869 Rumble Fish

[domino harvey]

869 Rumble Fish

In this deeply personal tale of estrangement and reconciliation between two rebellious brothers, set in a dreamlike and timeless Tulsa, Francis Ford Coppola gives mythic dimensions to intimate, painful emotions. After releasing the classically styled The Outsiders earlier the same year, the director returned to the work of S. E. Hinton, this time with a self-described "art film for teenagers." Graced with a remarkable cast headed by Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, and Diane Lane; haunting black-and-white visuals that hark back to German expressionism and forward to Coppola's own Tetro; and a powerful, percussive score by Stewart Copeland that underscores the movie's romantic fatalism, Rumble Fish pulsates throughout with genuine love and dread.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED EDITION:

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Stephen H. Burum and approved by director Francis Ford Coppola, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Alternate remastered 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
• Audio commentary featuring Coppola
• New interviews with Coppola, author and coscreenwriter S. E. Hinton, associate producer Roman Coppola, and actors Matt Dillon and Diane Lane
• New conversation between Burum and production designer Dean Tavoularis
• Pieces from 2005 about the film's score and production
• Interviews from 1983 with Dillon, Lane, actor Vincent Spano, and producer Doug Claybourne
• French television interview from 1984 with actor Mickey Rourke
• Locations: Looking for Rusty James, a 2013 documentary by Alberto Fuguet about the impact of Rumble Fish
• New piece about the film's existentialist elements
• "Don't Box Me In" music video
• Deleted scenes, with a new introduction by Coppola
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Glenn Kenny

[knives]

Here's as good a place as any to mention that Hinton now spends her days writing Supernatural fanfic on Twitter.

[Ribs]

I'm really impressed by what Criterion's put together for this edition - if they must do a MoC Double-Dip, this is the way to do it.

[Rupert Pupkin]

I have the Eureka Steelbook but will buy for sure this new release- the bonus/supplements looks great.
And this time, my weakness won't be because there's Diane Lane on the artwork (one of those dream-sequences from Rumble Fish....) (why the hell they didn't put in Diane Lane on the cover, it would have increased of 300% the sell of this title!)...

I wonder if the transfer will be somehow different to the Eureka UK release... apparently yes...? [-o< "New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Stephen H. Burum and approved by director Francis Ford Coppola, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray"
I already had a previous Blu-Ray before (a b00tleg I believe)

[xoconostle]

This title was long on my CC wish list although before the wacky cartoon I didn't think it'd actually happen. I like the cover's Rusty James / Motorcycle Boy motif. It evokes the film's lapse dissolves and moodiness beautifully.

But why didn't they include Sofia Coppola on the cover?

In all seriousness I'm hoping the "More!" supplements include an interview with Stewart Copeland. His time-is-running-out score for the film was one of the best of the '80s IMHO.

[Ashirg]

In all seriousness I'm hoping the "More!" supplements include an interview with Stewart Copeland. His time-is-running-out score for the film was one of the best of the '80s IMHO.

Stewart Copeland is part of that "Piece from 2005 about the film’s score"

[dwk]

Looks like this will also have a new interview with Matt Dillon

[beamish13]

Nice. I wish they had gotten him into a room with S.E. Hinton, considering that he's been in more adaptations of her work than any other actor.

[The Narrator Returns]

They added interviews with Dillon and Diane Lane.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver

Criterion's Blu-ray visuals are decidedly different from the Masters of Cinema image transfer.

[swo17]

Uh, wrong link.

[FrauBlucher]

bluray.com

[DFR]

I just watched this for the first time last night, having only seen bits and pieces on television years ago... Beforehand, I was thinking about Coppola's other films from the 1980s, and I sort of regretted the blind buy and hesitated to open the wrapping. But ultimately my wife and I watched it and we found it kind of amazing. I'm not a crazy about The Outsiders; it's good, just not great. This was far superior on almost every level.

The transfer appeared gorgeous (though I have no frame of reference for how the film should look). Stephen H. Burum's cinematography was exceptional throughout, framing scenes in a way that supported Rusty James' romanticized, almost musical-esque view of his town as a throwback gangland. I feel like the film probably borrowed a lot from West Side Story in that sense. Stewart Copeland's music was playful and maintained the story's urgency. The performances were strong all-around, while discovering all the familiar faces in the cast was fun (Cage, Penn, Hopper, Waits and, of course, Larry Fishburne). It was stylish, artistic, and overall, I thought the formal presentation and narrative aligned quite well.

I seem to remember this film getting some flak on the forum when it was first announced. I'm curious to hear the thoughts of someone who doesn't like it...

[jegharfangetmigenmyg]

In short, I thought it was too pretentious. Like Coppola was trying the make European art film, but not in a good way, like with The Conversation. To me it seemed stilted, as if he had "thought it to death". It's not like it's complete failure or anything, I just felt like seeing a movie trying too hard to be something that it just isn't. I can't put a finger on anything specific, it's the whole of the film; everything from Copeland's score to the weird angle cinematography that made it stand out as a somewhat experimental work, but not successfully so. I also found it hard to be captured by the story, maybe because the technical side of the film was attracting so much attention. Don't know if that made sense.

