The public weren't ready to embrace this at the time but looking back it's become a Coppola fan favourite. The artiness of a treatment I think annoyed many back then but now is exciting and fresh - the Stuart Copeland score, the back and white photography, arty camera angles.
Matt Dillon is effective as Rusty James the young, thick wanna be gangster. Mickey Rourke is electric as his elder brother Motorcycle Boy. Coppola stepped up another notch when working with a writer he respected - Puzo, Milius - and that's the case with SE Hinton.
Dillon's fellow gang members include Vincent Spano (nerd who never seems to do as much as you think), Chris Penn and Nicolas Cage. Diane Lane is his gal, Sofia Coppola her sister. William Smith a cop who hassles them, Tom Waits runs a pool hall, Dennis Hopper is the dad, Larry Fishburne is a townsperson.
The last third of this didn't quite work for me - instead of building it seemed to dissipate and Rourke's death seemed throw away. But it was always interesting, strong acting, stimulating.
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