Warner Bros., StudioCanal and American Zoetrope are restoring Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 American coming-of-age drama The Outsiders in 4K and releasing it in an extended edition, The Outsiders: The Complete Novel, theatrically and on 4K Ultra HD disc.
Created to give fans more of the action that took place in S.E. Hinton’s celebrated book, Coppola’s latest, definitive version includes new music, as well as several scenes cut from the theatrical version which were reconstructed from original camera negatives, according to the studio.
Warner Bros. will release The Outsiders: The Complete Novel theatrically in the United States and Canada beginning Sept. 26. Warner Bros. will also make both it and the original version available in a 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition and on digital platforms starting Nov. 9. It will be available on HBO Max Nov. 16 and will also air this fall on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
“The Outsiders: The Complete Novel came about after meeting students over the years who repeatedly asked me why certain scenes from S.E. Hinton’s wonderful book were missing from the theatrical version,” Coppola said in a statement. “These questions reminded about my inspiration for the film — in 1980, a contingent of 12- to 14-year-old students wrote and asked me to make it. I listened to those young fans back then, and I continue to listen to young people now and believe in their opinions, so this complete film version of the novel is for them.”
Studiocanal is handling the release internationally and will release The Outsiders: The Complete Novel theatrically in the United Kingdom, and will make both it and the original version available in a 4K Ultra HD Collector’s Edition and on Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms Nov. 8.
Based on the 1967 best-selling young-adult novel by S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders starred then-unknown young actors in many of their first break-through roles, including C. Thomas Howell (E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial), Rob Lowe (“The West Wing,” “Parks and Recreation”), Emilio Estevez (St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club, Young Guns), Matt Dillon (Crash, There’s Something About Mary), Tom Cruise (Top Gun, “Mission: Impossible” series, Jerry Maguire), Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Point Break, Ghost), Ralph Macchio (The Karate Kid, “Cobra Kai”) and Diane Lane (Unfaithful, Under the Tuscan Sun).
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The film takes place in ’60s Oklahoma, centering on two rival teen gangs: the “Greasers,” a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town, and the “Socs,” short for Socials, who are the “West-side rich kids.” The life of teenager Ponyboy (Howell) is changed forever one night when a scuffle with his friend Johnny (Macchio) inadvertently leads to the death of a rival gang member, and the boys are forced to go into hiding to avoid arrest. Soon Ponyboy and Johnny, along with Dallas (Dillon) and their other Greaser buddies, must contend with the consequences of their violent lives. While some Greasers try to achieve redemption, others meet tragic ends.
“For The Outsiders: The Complete Novel as well as the original theatrical version, we wanted to create and maintain the highest level of visual quality possible for these restorations,” said James Mockoski, film archivist and restoration supervisor at American Zoetrope. “We took the unusual path of locating all the various elements that went into creating the film’s most elaborate visual effects sequences and re-scanned them. Luckily, Mr. Coppola is an archivist at heart and he kept every piece of film he shot, so we were able to unify scenes from the film using the original camera negative as much as possible. It was important to Mr. Coppola to give this release its best quality presentation, and no one has ever seen this film looking as beautiful and pristine as it does now.”