STARS: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Vincent Spano, Nicholas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Diane Lane, Diana Scarwid, Chris Penn, Tom Waits, Larry Fishburne.

STORY

Rusty James (Matt Dillon) is the leader of a half-baked `gang’ that spends more time in pool halls than high school. He says he’d rather be spending his time with his girlfriend, Patty (Diane Lane) but he can’t say no to a good old-fashioned rumble. His colourblind older brother, known only as `The Motorcycle Boy’ (Mickey Rourke), arrives back in town from L.A. - although I wonder whether he really did visit LA - and mostly ends up getting Rusty James out of trouble. We also meet the pair’s alcoholic father, played with typical flair by Dennis Hopper. As the story ambles along, we see just how much Rusty James idolises his brother, and just how much `The Motorcycle Boy’ wants to break free of his past.

There are lots of symbolic moments in this film - Coppola shows a definite style in this approach to the film. Based on a novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton, keep your eyes peeled for a brief cameo appearance by the author as a hooker on the strip. If there’s more than one hooker, then forget it, as I for one have no idea what she looks like! I just happened to notice as the end credits rolled. Trivia it is. One guy I DID recognise is the wonderful singer Tom Waits as Benny, owner of Benny’s Billiards. This is not the first film he’s cropped up in, that’s for sure. He’s contributed no music to this soundtrack, however - Stewart Copeland of The Police fame composes and performs the film’s score.

I enjoyed seeing so many familiar faces in the cast; Nicholas Cage makes an appearance, hardly a major role. More trivia - Cage is in fact a Coppola, but changed his name early on so that he could make it in Hollywood on his own merits. Also `Larry’ Fishburne is none other than the Laurence Fishburne we know from the current smash The Matrix Reloaded - clearly this is one of his earlier roles. And glimpses of Chris Penn - he’s such a boofhead! It’s not that he’s a bad actor, or anything, I just can’t shake the image of him learning to dance in `Footloose’, unfortunately.

I have to say that despite the attempts at artistic flair, I found the film boring, and didn’t engage with the characters. Half the time I couldn’t actually see where they were on the screen, the shots were so dark. Before you ask - yes, the TV’s been colour calibrated so I blame the film. The climax was an anti for me too, somehow. I don’t get into the disaffected youth gang thing anyway - dude, just get a job! The whole 50’s concept of gang warfare and being trapped in small towns and ghettos with no future just seems so dated to me. Have I ever seen Westside Story? Or even Gangs Of New York? Are you kidding?! Yuk! How’d I manage to sit through Grease, then? Must’ve been the cheesy music! So I may be biased.

EXTRAS

Standard fare only. Scene selection, trailer, audio language selection (English, French, German, Italian, Castellano) and subtitle selection (same as audio language, but add Portugese, Dutch and - I think - Russian).

OVERALL

This is definitely an `arty’ film; shot in black and white with only occasional glimpses of colour, and some inventive scenes. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, there is quite an all-star cast in this dark story (literally and figuratively) of two troubled brothers who dream of something beyond the cycle of violence that they find themselves trapped in. It’s not exactly a preachy moral tale of what happens when kids grow up without role models, if there’s a message at all, it’s subtle. Its slow pace might put some viewers to sleep, be warned.

If you’re a Matt Dillon or Mickey Rourke fan this would be a must-have as they are in their element in this film. I think both of them are going for the James Dean image from `Rebel Without A Cause’. I also notice that the musical score is composed and performed by Stewart Copeland of The Police! If you like leather jackets, motorbikes, rainy back alleys and smoky pool halls you’ll love this. I’m not into the whole `alienated youth’ thing, so it bored me overall.