This film confirmed - if any further confirmation was needed after The Godfather - that few people had an eye for promising youngsters sharper than Francis Coppola (and Fred Roos of course). It's a remarkable line up of names - C Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Swayze, Cruise, Estevez, Rob Lowe. Watching them in this movie the one you'd think least likely for stardom was Cruise, so immersed in his role as an Okie cracker does he go; Estevez also looks pure character actor with his chubby cheeks and ducktail hair. Swayze is the one who leaps off the screen as a possible leading man.
The bulk of the film's running time actually goes to Macchio and Howell, with Dillon getting the juiciest support part. It's high end melodrama full of tormented yet sensitive kids, whose problems are mostly caused by dead/neglectful parents and rich kids, hunky juvenile delinquents who just need a cuddle; there's a justified murder, thugs reciting Robert Frost and reading Gone with the Wind, lots of masculine hugging, self sacrifice and the deux ex machina of an orphanage burning down.
For the most part this is very effective - beautifully shot and designed, for the most part strongly acted (Diane Lane is very winning in the one decent sized female part), with a strong sense of atmosphere. Matt Dillon's excesses could have been curtailed, some of the dialogue clunks, and the theme song is terrible. But it's made with conviction and sincerity and some bits of it eg Macchio in the hospital, are heartbreaking.
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