The Movie: Original vs. Re-release

[EmilineHarris]

I didn't see it posted anywhere, so hopefully this isn't a redundant topic...

Which version of "The Outsiders" movie do you prefer? The original or the re-release?

[samanthamae]

Definitely the re-release. I saw the original version first, was amazingly disappointed, and then caught the longer version on youtube. It had a far better introduction, and I'm sure it made many fans more pleased.

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

It's unanimous here; I also prefer the re-release. Although I did like the original score in the ... original version. Lol. (I really tried not to make that sound redundant; apparently I failed, lol.)

I like it better than the one in the re-release, though. Idk, I just think it fits better. :)

[EmilineHarris]

That's the thing with me... I'm actually sort of torn...

I love all the added footage in the re-released version. I think it really helps in telling the story and giving the viewer the entire picture as to who these people are. It is obviously closer to the book, so you don't feel like, "Geez, I would have really liked to have scene that part with..."

However, I think I like the original score better. Sure, it was somewhat overly dramatic, but I think it fit better (like you said, Jane). The new music, while it may be "music the characters would have listened to," just feels out of place to me. For example, when Dally is running from the cops the music is out of control! It sounds like something from a surfer movie or Pulp Fiction or something. It was like I half expected to see John Travolta and Uma Thurman come dancing across the screen... It just jarred me out of the moment and took away the seriousness of what was happening.

I would almost like the make my own version where I take the new footage from the re-release and add it to the beginning and end of the original (so that I can keep the familiar score on all the similar stuff in between). That is cheating, though, so I'd have to pick the re-release as the version I prefer as well... But only for the extra footage.

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

It does sound like surfer music! I really don't like that about it. It's annoying. And it really doesn't fit.

But on the other hand the re-release is better, because if you had seen the original version without reading the book, you really would have no idea what was going on. D:

[latch22]

I caught the original version on television several months after I read the book, and I thought that it was--pardon me--ridiculous. It didn't make an impression on me at all, and my father, who has never read the book and was watching with me, was sorely confused, poor guy. The score, as well, was over-dramatic.

I much prefer the re-release. You know, I really liked the music that they used, but it did feel out of place and often too perky. For instance, when Pony ran away after he had been slapped--or, you know, shoved in this case--all I could think was, Espionage! I swear, every time I see it, that's what I can't help but think... and I laugh. I'm pretty sure that that wasn't their intention; I shouldn't have been laughing during that scene.

So the music was more fun, but I don't think that 'fun' was really what they should have been going for... I still prefer that music to the score, though.

By the way, great topic.

Cheers!

[maxiekat]

I loved the original version when I was a kid and then rewatched it years later when I was in college. At that time, the music really struck me as being overly dramatic and really overblown. I do like the softer, quieter pieces - like the sunset one, or the brothers' reunion one - but the rest just seemed a little silly to me.

I think the new music is better, but it may be a little too literal in matching the scene to the song. Example - they're on a train, cue Mystery Train.

I did make a reference to the surfer music in my story as an inside joke. That's something I have a hard time picturing the greasers listening to. I do like the feeling that song gives to the drowning scene, though. At first it was really jarring, but I like it now.

One thing that really bugs me, though, is the music at the end with Dally. It starts too early and is way too loud.

I also love the inclusion of all those new scenes. It really gives a much fuller feeling to the story and makes it more accessible to people that haven't read the book.

[zevie]

The re-release! Loved the extra scenes. Totally unfair to have cut Rob Lowe's part so much, and Emilio's one emotional scene was great.

After having seen the original, the music in the re-release was jarring. But, after seeing it a couple of times and going back to the original, the dramatic score started to feel like way too much. An almost cartoonish exaggeration of the drama - yeah, they're dramatic moments, but it's not a fantasy movie, it's real life where the drama is fast and hard, and you often don't know how serious the events are until after they happen. As opposed to knowing thirty seconds in advance of everything by a giant crash in the orchestra. The original score yelled too early, and too loudly for my liking.

The original did hit you over the head with the seriousness of what was happening, but the music in the re-release just plain hit you over the head. TOO LOUD. And too much. There are moments where silence would be the most effective, I think, like the scene with Pony and Johnny in the lot. Just the sounds of them breathing and the night noises, and Johnny's parents fighting (which I almost couldn't hear in the re-release) would have been plenty. Plus, fitting the lyrics to all of the events made it feel like a swinging adventure movie, which it sometimes was, and sometimes wasn't. It's like you expect the characters to break out into song.

