|
buy this title
The Complete Novel |
About the Film
Francis Ford Coppola's youth drama may not fit into the director's previous oeuvre at first sight, did he make a name for himself in the 70s with his epic works such as The Godfather or Apocalypse Now. So why switch to such seemingly trivial stuff? Coppola himself is said to be hardly excited about this kind of film, but a school class is said to have drawn his attention to S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, by saying they wished for an adaption in the style of The Godfather. Coppola was then allegedly so fascinated with the novel that he not only made this work of Hinton's a movie but also her book Rumble Fish, again, with Matt Dillon as main act. Coppola would not be Coppola if he didn't put something epic into the story and thus, the film is not only riddled with sprawling images, but also with some movie quotes and other references to the pop culture of the time. When the film was released in theaters in 1983, it was received with mixed reviews and only years later, the work, which can show off a fairly prominent Cast with Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Diane Lane, managed to become some sort of cult classic. The original theatrical version released in the early 80s had a runtime of about 90 minutes and remained that way for the next 25 years. 2005 A.D., Coppola released an edited version on DVD that is about 22 min. longer and was supposed to be closer to the original: He called it The Complete Novel. On the DVD you also find out about the reason the theatrical version at the time was so shirt. After a few test screenings, the film was cut by Warner Bros., because it was feared the audience would not appreciate the movie's runtime otherwise. Damaging the film's rhythm that way was a lesser evil. It's clear the long version makes the overall image much better, owed especially to the long exposition and the much more detailled finale, where several aspects are taken a look at more closely. Furthermore, there are small to medium-sized scene extensions during the entire movie, which especially fans should recognize and complete the image. In reverse, some short elements before and during the scene with the burning church were taken out, but can be found in the bonus section of The Coplete Novel. Furthermore, the film received partly a new soundtrack. Even though those differences will not be looked at in detail in the report itself, it should be mentioned here that this is mostly Rock'n Roll pieces by Evlis Presley, changing the atmosphere of some scenes and making them seem more threatening. Runtime Theatrical Version: 91:13 Min. incl. credits (NTSC) Runtime Complete Novel: 114:24 Min. incl. credits (NTSC) All timecodes relate to the theatrical version. 00:00 - 03:19 At the very beginning of the film there are huge differences between the theatrical version and the "Complete Novel"-version, that will now be taken a look at. To improve the overlay it was decided to look at the piece as a whole and to first give a quick summary of the theatrical version's and the CN's order: Theatrical Version: Complete Novel: Company logos Both the logo's of the Warner company and the Zoetrope Studios have been swapped. The overlay "Francis Ford Coppola presents" was dropped. left Theatrical version; right Complete Novel
Opening credits The opening credits were newly animated for the "Complete Novel"-version, there are no runtime differences, though. Both are accompanied by Stevie Wonder's Stay Gold, even though they differ in the images shown. In the theatrical version, after Ponyboys previous monologue, a drawn sun is shown and the filmtitle is put in. During the other credits, several shots of the city appear. A shot of the Greasers is a central part of the "Complete Novel's" opening credits. The film's title is also running in from the right, but the segmentation of the single credits is different. After that, the sequence of the images is identical. In the following two images for comparison each, illustrating the differences. left Theatrical Version, right Complete Novel
Introduction by Ponyboy & new exposistion Now it's getting intersting. As mentioned before, Coppola put Ponyboy's former prologue under the main titles to do justice to the original and thus, this scene works as a transition for the new exposition which, according to the audio commentary, is supposed to correspond to the beginning of the novel. What follows now is a new sequence of scenes, taking several minutes, that fell victim to the previews. In the theatrical version Ponyboy's book entry works as a transition to the credits, whil in the CN, accompanied by a new Rock'n roll-sondtrack, the actual story is started and we, hearing Ponyboy's voiceover, see the local movie theater Pony is just exiting after just having seen Paul Newman's "The Hustler". He stands in front of a mirror, immitating Newman and is soon after being flamed by the rich Socs, driving down the street. [from the darkness of the movie house...] Pony (furthermore off-screen as the cinema is being faded-in): "I had only two things on my mind:" You see Ponyboy stand in front of a mirror: "Paul Newman and a ride home." Pony, imitating: "This is Ames, mister." Quickly, you notice in the mirror a vehicle halts and the interiors scream "Greaser!". As Pony moves on, he gets more comments thrown at him. Soc: "Wash all that grease out of your hair!" After that, a few shots of Pony walking down the street furthermore are shown.
