The Outsiders: The Complete Novel - 2 Disc Special Edition DVD Review:

Francis Ford Coppola had not read The Outsiders until a classroom of children sent him a letter asking him to make it into a movie. Coppola read it and the rest is history. Over twenty years later it is amazing to see the level of talent that was involved in the film. The young cast was filled with actors who went on to become huge stars, and this great film must have helped a great deal. Now the film has been restored and re-cut. Coppola also changed the score and updated the entire film to make it even more powerful.

The Outsiders is a classic story in many ways, a film which may even seem similar to many other gang films like West Side Story. There are Greasers, which are lower class tough kids, and the rich kids that they fight with. It is about gangs, but it is also about class wars. Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darrel are three brothers who live together alone since their parents died. Their family is the Greasers, and they all stick together. When an accident occurs, Ponyboy has to hide out from the cops for a while.

The Outsiders: The Complete Novel is 22 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and it feels that way. The film is still powerful and compelling, but it definitely is slowed down considerably by the added footage and it becomes a more thoughtful film. The new score, which is predominately filled with rare Elvis tracks, manages to tone down the melodramatic qualities of the story which are there otherwise.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Staying Gold: A Look Back at The Outsiders
As well as examining the way the film was made, this featurette takes us to a private screening of the new version with members of the cast. It is great to watch these veteran actors come together at Coppola’s place to have dinner and watch their early performances, which showed in all certainty why they became successful.

S.E. Hinton on Locations in Tulsa
Author S.E. Hinton was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma and she wrote The Outsiders while she was a junior in high school. This featurette shows the locations used in the film, as shown by Hinton, who was highly involved in the making of the film. Some features on locations can be boring, but because the locations in which the scenes were filmed also happened to be the same locations that inspired the book, there is a great deal more fascinating.
The Casting of The Outsiders
The casting process Coppola used for The Outsiders was completely innovative and original, perhaps one of the first people to use a video camera and have an all day session with the actors reading together. It is fascinating to watch all of the people who read for the roles, as well as seeing some of the actors in the film read for other roles.

Readings
Some of the actors from the film read sections from the book describing or concerning their character. For fans of the book, this could be interesting.

NBC News Today Segment: The Outsiders Started by School Petition
This short news segment doesn’t have any new information that isn’t already in the other featurettes, but it is still a great little addition. It shows footage of some of the actors visiting the school which sent the letter asking for the book to become a film.

Additional Scenes
There are ten minutes of additional scenes, which did not even make the cut the second time around. Most of the scenes are more extended scenes, some with extra voiceover explaining scenes. The scenes are great for fans of the book that want more.

There is also a theatrical trailer and introductions and commentary by Coppola, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, ob Lowe, Ralph Macchio and Patrick Swayze.



Ryan Izay