THE OUTSIDERS - 4K UHD Review

[AndyDursin]

THE OUTSIDERS
7/10

Distributed through the Warner Archive is the sterling new 4K restoration of Francis Ford Coppola’s THE OUTSIDERS (92/115 mins., 1983, PG/PG-13; Warner), his first of two adaptations of classic “young adult” bestsellers by S.E. Hinton, and by far the more commercially successful. A tale of Oklahoma teens hanging out and getting into trouble in mid ’60s Tulsa, the movie embraced a stylish cinematic aesthetic (a la “Rebel Without a Cause”) and captivated audiences with its roster of young and/or future stars: Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Diane Lane among others.

In going over my columns through these many years, I was struck by the fact that I never reviewed any home video release of “The Outsiders,” which was theatrically released in a 92-minute version and then reconstructed by Coppola in 2005 under the moniker “The Complete Novel.” While that version’s 30 minutes of additional footage are mostly excellent and further flesh out the narrative, sadly, those alterations are almost totally negated by Coppola essentially tossing out all of his father Carmine’s original orchestral score in the process.

Adding further insult is that Coppola replaced most of his dad’s intentionally-melodramatic cues with blaring period rock tracks, some of which ruin scenes altogether (such as the burning church sequence). To be fair, Carmine’s score was criticized by some at the time of its release since it tried to evoke Max Steiner-like swells of emotion, but I felt it made the movie’s message clear and helped the glossy visual design of the movie — it was a vital part of Francis’ overall artistic statement and, dramatically, it’s infinitely superior to the “jukebox underscore” that detracts from the movie’s cinematic “revision.”

The good news is that this 4K UHD release of “The Outsiders” produced by Zoetrope and available through Warner Home Video (Studio Canal has it overseas) is that both versions have been afforded the HDR10 4K restorative process here. This means, for the first time since DVD, audiences will have the original 92-minute theatrical cut of the movie available to them on one disc, with the “Complete Novel” recut on another platter. Both transfers look spectacular with their use of HDR and high level of detail, with 5.1 DTS MA audio on-hand for both versions plus a few all-new extras. These include fresh interviews with Coppola and cinematographer Stephen H. Burum, plus a look at the restoration and several newly unearthed deleted scenes. These extras are in addition to numerous “legacy extras” from the previous DVD/Blu-Ray, with a retrospective featurette among those supplements. A Digital HD copy rounds out the release.