Change of scene Pony walks along the train tracks and is being thrown at with cans by Socs waiting on a bridge. After that, another cut takes place and Pony walks on a smaller way and the Socs' car approaches from behind. Several different shots now show them following and finally attack him. Soc: "Hey, Grease! We're gonna give him a haircut. Get him, guys." They drag him to the ground, one gives an order: "Get him down." After a piece of his hair could have been cut off, Ponyboy manages to get himself free for a short moment, but is then downed again and the Socs throw themselves at him again. The knife is taken out, one says "Stick him!". The knife is being put to Pony's neck and you hear one of the Socs saying: "Maybe he's got an itch somewhere. Or maybe over here. Or maybe how about there?" Then they hurt his throat with the knife. Next a piece of cloth is being shoved up his neck so he cannot scream any more. The Socs are driven off by the approaching Greasers, though. Running, you hear "Let's get out of here." and "Come on. Let's go." Now you see the charging Greasers as the Socs get back in the car and try to escape. A longer skirmish takes place, but the Socs can finally espace. They comment this with "We'll get you later, Greasers!" After the dispute, the Greasers assemble around Ponyboy and ask about his state of health: Darrel "Darry"(Patrick Swayze): They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" Ponyboy: "No." Sodapop (Rob Lowe), quickly approaching: "Hey, Pony. Did they pull a blade on you?" Shot of Pony: "Yeah." Cut to Johnny: "Hey, they ain't gonna hurt you no more."
Change of scene A cut takes place now and the three walk a bit and talk about Pony's behavior. Darrel (voiceover, as a transition to said scene): "Man, walking by yourself. You don't ever think." Pony (now the three are on screen): "All I did was walk home from the movie." Darrel, reproachfully: "Movies and books. Movies and books. I wish that you could concentrate on something else just once in a while." Sodapop, smilingly: "Why don't you concentrate on girls and cars? Works for me." Darrel: "Look, kid... if you had to go by yourself, you should've carried a blade." Sodapop, sarcasticly: "That would have been a great excuse... for the Socs to cut his neck a little more there." Darrel: "If I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother... I'll ask you, all right, kid brother?" Darrel then leaves the scenery and goes into the house that could be seen all the time in the background. The camera pans a little to the left as Sodapop continues to talk to Pony. Now, we notice Dallas (Matt Dillon) caught the conversation, as he sits on an old car nearby, smoking. Pony: "Soda, why does he always got to be like that?" Soda: "He's got more worries than he used to be." Dallas, from the backgorund: "How is the kid?" He approaches slowly. Pony: "I'm fine. What are you doing out of the cooler, Dal?" Another member of the Greasers enters the screen, Steve Randle (Tom Cruise). Steve: "Yeah? And what are you doing walking by your lonesome on the street?" Pony, as the rest of the Greasers appear: "It's none of your business." Steve: "What do you mean, none of my business? It is my business. Look at my nose." Pony: "It's huge." Steve: "Smart-ass. He is a smart-ass kid." To Dalls: "How are you doing?" Dallas: "I'm doing all right." Pony: "Thought you went for about 90 days, Dal." Dallas: "I got out early, man. Good behaviour." Steve: "All right." Dallas now turns away from the group and goes to Johnny (Ralph Macchio). Dallas: "Hey, Johnny, man, how's it going, bro?" Johnny: "Things would go better if the Socs stayed on the South side of the town." Steve from the background, as the group moves on: "Don't you worry about that, Johnny. 