A wonderful essay by Sarah Bunting (Sars by another name) about The Outsiders – and how it works almost better as a silent film … here’s just a taste of her essay, but go read the whole thing:
And in case you’ve failed thus far to grasp The Tragedy, he’s dying in the street, shot down by the uncaring Tulsa PD for caring too deeply about his dead friendâand people, Matt Dillon is dying the hell out of it, crawling ass-up on his elbows, face torqued all out of shape, flailing over onto his back. It’s an ugly bit of acting, but if you subtract the campy “Noooooooooo!” and “He’s just a kid!” ululating of the other Greasers from the equation, it’s effective, even eerie.
how GORGEOUS was he as Dally. out of control. funny, I am starting the outsiders with my students on monday.
Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
her early leaf’s a flower
but only so an hour
then leaf subsides to leaf
so eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay
Jean – that’s amazing!!
Hey – call me.
OMG, you’re great! How serendipidous to discover you…..thank you for you’re words, they’re golden….
(Hey, Sheila–there go our parentless characters again.) This movie was required viewing for me in my young adult literature course last fall. Interesting idea of the “silent music video” as MTV was launched in the ’80s and had a profound influence on film and entertainment. I’d never read the book, so finally I understood why when I played dolls with my friend, she wanted to call the male doll “Ponyboy.” She had an older sister (by five or six years, I think) and two older brothers, so she got a lot of exposure to teen things.
BTW Sars is one of my favorite TWOP contributors. (“why couldn’t Teen Angel just open the damn door and get out?”)