[DFR]

In short, I thought it was too pretentious...

I definitely get that. And I agree with you that Coppola was "trying" really hard and putting a lot of thought into every composition no matter how small. For me, the mannered and self-conscious style reflected the stage or romanticized era on/in which Dillion's character sees himself, so it's supposed to be affected and artificial. It worked for me intellectually and emotionally. Then again, I get your reaction too; having to think too much about style takes you out of the film. There's certainly an element here of Coppola wanting the audience to know how creative and artistic he's being. That makes perfect sense. But then, that's sort of his thing. I think that element is evident in most of his work.

So you felt the same way about The Conversation too, then? That I can remember, there are certainly fewer conceptual artistic choices in that film, aside from the ending.

[Roger Ryan]

For what it's worth (and I don't know if Coppola repeats this info in the extras), but the director repeatedly referred to Rumble Fish as a "art film for teenagers" when doing press for the initial theatrical release. I think he might have called it a "Citizen Kane for teenagers" as well which struck me as fairly condescending to teenagers.

[calculus entrophy]

So you felt the same way about The Conversation too, then? That I can remember, there are certainly fewer conceptual artistic choices in that film, aside from the ending.

Just MHO, the Conversation was to audio engineers (my background) what Rumblefish was to cinematographers. And I agree it is indulgent, and it's fine by me. Yes, they fetishize the technology, but there are plenty of other movies to watch if it gets to be too much. But I'm biased.... (bad pun).

[movielocke]

This is a gorgeous film, just beautifully shot, beautifully staged, wonderful visual performances from all involved.

But that dialog, Oy!

I'm not sure if it's the repetition of Rusty-James in the opener, the on-the-nose phrasings, or the amalgam of clashing accents, particularly Dillon's Stallone/Philly sounding accent, but the dialog grated on me constantly for the first forty five minutes or so. At that point I gave up being irritated the film was so particular to Tulsa and just decided it was going more allegorical "our town" anywhere-s (newjoisey?) USA vibe. Mickey Rourke is pretty amazing throughout, and consistently was my favorite aspect of the film, even if he does seem too old, "like really old, like thirty-five."

It's a really cool film, yo, these guys are so authentic, yo, just no one fucking understands them (except Trump), yo.

I've never been hip enough to "get" (or care) about films or books fetishizing alienation--that old dead nag "searching for meaning in a meaningless world"--so while I am down with all the anti-realism visuals and stylizations, when a work dives into the inherent pretentiousness of SFMIAMW I get all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[movielocke]

(and holy shit, there may be too many, way too many, features on this disc. jesus christ it's intimidating to see what looks like six hours or more of features, I'm half-scared to start watching them because I inevitably get sucked into watching all of them, and there's like three or four films I could watch instead.

that is to say, is any of the infinite interviews or featurettes particularly standout that I should sample?

[Rayon Vert]

This is a gorgeous film, just beautifully shot, beautifully staged, wonderful visual performances from all involved.

It's been a while but I didn't care for this film at all. There’s daring and originality here but unfortunately there’s something very gratuitous and incoherent about why this story should merit such treatment.

I agree with you about the dialogue. But to me it shows the same sort of artificiality in places than The Outsiders. There other foolish things in the film, like making the young Diane Lane character into some sort of noir femme. The Dillon character is also ultimately less complex and interesting (more dumb) than in The Outsiders. Despite all this an interest is sparked in the earlier parts but everything falls apart and disappoints in the second half.

[beamish14]

This is a gorgeous film, just beautifully shot, beautifully staged, wonderful visual performances from all involved.

It's been a while but I didn't care for this film at all. There’s daring and originality here but unfortunately there’s something very gratuitous and incoherent about why this story should merit such treatment.

I agree with you about the dialogue. But to me it shows the same sort of artificiality in places than The Outsiders. There other foolish things in the film, like making the young Diane Lane character into some sort of noir femme. The Dillon character is also ultimately less complex and interesting (more dumb) than in The Outsiders. Despite all this an interest is sparked in the earlier parts but everything falls apart and disappoints in the second half.

I've waited for years to see this film, as I wanted to see it for the first time in 35mm, and I finally had the opportunity to do so last night. As a visceral, emotional, and visual experience, it's absolutely phenomenal. The appeal of Hinton's novel, and the character of Rusty James as he appears in the film, is his confusion and the difficulty he has with articulating his problems ("You're smart. Just not word smart."). Only 17, he's already nostalgic for an era that has slipped away (essentially the events of The Outsiders), and every character around him is anxious over aging, missed opportunities. I love how there is no clearly defined timeframe within the film as well, with artifacts and clothing from different decades appearing together and ready to blow away into the ubiquitous smoke hazes. Stewart Copeland's completely singular and brilliant score, with his trademark rimshot beats against his snare, echoes nervous tapping on a school desk in some cues. The pool sex party is clearly indebted to The Last Picture Show, another often somber look at teenagers in a dusty town that can't bottle their sturm und drang.

Alex Cox noted on his blog that Universal quietly re-released both this and Repo Man around 1985, with some executives recognizing their artistic merit, and how difficult they were to sell to audiences at the time.