'Cause we'll have it out sooner or later." Soda: "Sure as hell are, if they keep coming over to our side of the town." They stop at an old, blue Pick-Up truck. Dallas to Johnny: "Those the same guys that got you?" Johnny: "No, it was other guys." Dallas: "Now that I'm out, I'll make it my business to get the guy who did that to your face." Two-Bit (Emilio Estevez): "What do you think about me becoming your personal bodyguard, Ponyboy?" Pony: "I don't think it's too hot of an idea." Steve: "How about you and Sylvia coming over to game with us tomorrow night?" Pony: "I want to go." Soda: "We're taking Evie and Sandy." Steve: "Which means no kids allowed." Pony: "Big deal." Dallas: "No. I'm going to go hunt some action. Little kids are allowed." Johnny: "We'll go with you. Won't we, Pony?" The group disassembles. Pony: "I don't know. I can't get in no trouble with the cops. Darry says the court will split us up for sure if I do." Dallas: "Who's looking for police trouble, man? I want to go see a movie, like the good old days, right, Johnny?" Cut to Soda and Steve. Soda: "All right, 6:00." Two-Bit comes by again: "I was planning on putting down a couple of six packs of Bud but if I don't get too drunk, I'll come over and join you." Cut to Steve and Soda scuffling. Steve: "Check this out, buddy." Er klettert auf das alte Auto und springt mit einem Vorwärtssalto herunter. He climbs the old car and jumps down turning a somersault. Two-Bit gets in the blue vehicle and asks his friends a favor. Two-Bit: "You guys want to give me a push start?" Pony: "Not really but we will." Pony and Johnny push the car and Two-Bit says goodbye. Johnny to Dallas, who is about to go: "Yeah, I see you've got your Christopher back, Dal." Dallas: "Little broad was two-timing me again when I was in jail, man. It's cool. See you guys later." Cut to Johnny and Pony who are on the veranda. Johnny: "All right." Pony: "See you later, Dal." Darrel comes to the front door from inside: "Ponyboy, you got homework." Pony: "Going home, Johnny Cade?" Johnny: "I don't know." Pony while entering: "See you around." Johnny: "All right." The camera remains a little with Johnny, showing him breathing deeply and looking back to the door. Now the view changes and we see the house from the garden. Johnny gets up and slowly leaves the scenery.
Change of scene It is nighttime. We see the house of th Curtis-brothers in a medium-long shot. Cut, now we are at the window Ponyboy stands at and looks out of as his brother Soda talks to him. Soda (offscreen): "Turn off the lights. Go to bed." The room is shown from the inside and Soda, who is already in bed, continues: "I have work in the morning." Pony while going to bed: "We leave them alone." The lights are turned off. Soda: "I don't know. Who could figure it? Cold Pony?" Pony: "A little." Soda turns around in the bed and warms his brother. Soda: "Hey, listen, kiddo. Darry yells at you like that he don't mean nothing. It' just that he got hit with a lot of responsibilities after Mom and Dad died. He ain't used to them. He loves you a lot." Pony: "Sure. Soda? How come you dropped out of school?" Soda: "'Cause I'm dumb. The only things I was passing was auto mechanics and gym." Pony: "You're not dumb." Soda: "Yeah, I am. If you shut up, I'll tell you something. You got to promise me you're not gonna tell Darry." Pony: "All right." Soda: "I think I'm gonna marry Sandy. I'll probably wait till you're out of school, though so I can help Darry with bills and stuff." Soda turns around. Now you see Pony turning to him, he wants to know more. Pony: "Soda, are you in love with Sandy?" Soda: "Hmm." Pony: "What's it like?" Soda: "Most of the time it's real nice." Van Morrison's "Gloria" starts in the background and introduces the transition to the scene the theatrical version shows directly after the opening credits. Again, an upside view to the bed and then fade-out, the new exposition is over.
