Rumble Fish

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Rumble Fish

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Rumble Fish

Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper, Diana Scarwid

Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.

Id: 10902528

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Rumble Fish Recent Reviews
  • bradwest
    January 29, 2009
    bradwest
    Not big on teen gangs unless they're The Warriors. Especially not a fan when they're supposed to be sensitive girly-men inside. Some nice camera moves here don't quite salvage this, but make it watchable.
  • shortcartoonist
    January 17, 2009
    shortcartoonist
    With some of the most impressive visuals that I have ever witnessed in film and a European inspired design sense, Rumble Fish is a unique, engrossing, and highly memorable film. It could easily be argued that its style tends to detract from the characters and any relevant themes ...( read more)in the film, but it instead amplifies the need for insight and concentration as we wade through Coppola's beautiful noirish visuals. There isn't a single frame from the picture that couldn't be considered instantly iconic imagery.
  • hobster1
    November 26, 2008
    hobster1
    Francis Ford Coppola's follow up to The Outsiders was a critical and commercial flop when originally released in 1983. Panned for being over-stylized and lacking a clear narrative, audiences shunned the film. Yet it is those artistic touches that set the film apart. Bla...( read more)ck and white cinematography, which recalls French New Wave cinema and German Expressionism, never looked so beautiful. In fact, this surreal film more resembles life in the mid-50s, despite being set in the modern day. Stellar cast adds to this visually arresting teen drama about streets gangs and sibling relationships.
  • FangsFirst
    April 11, 2008
    FangsFirst
    I first watched this months and months ago, then re-purchased it when an edition with special features became reasonably priced, and decided this time I'd watch it when I wasn't in prime danger of falling fast asleep due to exhaustion. I found the whole thing very interesting sty...( read more)listically but simply could not find the energy, the first time, to sit through it--or anything--and stay awake.

    Unsurprisingly as it, too, is based on a novel by S.E. Hinton, Rumble Fish was directed by Francis Ford Coppola almost immediately after he did The Outsiders using even shared cast members. Beyond that, though, it bears almost no resemblance to that film, which has engendered a strong teenage cult following. Rumble Fish is, instead, an arthouse movie in every sense--I was pleased to note other sources mentioned connections to German expressionism and French new wave--being filmed on high-contrast black and white with dashes of colour--very rare ones--and using an extremely unusual, rhythm-based score by Police percussionist Stewart Copeland, and unusual angles and sets to boot (furthering the two connections I previously referred to). Rusty James (Matt Dillon, fresh from The Outsiders) is a high school delinquent trying to live up to the massive image of his older brother, "The Motorcycle Boy" (Mickey Rourke) who has not been seen for quite some time. He begins by getting in a fight--one he is informed of by Midget (good ol' Larry Fishburne*)--with one Biff Wilcox (Glenn Withrow, also coming from The Outsiders), where he recruits his friends (including director's nephew Nicolas "Cage" Coppola and Chris Penn) and "half the town" to join him. We immediately know something of his character when he goes instead to see Patty (Diane Lane...guess what she did last?), whose little sister (played by "Domino," the old screen name of Sofia Coppola, who manages better here than later when she blows a gaping hole of terrible acting into Coppola's third Godfather flick) tries to interfere. He finally makes it to the fight, which takes place to the most pounding part of Copeland's score in a lightning-flashing train station with rotating shots and a mass of confusion and violence that is interrupted by the sudden reappearance of the Motorcycle Boy.

    A strange and possibly confusing film, the central concepts are not easy to penetrate because we are seeing the film through the Motorcycle Boy's colourblind eyes, but we are following the steps of Rusty James, and this conflict of understood reality from Rourke's character and mistaken reality from Dillon's can blind the viewer to the nature of the world we are seeing, which is nothing like Rusty James remembers, even though much of the film has everyone encouraging, supporting, or at least not disagreeing with his impression of it. As it happens, Rusty is unaware of the fact that his brother is not his eventual future, but in fact a misguided soul who has the skill to do almost anything, but has nothing that he wants to do--nothing to really aspire to, which the Motorcycle Boy can see, but Rusty cannot. He is not as clever or well-thought as his brother, gliding recklessly into and out of relationships and situations--be it a fight or a terrible relationship with Patty.

