Misakian remarked, ''I can't believe it happened. It is like a fairy tale. And the kids are all reading other books now - hoping they can find another one to make a movie.''
'The New York Times' continued, "Movies get made because they are sequels to successful movies or because horror has been selling tickets, and one might as well jump in before the slice-and-dice cycle is over. Movies emphatically do not get made because a group of seventh and eighth graders from a country school sends a letter to a director asking him to please make a movie from their favorite book." Jo Ellen Misakian remarked, ''I can't believe it happened. It is like a fairy tale. And the kids are all reading other books now - hoping they can find another one to make a movie.''
The song, 'Stay Gold', written and sung by Stevie Wonder was about "keeping true to yourself" or "preserve your innocence," which was originally used in Robert Frost's 1923 poem, 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. Of the DVD, Francis Ford Coppola had stated, "'The Outsiders' is a teenage epic, beloved by so many young people - junior high school students especially - and it's often their first important experience with literature. It's always bothered me that, in the rush to distribution, so much of the novel was edited out.
"Once, after showing the original version to my granddaughter's high school class, where so many kids asked 'but what about the other parts of the story?' - I resolved I would restore it to be the complete novel. I just felt the film would be better if it played much longer. Warner Bros. agreed with this thought, and we both became excited to bring the entire story to the screen. What I am most proud of in this new release is that the film is now the truest expression of the novel. And of course, that I was able to be responsive to these kids' letter."
"Once, after showing the original version to my granddaughter's high school class, where so many kids asked 'but what about the other parts of the story?' - I resolved I would restore it to be the complete novel. I just felt the film would be better if it played much longer. Warner Bros. agreed with this thought, and we both became excited to bring the entire story to the screen. What I am most proud of in this new release is that the film is now the truest expression of the novel. And of course, that I was able to be responsive to these kids' letter."