I think the re-release music drew on the humanity of the experience more than the original, though. It gave it an ironic flavour, a kind of "this is life" feel to it. After the initial "wtf" thought, I actually kinda liked the scenes like Darry hitting Pony, or the rumble. It's not quite "normal" activity, but neither is it unheard of for these guys - it's part of their human experience. I would have liked more drama for all the death parts though. In the book, they're so raw, so honest, and there's the feeling like "wake up everybody, this is just not right," whereas in the re-release of the movie with that second score, again, it's that irony taking away from the power of it. It's like the movie sort of gives you a twisted smile, says "c'est la vie" and lights up a smoke.

I also liked the piece they used when Johnny kills Bob in the re-release. It had that slightly unhinged feeling to it, (plus the ominous "doo, doo, doo, doo," obviously) but it was still "normal" music. It's a fight, but it goes really, really wrong. It was definitely unobtrusive, and makes the murder seem kinda like a shock, sort of how it must have been to Pony and Johnny, instead of the original score, which had us seeing it as a life and death situation as soon as Pony spit in Bob's face.

The one part of the re-release score that I *could not stand* was when they actually brought back in the real score (when Pony reads Johnny's letter). Beautiful melody, but the orchestration was unbelievably weak. The bells tinkling while the strings sing out Ponyboy's fondness for Johnny was just ridiculously cheesy, especially sandwiched between all these songs that declare it real life. It didn't fit the mood either, I don't think. In the book, Johnny's letter kinda prompts Pony to write the novel, and while there's acceptance, there's also a strong desire to tell people that it's unjust. Pony's wiser for reading it. The warm and fuzzy feeling music did not fit.

But, I'd totally buy the soundtrack. I didn't like how it fit with the movie always, but the songs were *awesome*.

Number of times I used the word "re-release" in this post: 8.

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

Try Limewire. They seem to have everything, lol. And it's free to download. I have it and it's where I get all my music now. :)

... But I'm probably going to get arrested one of these days because I thought I heard it (Limewire) was illegal, lol. =o

[zevie]

They are all illegal unless you pay, or unless it's a specific song where the rights or the writer/performer have expired (NOT likely, unless it's really, really, really old) or the writer/performer has specified. By the way, I forgot before, QJ, who's your avatar (thanks, Tens) pic?

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

Darn it. Lol. I figured it wasn't since it was a file sharing program. =o

My avatar is Pattie Boyd. One of my role models. :D

[Tensleep]

Or, it's not illegal if you are Canadian! We can down load but not upload as of March 2005.

You gotta love free music. I have far too much of it.

You know, I really have no opinion for the topic. I think the movie suited what the fans wanted then - a gang movie starring Matt Dillion. But I think once that novelty wore off everyone wanted it to be more accurate. So the re-released version fits the times now. Does that make sense?

[EmilineHarris]

You girls have brought up a lot of nice points... I guess it's safe to say this topic hasn't come up before.

There are definitely parts where the new music fits in nicely: the rumble being a good example (as a few of you have mentioned). Instead of it seeming totally serious and "life or death," the new music makes it more about excitement and less about drama. It sort of makes you feel like, "well, boys will be boys" and that the fighting is for pride and all that, but still all in good fun. You know, a fair fight ain't rough...

I'm not sure where I heard it (probably on one of the re-release DVD extras??), but someone said that the original score was overly dramatic in an attempt to mimic the feel and running theme of "Gone with the Wind." In that sense, I kind of like how it equates Ponyboy's story with the book that he and Johnny were reading in Windrixville. I always liked how, through literature, Ponyboy and Johnny found connections to their mundane (and probably in their eyes) difficult lives. The image of the gallant soldier just meshes with the character of Dally so well. It kind of gives the story that extra level of symbolism, which I think is neat... But I'm a big dork that way.

[maxiekat]

I love the Beatles version of that song. I also like the Bob Dylan version of "Tomorrow is a Long Time" - the Elvis version is used in a couple of scenes.

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

Oh, I've heard that version, too. I forget where; I thought I heard it on the Live at the BBC album. Too bad I don't own that one, there's a lot of good songs on there, lol. The Beatles did a bunch of covers in their early days, and they did them really well, too.

I have that Bob Dylan song on my Windows Media Player. I really like it, too. I didn't realize there was a different version in the movie, though. That's really neat. :)