All in all, the difference is: 8:23 min. (503 sec.) 33:00 After Ponyboy and Johnny received the tip from Dallas to go to Windrixwille by cargo train and wait there in the local church, the theatrical version misses a scene directly after the train trip. In the theatrical version, the sequence was shortened, i.e. the fade to the church takes place during the medium long shot of the train at dawn and directly after that, there is Johnny's voiceover as the church is shown in a long shot: "Check it out, man." The Complete Novel-version shows the train trip completely and then a scene takes place in which Ponyboy and Johnny first need to ask the way to the church and both hesitate for fear their photograph was already in the newspapers and they would be recognized. This new scene begins with a shot of Pony and Johnny from behind, looking at the landscape. Then, more shots of the two follow going through the terrain, until they finally stop and an oilfield, where two workers make a break, is shown. Johnny, as they watch the workers from some distance: "Well?" Pony: "Well what?" Johnny: "Well, go on, ask them. Ask them where we are. The story won't be in the paper yet." Pony: "Why don't you go ask them?" Johnny: "My ankle's hurt and I don't wanna walk." Pony: "What am I gonna say?" Johnny: "Just act like a farm boy taking a walk or something. They'll never know." Pony: "Do I look like a farm boy to you?" Johnny: "Just ask them. Ask them where Jay Mountain is. Don't worry about." Pony: "They'll know who I am as soon as they look at me." Johnny: "They're not gonna know. Come on." Pony moves and goes towards the two men, who we could see the entire time in the background. Pony: "Excuse me. Can you tell me the way to Jay Mountain?" Arbeiter: "What?" Pony: "How can I get to Jay Mountain?" Arbeiter: "Follow this road up to that hill. That's it." Pony: "Thank you." Arbeiter: "Going for a walk?" Pony: "Yeah, we're playing army and I'm supposed to report to headquarters." Worker to his colleague, after Pony went away: "Boys will be boys." After a short shot of Pony and Johnny walking they reach the church. Johnny says, this time on-screen: "Check it out, man." Then the long-shot of the church is shown and you hear in both versions: ["The church."] 01:49 min. (109 sec.)
33:06 Here, a longer sequence was reimplemented, showing Pony and Johnny sneak around the abandoned church. At that, the camera follows them from the inside and after a while moves outside, and you see the two breaking the blocked-up window and make their way into the Lord's house. Another Elvis-song is played during this. In the theatrical version, this sequence is shortened. After the cut to Pony and Johnny on the hill, you immediately see they set foot in the church. 50.5 sec.
34:15 - 34:34 After the first night in church, the CN-version shows two more views of Ponyboy. In the theatrical version you only see him allegedly watching his big brother Darrel fixing breakfast and him calling he should get up. In the long version, Darrel appears twice, as well as Sodapop once, who jumps on Pony's bed. This and the fact some short shots of Pony were made even shorter in the CN, leads to a difference of: 3 sec.
34:45 After Ponyboy has read Johnny's news, the theatrical version does a cut and we immediately see the reason for Johnny's absence: He went shopping. In the CN-version, though, there is a scene implemented in between, showing Ponyboy washing his face outside the church at the pump. Shortly after, you hear sounds from a distance, so Pony runs away and hides in a manhole. It's Johnny, though, whistlingly and with the shopping in his hands going to the church. Pony reveals himself and a short dialogue takes place. Pony, after crawling out of the manhole: "Hey, Johnny, fancy meeting you here." Johnny to Pony, who is lying on the ground: "You're getting to act more like Two-Bit every day." Pony, while getting up: "Who's acting? What did you get?" Johnny: "ome on inside, man. Dallas told us to stay inside." A cut takes place and the box with the shopping is put onto the table. The theatrical version continues with this shot. 51 sec.