    The style of this film is definitely nothing you can simply ignore, but at the same time feels exactly right. While I've always understood the new wave of French cinema--of which I've seen no films, it should be noted--to have a strong focus on scenes where "nothing happens" visibly, long, lingering shots and an air of pretension that ruins any sense of disbelief, I'm inclined to believe that it is more like what is visible here instead--a pacing that matches the action taking place, even if that action is no action, with the truth of the situation being the effect of what's occurring on the character we're following, in this case Rusty, and that effect may be slow to grow on him, and it will take us just as long to see and experience it. And the black and white choice seems absolutely correct; there is no impression that it was chosen for no reason, or that the film as it appears is not served by this choice, it most certainly is, and other than the obvious connection to the Motorcycle Boy's own impaired view, it feels exactly right to portray the world and way things are--I felt no particular desire to see the "actual" appearance of things (ie, in colour) because it didn't seem necessary or appropriate for it to be there.

    Copeland's score has been called both dated and irritating, but it's nothing of the sort--though I can see how others might feel that way. It's unusual, it's got a stronger emphasis on the percussion than most scores, but this seems to make sense in light of Copeland's background, including a renown for polyrhythms and the like. It fits the mood and visuals without exception--not a surprise, I suppose, since he used a device to do this which was new at the time called a "MuSync"--and complement or enhance them much of the time.

    This is definitely an arthouse film in that pretentious sense, but it doesn't have an overbearing, condescending or alienating pretentious sense, and is quite worth seeing, but an open mind or an understanding of its approach are, I think, very necessary to said viewing.

    Oh, and lest I forget: Tom Waits plays Benny, who runs the billiard hall/diner that much of the action takes place in. He has an interestingly subdued, caricaturization in his performance, seemingly pulled back from the action and almost mumbling (albeit clearly and audibly) as if he is the voice of adulthood that is completely unheard by our protagonist--quite appropriately. He does have the most repulsive habit--accentuated by the foley artist, I'm convinced--in the world, though--chewing gum, and doing it loudly. This sets my teeth on edge, but seems appropriate to the character all the same.

    *Sorry, he IS still crediting himself as that at this time, and I think it's funny regardless and always call him that.
  • pier007
    February 14, 2008
    pier007
    Mickey Rourke's laid-back charismatic attitude and Stephen H. Burum's hypnotic photography are the key elements of this striking surreal moral tale.
  • eryri
    December 20, 2009
    eryri
    Nice film shot in black and white of a young thug called Rusty James who tries to emulate his older brother The Motorcycle Boy's cool persona. Francis Ford Coppola's cult hit has a great cast. It feels almost like an experimental art movie. If you want to see something different ...( read more)from the usual run of the mill movies give this a try.
  • DrMaverickRanger
    December 7, 2009
    DrMaverickRanger
    Like my favourite "Bratpack" movie of all time, "The Outsider's", it was also written and directed by S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola respectively, and also starred Matt Dillon and Diane Lane.
    The similarities end there, however, with this film having a deeper and more meani...( read more)ngful storyline; incredibly superior direction and cinematography; and acting that far surpasses that of the young and inexperienced (albeit very very good-looking ;) "Bratpackers" of the former movie.
    Matt Dillon is awesome as Rusty James, the fickle and insecure young thug who craves nothing more than to live up to the reputation of his brother, the legendary Motorcycle Boy, whose regret and reform are portrayed with great depth and darkness by Mickey Rourke. Dennis Hopper is his usual amazing self as the boys' alcoholic dad, and there are many more memorable performances by people like Vincent Spano, Chris Penn, Nicolas Cage, and Laurence Fishburne.
    My favourite performance, however, was that of Tom Waits, who seems to outshine his costars in every film he is in - in this film he also came up with a spine-tingling, bone-chilling quote, which really made me think -

    "Time is a funny thing. Time is a very peculiar item. You see when you're young, you're a kid, you got time, you got nothing but time. Throw away a couple of years here, a couple of years there... it doesn't matter. You know. The older you get you say, "Jesus, how much I got? I got thirty-five summers left." Think about it. Thirty-five summers."
  • Phonex
    November 4, 2009
    Phonex
    Nice try about youngters. Early tip about Coppola's declane.
  • Lemure
    November 2, 2009
    Lemure
    In the hands of some European wannabe director this would be a dull black and white noir. In Coppola's hands it's a mesmerising film with possibly the greatest use of black and white cinematography, plus a great score that keeps the film energised and stops drag. It's also the be...( read more)st I've seen Rourke. A must-see for film lovers. A deserved classic.
  • bigdaddydaryl
    October 15, 2009
    bigdaddydaryl
    What was Francis Ford Coppola thibnking when he made this movie? This was crap right from the start.Talk about over acting,This was one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time.The only cool thing about this film is that you get to see some great actors when they were youn...( read more)g,and before they became big.stupid movie!
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