Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Think of Francis Ford Coppola's immensely watchable "Rumble Fish" as a science-fiction version of "Rebel Without a Cause" adopting the gritty look and feel of German Expressionism mixed with film noir. "Rumble Fish" is more than an oddity from a positively (and rightfully) eccentric director, it is a tad empty in terms of story yet its stylistic flourishes are so sharply focused that they become the subject of the movie.
When you watch "Rumble Fish," you are taken in by its atmospheric black-and-white shots, so much that you are soaking in them. The immensely foggy streets, the huge amount of smoke trailing from a bus, the silhouettes of cats and policemen with nightsticks, etc. No single shot seems to possess normal skies either - the daytime clouds race by in time-lapse fashion (this is meant to evoke that time is passing by faster than these wasted youth can fathom). The fish in a pet store are in color. You begin to wonder what Coppola is doing with a simple S.E. Hinton teen-angst drama - he is making "The Outsiders" except as an "art film for kids." Say what? Does he think kids will dig a stark-looking black-and-white film with deep, receding shadows as anything reminiscent of S.E. Hinton?
Matt Dillon is the smart (but not "word smart") teenager who hates school, hates authority and likes to hang with his tough buddies (Chris Penn, Nicolas "Coppola," and Vincent Spano) and fool around with girls, party, drink and get into knife fights. Mickey Rourke is the Camus-like philosopher, ex-gang leader and older brother of Rusty, known as the Motorcycle Boy, who seems disinterested in life completely and is incapable of relating to anyone. He is practically an alien who comes back into town and we are not sure if he is crazy or just aloof. Diane Lane is Rusty's Catholic School girlfriend who worries Rusty might get killed. Dennis Hopper is the consistently drunk father of Rusty and Motorcycle Boy who knows their mother who ran off is not crazy. No, she might not have been crazy but everyone in this movie is in some sort of daze and state of confusion, especially Matt Dillon in a performance that calls way too much attention to itself. Dillon never seems focused as Rusty and is always moving or jerking his head like an eagle. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know he drinks a lot, he's young and energetic but compare this to his later performance in the masterpiece, "Drugstore Cowboy," and you will see a world of difference.
I have to say that "Rumble Fish" is one hell of an experimental film by Coppola and I appreciate that he chose to shoot this film in such Byzantine fashion. It is one of his few 1980's films that indicates Coppola's interest in just going for broke and shooting for the stars - think of it as a mood piece that you love to listen to and watch (I do on occasion). I just haven't the foggiest idea what it all means.