After the "hairdresser-scene", different scenes take place in each version. The theatrical version not only shows the rabbit in the mirror a bit longer, but subsequently Ponyboy's and Johnny's silhouettes in the lake. The two talk about the new haircuts. Johnny: "Well, I guess we're disguised." Pony: "I guess so." After Pony touched his own hair, Johnny comforts him: "Uhh, man, it's just hair." Pony: "It ain't us. It's like being in a costume you can't get out of and I hate it." Johnny: "Well, we gotta get used to it, Ponyboy. We're in big trouble. It's our looks or us." During the entire dialogue, the camera slowly zoomed in on the silhouettes and in the end Ponyboy throws a piece of wood into the lake. The image goes unclear because of that and a montage of impressions of the lake and the church takes place, accompanied by Pony's off-screen commentary: "The next four of five fays were the longest I've ever spent in my life." After that, we see Pony and Johnny lying in the church, they're asleep. This shot also marks the spot where the CN continues after the new, implemented scene, is done. 46 sec.
37:14 The CN-version also cuts to the lake after the haircutting. It's evening though, and, after a short montage in which the spire of the church is shown as clouds pass by, we see Pony and Johnny sitting thoughtfully inside the church. They talk about what happened the day before and let their emotions go. Pony, in a little whiny voice: "I'm still tired." Johnny: "Look, I'm sorry I cut your hair off, Ponyboy." Pony: "Well, it ain't that. It's just... I don't know, I'm all mixed up." He then throws the paper plane he had in his hand. Johnny: "Yeah, I know. Things have been happening so fast, uh?"He puts his arm around Pony, who is still struggling for composure: "Man, you know that one-horse store this morning? I was thinking, Two-Bit, he could have walked out with half that thing. Good old Two-Bit, huh?" Pony: "Remember how we was wisecracking last night? Just last night we was walking Cherry and Marcia home from the movies. Just last night we was laying in the lot, looking up at the stars." Johnny cannot take Pony talking about the previous evening any more. He jumps up. Johnny: "Stop it, man! Will you shut up about last night?" Pony: "Johnny!" Pony, offscreen: "I killed a kid last night." The camera shows Johnny, backing down in a corner of the church: "He couldn't have been more than 17, maybe 18 years old, and I killed him. How would you like to live with that? I didn't mean to. He was drowning you and I didn't know what to do." Pony sits down next to him and hugs him. Both are shaking. Johnny: "Sure is a lot of blood inside of people." Pony: "What are we gonna do?" Johnny gets up again and runs around. Johnny: "It's all my fault for bringing a 13-year-old kid along. You ought to go home, Ponyboy. You can't get in any trouble. I mean, you didn't go on and kill him." Pony stands up himself. He is still trying to not cry: "No. I'm 14. I've been 14 for a month, and I'm in this just as much as you are." He sits down one row further: "I'll stop crying in a minute. I can't help it." Johnny goes to him: "I didn't mean it like that, Ponyboy. Don't cry. Don't cry, man" They hug and Johnny continues to soothe him: "It's gonna be all right. It's gonna be fine. Let's go sit by the fire." They're going to the oven and sit down in front of it. Johnny is putting some more wood into it. He then leans on Pony and closes his eyes. A short moment later, the fade takes place and you see both of them lying in front of the oven, sleeping. Both versions run in sync from now on again. 02:55 min. (175 sec.)
Aftr Ponyboy read from Gone with the winds for Johnny, two scenes are shown in the theatrical version that are not in the CN-version. The first "episode" shows the two boys trying to catch a rabbit with the help of a primitive trap. Then you see the poker for cigarettes. 36 sec.
39:05 The CN extends the reading at this pat. Shortly after the first section, an edit to the church takes place and now you see it is nighttime by now. The happenings move back to the church and while Johnny has a sandwich, Pony continues to read from Gone with the winds. Pony: "'But for four years he has seen others who have refused to recognize defeat. Man who rode gaily into sure disaster because they were gallant.'" Pony, zu Johnny: "Pretty cool, huh?" Johnny, philosophing: "Gallant. Cool old guys remind me of Dally." Pony, amazedly: "Dally? Shoot, he ain't got no more manners than I do. Soda's more like them Southern boys." Johnny: "Yeah, in the manners bit. Charm. too, I guess, but Dallas..." Pony: "Dallas sort of really scares me." Johnny: "Read on." Then you see in both versions Johnny fell a sleep with a cigarette in his hand, which actually makes much more sense in the CN. 44 sec.
