Rumble Fish
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rumble Fish |
| Original title | Rumble Fish |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1983 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Francis Ford Coppola |
| script |
HE Hinton Francis Ford Coppola |
| production |
Doug Claybourne Fred Roos |
| music | Stewart Copeland |
| camera | Stephen H. Burum |
| cut | Barry Malkin |
| occupation | |
| |
Rumble Fish is an American film by the film director Francis Ford Coppola from 1983 based on a successful novel by the American writer SE Hinton .
The film follows a short period of time in the life of the teenage hooligan Rusty James in the suburbs of the US city of Tulsa in the 1970s / 80s. He tells of his relationship with his admired big brother, the "motorcycle guy", and of the sacrifice he makes to save his younger brother.
The film is shot largely in black and white, and the cast list is made up of actors who appear in this film at the beginning of their careers, except for the supporting roles.
action
Rumble Fish tells the story of two brothers in the suburb of the industrial city of Tulsa . The younger of the two, 17-year-old Rusty James, is the leader of a small gang. He admires his four years older brother, the charismatic and clever but depressive “motorcycle guy” (originally “The Motorcycle Boy”). However, this has already disappeared in the direction of California for two months . The mother of the two brothers disappeared for many years, while the alcoholic father cannot look after them adequately.
One day Rusty James is presented with a challenge from Biff Wilcox, the leader of a rival gang, while playing billiards. Although his shy school friend Steve points out that the motorcycle guy once banned such fights and announced a truce between all gangs, Rusty James accepts the challenge - he emulates his older brother and wants to become a gang leader as successful as this. After spending the evening with his girlfriend Patty, Rusty James goes to the agreed place where his friends are already waiting for him. In the midst of the following brawl between Biff Wilcox and Rusty James, the motorcycle guy suddenly shows up and ends the fight. He brings home his brother, who was badly injured in the fight.
In the following time Rusty James gets himself into more and more difficulties due to his naivety, aggressiveness, but also by the constant attempt to be like his brother: He loses his girlfriend Patty when he cheats with another girl at a wild party , flies from school and messes with cop Patterson, who has been targeting the motorcycle guys for a long time. Rusty also loses his previously undisputed position as the leader of his small gang, because Patty is now going out with his gang member Smokey. Smokey suggests to Rusty that he had fabricated his affair that led to his breakup with Patty, and explains to him that he could never become like his brother because he lacks his intelligence.
One evening the motorcycle guy, Rusty James and Steve take a trip to downtown , heated by the nightlife . Here they also meet the pretty, but heroin addicted, substitute teacher Cassandra, who has had an eye on Steve for a long time, but is particularly despised by Rusty. During the trip, Rusty also learns that his older brother met their mother in California, which leaves Rusty upset. After the motorcycle guy suddenly disappears, Rusty James and Steve make their way home and are ambushed. Rusty James is critically injured by a blow to the head. In his unconsciousness he sees his friends and acquaintances already mourning him. However, his brother suddenly appears again, defeats the attackers and thus saves Rusty James, who barely survives.
It is becoming increasingly clear to the motorcycle guy that he has to free Rusty James, who is so alien to him, from the overpowering image of his big brother and get him out of the violent environment in the suburbs. As an analogy, one day he looks at a “ rumble fish ” in a pet shop and asks himself whether the fish kept separately would also kill each other in a river. The following night, the motorcycle guy conspicuously breaks into the shop and steals the fish. His brother tries in vain to stop him. After explaining to Rusty James that the two of them couldn't function as a team, he makes his brother promise to leave town and go to California. Then he goes to the river to release the fish, but Policeman Patterson shows up and shoots him. Rusty James completes his brother's deed, releases the fish in the river, puts himself on a motorcycle, and drives to California on the Pacific Ocean.
background
While he was still shooting his film The Outsider , Coppola began preparing the film Rumble Fish . Both The Outsider and Rumble Fish are based on books by the American author SE Hinton , who also wrote the screenplay for Rumble Fish together with Coppola . Work on Rumble Fish started just a few weeks after The Outsiders finished shooting . Coppola relied in part on the same film crew and some of the same actors (above all Matt Dillon and Diane Lane). In contrast to The Outsiders , Coppola staged Rumble Fish in a rather unconventional way with elements from Expressionist cinema and noir influences.
It is noteworthy that the film shows the point of view of Rusty James, but takes the acting perspective of his brother, who is color-blind (therefore black and white) and partially deaf. Only the fish are shown in color.
The title Rumble Fish refers to the Siamese fighting fish , the males of which are so aggressive towards their conspecifics that they can only be kept individually in aquariums. A mirror held in front of it tempts you to want to kill the mirror image. Towards the end of the film, the motorcycle guy wants to free the fighting fish at the local pet shop, believing that if they only had more space to themselves, they would be less aggressive.
criticism
"An expressive attempt to express dreams and feelings of adolescents through a stylized, symbolic imagery and to show the self-destructive effect of ritualized role behavior."
Web links
- Rumble Fish in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Rumble Fish atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- Website of SE Hinton
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bryn Mawr Film Institute: New Illusion: THE OUTSIDERS, RUMBLE FISH, and Coppola in the early '80s. August 10, 2018, accessed on July 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Rumble Fish. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 15, 2016 .