Thursday, 24 October 2013

Off beat theatrics

Rumble Fish (1983)
Director: Francis Ford Cappola
You can see many familiar faces in this 1983 film set in noir black and white setting. There is a theatrical feel to the movie that you feel like you are watching 'Westside Story' all over again, but of course, this is not a musical. Matt Dillon acts a troubled teenager, Mickey Rouke is a famed gangster and his brother. Others in the cast include the ever broody Nicholas Cage (also broody here) and Diane Lane.
Even though the theme of this flick is gangs and troubled teenagers, it also dwells into the subject of broken family, drunken father and brush with the law.
Rusty James (Matt Dillon) is high school delinquent who does everything but study. He fancies a school girl but is not strong enough to be faithful to her. And there is the drinking binge and the fights...
One day, he gets involved a gang fight only to be saved by his long lost brother, Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), one who is getting a particular cop hot under his collar due to his bad reputation.
Rusty survives the duel and builds bonding time his brother and both spend time with his drunk father. Their mother had left them and was happy with a new partner in Hollywood.
In the final scene, both brother break into a pet shop. They had earlier had a row with the owner of the shop when they were admiring some fighting fish (they call rumble fish, the title). Motorcycle Boy is shot dead when he tries to release the rumble fishes into the river. And Rusty James continues his brother's wish to reach the West Coast of USA. End.
This film did not really strike as a ground shattering effort but it is interesting, though, to watch these young stars at the infancy (more of adolescence) of their careers. The interesting part of the flick is when only coloured part of the frame is the fighting fish! 

No comments:

Post a Comment

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*