49:27 After Pony, Johnny and Dal had their meal in Windrixville, they return to the church. It is on fire and a school class had, of all places, chosen this place as their excursion destination. Some more children are inside, so Pony and Johnny run inside. Not only is this sequence accompanied by different, much faster rock music, it is also a lot shorter. Thus, the first part of the resque action is missing, showing Pony and Johnny save a little girl. The CN shows, after the two entered the sea of flames, the edit to Dal, who only comes after the above mentioned scene in the theatrical version. Pony, when having reached the screaming girl: "Johnny, watch out! We'll get you out of here." Then the cut to Dal takes place. 7 sec.
49:38 The CN is a bit quicker paced here, again. In the theatrical version, you see Dal breaking a window and Johnny and Pony passing the girl through it. A cut to more crying children and the screaming teacher standing outside the church, takes place. This shot is followed by one showing hands at a barricaded window. This frame is shown immediately after Dallas was on screen in the CN. 6 sec.
49:47 After the cut to the barricaded window, the following rescue was shortened furthermore. Some interior shots and Dallas' warning regarding the ceiling, which could possibly collapse. Children's voices, while a girl is being dragged out of the window: "Help me! Over here!" Cut to the burning ceiling. Dalla's voice off-screen: "Move it! Get out!" They discover more children now, both versions are in sync again now. 4 sec.
50:03 The CN misses a short shot from outside, showing Dallas save another child. Dallas, as he lifts another kid through the window: "Get out of here, Johny!". The close-up of the girl in the flames is contained in the CN, too. 2.5 sec.
53:19 After Pony was picked up from the hospital by his two brothers Darrel and Soda, the following scene in their house the next day starts differently. While Pony is shown immediately at the refridgerator in the theatrical version, the CN features a short conversation between Pony and Tim, who made himself comfy on the couch. Pony enters the screen. The shower can be heard in the background. cut and we see Tim sitting on the couch, reading the newspapers. Pony: "Hi, Tim." Tim: "Hi, kid." Cut to Pony: "Can I get you some breakfast." Tim: "Nope." Tim folds the newspaper, gets up and leaves the house: "Thanks for the user of your couch." Pony: "Sure. Anytime." he then walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge. 28 Sek.
60:50 Again, a few more subtleties. After Pony talked to Randy, the Socs' leader, a new cut takes place and we see him and Two-Bit visiting Johnny in the hospital. The transition was shortened here in the theatrical version. Right in the beginning you can recognize a nurse and you can also notice Two-Bit and Pony move towards the direction of Johnny's room. In the CN-version, the transition begins with a shot of a doctor: You can hear Two-Bit and Johnny discussing off-screen. The doctor goes around the corner, camera following him. Doc: "Nurse, i's alright." He walks towards Pony and Two-Bit: "You can go in, boys. He's been asking for you. It can't hurt." He now leaves the scenery. Nurse: "You heard. The doctor said you can go in. There's the room." So the theatrical version only shows the very small rest of this extension, because after this line, the two versions run in sync again. 17 sec.
64:09 Another scene was taken out: After the nurse told Johnny in the theatrical version that his mother wanted to see him and he is so excited about this he collapses and she calls the doctor, the CN shows a shot of Johnny's mother actually showing up on stage. Even as the nurse put her hand on Johnny's back, you hear his hysterical mother off-screen: "I've got a right to see him. He's my son." Close-up of Johnny's face, then cut to the mother standing in front of the room. Mother: "He'd rather see these no-good punks than his own mother. You're scum." Cut to Two-Bit and Pony. Two-Bit: "No wonder he hates your guts. You don't even care about him, you damn drunk." Quick cut to the mother's appalled face, then Two-Bit again: "You go straight to hell. You go right to hell." The mother wants to break loose from the nurse: "Just get off..." but is then dragged away while Two-Bit and Pony keep going to Dallas. With the beginning of the next scene in Dallas' room, both version run in sync again. 22 sec.
