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Nov 07, 2015Nursebob rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
Francis Ford Coppola doesn't miss a single rebellious teen cliché in this cornfed mash-up of "West Side Story" and "Rebel Without a Cause" starring an entire cast of Tiger Beat heartthrobs. In a dried up little Oklahoma town circa 1965 the upper crust "Socials" gang enjoy all the privileges and no-iron polyester they can handle while their arch-rivals from the other side of the tracks, the "Greasers", have to make do with torn blue jeans and domestic violence. When a young Greaser gets into serious trouble with the law it sets in motion a series of events leading to tragic epiphanies, unexpected heroics, and the requisite police shoot-out. Unfortunately Coppola is not John Hughes; C. Thomas Howell, who plays wistful poetry-spouting Greaser "Ponyboy", is not James Dean; his sidekick Ralph Macchio is not Sal Mineo; and the songs of Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, and Elvis Presley are not the teen anthems Coppola was aiming for. Hackneyed, dated, and overplayed to the point of satire. But the sunsets were lovely.