Rumble Fish, 1983
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenwriter: S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola
Music by: Steward Copeland
Photography by: Stephen H. Burum B&W
Genre: Crime/Drama
Main actors:
Matt Dillon (Rusty-James)
Mickey Rourke (The Motorcycle Boy)
Diane Lane (Patty)
Dennis Hopper (Father)
Rusty-James is the leader of a gang band in an industrial city in the 50’s. He has been trying to live up the legendary reputation of his old brother, The Motorcycle Boy. Rusty and his band are fighting in a rumble, when The Motorcycle Boy returns home after two months. Some family secrets will be revealed, while the two brothers are leading themselves to the tragically end.
More than the actors, more than the story, more than the director’s style, what has had a direct impact to my mind is the amazing audiovisual experiment as a result of such an unconventional combination of images and sound.
The black and white photography together with an exceptional illumination work introduces the characters in an oneiric environment where they stroll along like ghosts; Coppola takes us back to the expressionist Germanic film of the 20’s. The water shine over the asphalt, the faces of the young gangs sweat profusely, the viewer can feel the heat of the atmosphere. The space-time coordinates are unreal. The high speed of movements of oppressive clouds over the city show an accelerate passing of the time. All over the sequences we can see lots of different watches symbolizing the importance of time in the humane nature.
The film has an extraordinary cast. Mickey Rourke performance is hypnotically. Matt Dillon and Diane Lane become sex symbols. Dennis Hopper as the maudlin drunk father of the brothers shows once again that he was born for that kind of characters.
The Motorcycle Boy is color-blind and a little bit deaf, he see the world like “a black and white TV with the sound turned low”. He’s fascinated for the rumble fish of Siam (they emerge colored from the black and white photography) oppressed in a fish bowl in the pet store. Those fishes symbolize the youth oppressed and monitored by the government; The Motorcycle Boy says that the fishes wouldn’t fight if they were in the river.
Francis Coppola has said that he wanted to make “an art movie for teenagers”. The result is a movie that contains more technical experimentation and visual imagination than no other in the 80’s.
Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Screenwriter: S.E. Hinton and Francis Ford Coppola
Music by: Steward Copeland
Photography by: Stephen H. Burum B&W
Genre: Crime/Drama
Main actors:
Matt Dillon (Rusty-James)
Mickey Rourke (The Motorcycle Boy)
Diane Lane (Patty)
Dennis Hopper (Father)
Rusty-James is the leader of a gang band in an industrial city in the 50’s. He has been trying to live up the legendary reputation of his old brother, The Motorcycle Boy. Rusty and his band are fighting in a rumble, when The Motorcycle Boy returns home after two months. Some family secrets will be revealed, while the two brothers are leading themselves to the tragically end.
More than the actors, more than the story, more than the director’s style, what has had a direct impact to my mind is the amazing audiovisual experiment as a result of such an unconventional combination of images and sound.
The black and white photography together with an exceptional illumination work introduces the characters in an oneiric environment where they stroll along like ghosts; Coppola takes us back to the expressionist Germanic film of the 20’s. The water shine over the asphalt, the faces of the young gangs sweat profusely, the viewer can feel the heat of the atmosphere. The space-time coordinates are unreal. The high speed of movements of oppressive clouds over the city show an accelerate passing of the time. All over the sequences we can see lots of different watches symbolizing the importance of time in the humane nature.
The film has an extraordinary cast. Mickey Rourke performance is hypnotically. Matt Dillon and Diane Lane become sex symbols. Dennis Hopper as the maudlin drunk father of the brothers shows once again that he was born for that kind of characters.
The Motorcycle Boy is color-blind and a little bit deaf, he see the world like “a black and white TV with the sound turned low”. He’s fascinated for the rumble fish of Siam (they emerge colored from the black and white photography) oppressed in a fish bowl in the pet store. Those fishes symbolize the youth oppressed and monitored by the government; The Motorcycle Boy says that the fishes wouldn’t fight if they were in the river.
Francis Coppola has said that he wanted to make “an art movie for teenagers”. The result is a movie that contains more technical experimentation and visual imagination than no other in the 80’s.
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