81:38 A short line of Steve Randle in the beginning of the change of scenes after the short visit at the hospital of Ponyboy and Dallas. In the theatrical cut, you immediately see Two-Bit sitting next to the TV set and putting away a note. You can hear Randle's line off-screen. The CN-version, though, first features a cut to Randle, who says something different first and then to Two-Bit. Randle, drawn by the fight: "It makes me look kind of tough." 6 sec.
85:21 After Dallas' raid and the subsequent escape he is being confronted by the police and shot. In the CN-version, this scene is a bit prolonged, after Dallas was hit fatally. The theatrical cut already cuts to Ponyboy sitting at the desk at this point. It is to be noted that in the CN-version, there are two more long, new scenes now before the cut to Ponyboy takes place here. To improve clarity, those have also been marked with headlines. After Dallas was fatally hit on the street, Darry shouts at him: "Stupid idiot." Then a cut takes place, you see the troop from up front and Darry now blames the policemen: "You stupid freaks!" Shortly after: "First Johnny, now Dallas." Pulsating music starts. Cut to Pony losing conciousness and collapsing on the street. Now a montage is shown as Pony collects his wits. The music goes on and by superimposition, the images blend into each other. Pony, as he wakes up: "Soda?" Soda, off-screen: "Yeah." Pony: "Is somebody sick?" Soda: "Yeah, somebody's sick." You see both Soda and Darry were watching at Pony's bed.
Change of scene Another change of scenes. The camera slowly moves inside through the living room window. Darry, Soda and Pony are having dinner. Darry: "Listen, with your brains and grades you could get a scholarship and we'd put you through college. Ain't that right, Soda?" Darry continues: "But you're living in a vacuum, Pony, and you're gonna have to cut it out. You just don't stop living because you lose somebody. I thought you knew that." Cut to Soda as Darry continues his monologue. Music slowly starts in the background: "Any time you don't like the way I'm running things here you can just get out." Pony jumps up: "You'd like that, wouldn't you? You'd like me to get the hell out. It's not that easy, is it, Soda?" Soda explodes as well: "God damn, you guys! Leave me out of it." He then goes away. Darry, baffled: "What's wrong with you?" Now some shos of Soda running away. Pony and Darry are following him. Darry, running: "Circle around and cut him off. I'll stay right behind him." Finally they catch Soda and get him to fall. Soda: "God damn it, Ponyboy, you should have gone out for football instead of track." Pony: "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Soda: "I don't know, man." Soda, after he went for a little: Just like sometimes I have to get out. It's like I'm a middleman in a tug of war between you guys. I don't know. I can't take sides." He sits down next to his brothers again. "Ponyboy, Darry could've put you in a boys' home worked his way through college. I'm telling you the truth, Pony. You don't want to be like me, anyway because I'm happy working at a gas station. You'd never be happy doing something like that." Now he talks to Darry: "You've got to stop yelling at him for every little thing that he does, man. He feels things differently than you. Bad enough I have to listen to you but when you start trying to get me to take sides... We're all we got left now. And if we don't have each other you end up like Dallas. And I don't mean dead, either. I mean how he was before. So, please, don't fight anymore." Darry: "Sure. Sure, little buddy. We ain't gonna fight no more." The three hug each other. Soda: "Now don't you start bawling, too, Pony. One bawling baby in this family is enough." Pony: "I ain't crying." Soda: "Let's go home. I'm cold." Now the CN also features the cut to Ponyboy at the desk.
6:34 min. (391 sec.) 87:29 The ending is also a little different. Pony starts his essay and while the theatrical version features showing what he writes, the CN shows the actual beginning of the film again. Both versions start his text with: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the moive house... I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home." Left the theatrical version right the Complete Novel. The CN is also a bit longer in total here: 13 sec.
87:40 The credits are also much longer in the Complete Novel-version. 1:24 min. (84 sec.) |
