Rumble Fish

1983 Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Rusty James can't live up to his brother's reputation. His brother can't live it down.

Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on.

Matt Dillon Mickey Rourke Diane Lane Dennis Hopper Diana Scarwid Vincent Spano Nicolas Cage Chris Penn Laurence Fishburne William Smith Michael Higgins Glenn Withrow Tom Waits Herb Rice Maybelle Wallace Nona Manning Sofia Coppola Gian-Carlo Coppola S.E. Hinton Emmett Brown Tracey Walter Lance Guecia Bob Maras J.T. Turner Keeva Clayton Kirsten Hayden Karen Parker Sussannah Darcy Kristi Somers

Alternative Title

Rumblefish

drama action crime

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by davidehrlich ★★★★½ 6

where has this movie been my whole life?!??
...oh, waiting right there? that's dumb. i'm dumb.
Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★ 7

Okay I'm starting to realize 80s Coppola kinda rules
Review by ethan 7

why dont we talk about this movie all the time?????????????
Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★

It's no wonder Coppola tired so soon and so easily of classicist filmmaking....he's completely consumed by emotions and so he tries to find a way to express them. In other words: this man is intoxicated, completely wasted on cinema. He lives, breathes, eats cinema. This is the middle film in this 1980's monumental trifecta (the others being One From The Heart and The Cotton Club) of total aesthetic, sensory reaction. This one is so utterly aestheticized, stylized, explosive that it's easy to forget there is a very precious coming of age story here.
Still, I don't know what the hell this movie is about, but I doubt letting one know was even Coppola's intention. It's another film about youths (there…
Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 4

better than godfather, better than apocalypse now, better than pretty much every film ever created. the police are violent fascists who kill on sight due to vendettas and hold no pretences of justice. the gangs are gone, heroin is here, the streets are filled with junkies and muggers, alcoholics and kids looking to fight. teen idols soaked in sweat, filled with booze and painted in beautiful black and white. here we have a kid who is caught in the shadow of his brother, abandoned by his mother and struck with an alcoholic father, he wants to live in the past because then he feels like there would have purpose for him, that he could have been like his brother was.…
Review by Jake Cole ★★★★½ 1

The older I get, the more I swing away from Coppola's New Hollywood string of canonical classics and the more I gravitate toward the freewheeling experiments of his work in the '80s and beyond. Rumble Fish is as much of a sensory experience and technical show-off as One from the Heart, the impressionistic flip-side to the more standard coming-of-age tale of The Outsiders. Its plot is not so much thin as vaporous, forever taking the shimmering, ectoplasmic shape of something solid before a slight breeze disrupts the form. It is a film carved out of various images and sounds of youth, blending '50s greasers with contemporary fashion, expressionistic renditions of West Side Story gang fights with a soundtrack heavy on…
Review by Ben Hibburd ★★★ 9

I couldn't get into this film for some reason. Regarded by Coppola as his favourite film that he's made, I find myself perplexed as to why he holds that opinion? Especially when paired against the likes of "The Godfather," "The Conversation" and "Apocalypse Now." Technically speaking this is a really interesting film. I loved the gorgeous black and white cinematography. Coppola also frames his camera in some unique ways giving the film a more ethereal sensibility, almost as if the characters inhabit there own tightly constructed society. Which is exemplified by an obvious lack of adults in the film, only appearing when they try to impose their authority (the principal suspending James, the sole cop who randomly appears like an…
Review by Justin Peterson ★★★★ 3

(The Average Joe’s Movie Club Cast Episode 15)
"No, your mother... is not crazy. And neither, contrary to popular belief, is your brother crazy. He's merely miscast in a play. He was born in the wrong era, on the wrong side of the river ... With the ability to be able to do anything that he wants to do and ... findin' nothin' that he wants to do. I mean nothing."
Spoilers....
Rewatching Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish felt like an entirely fresh experience once it clicked for me that this story of a Greaser does not take place in the 50s or 60s, but possibly in the late 70s. So it makes sense why the main character Rusty James…
Review by lily ★★★★½ 34

rusty james is one of the most fascinating characters out there. he really holds this all together, drifting through a fog as he puts himself in danger and tries desperately to live out a form of adolescence which will never be his. all trying to live up to his brother’s towering reputation. rumble fish is wonderfully, perfectly stylized. it’s painful and resonant and beautiful.
Review by Tylot Lantern ★★★★ 2

Nicolas Cage: Good or Bad? #3
Nicolas Cage was bad.
Review by ˗ˏˋ Liam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★ 2

losing my mind over how well shot this is!!! that’s some nice black and white cinematography right there mmm yes
Review by truman ★★★★★ 2

rumble fish is mythical.
another plane of reality, stuck in the shadows, where loyalty is the only vice. fog machines lining the streets, tom waits tending bar, trying to make sense of life.

Recent reviews

Review by indigo ★★★★

came for matt dilon stayed for diane lane
Review by Kurt Ringkamp ★★★★½

It may sound crazy to say but this is my new favorite film by Francis Ford Coppola. Rumble Fish is a different type of film that what he has done in the past. The Godfather and Apocalypse Now are huge films that take the viewer on a overwhelming journey. The beauty behind Rumble Fish is that it’s an art piece that relies on the imagery, from the black and white cinematography, with flashes of color, later showcased in Schindler’s List and Sin City, to the music that is nearly nonstop throughout the film, shifting tones to the atmosphere. The story will also remind you of early Scorsese with a mob story that is much more dialed back and personal. It’s clear Rumble Fish has made a bigger impact on cinema than its fame will tell you.
Score 92/100
Review by vmastro ★★★★

Amazing!!! Except some dialogues which didnt make very sense it is an exceptional movie
Review by Valle ★★★★ 1

La Ley de la Calle (1983) es una película sobre los lazos familiares y tener que estar a la altura de un legado. Con una cinematografía nítida en blanco y negro y una increíble estética, Coppola nos deleitó con otra gran obra.
Review by bxtr0061 ★★★½

hmmm. 3.5.
Review by Ruairi Walsh ★★★★

incredible cast, led by a great performance from matt dillon. contains one of my favourite themes - romanticising the past and the problems that come with it. dillon does such a good job portraying the directionless kid who just wants to be like his older brother, despite knowing he'll never be good enough. some really standout sequences here too, one in particular being a new favourite of mine.
Review by ethan 7

why dont we talk about this movie all the time?????????????
Review by Jennifer Moline ★★★

A lot more artsy than I expected. And a lot more stars: Matt Dillon, Dennis Hopper, Mickey Rourke, Tom Waits, Diane Lane, Diana Scarwid, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne and even a child Sofia Coppola.
Review by raphael ★★★★ 6

she just died? wow. (blue jean baby) i didn't know that, i just uh- (la lady) you're telling me now for the first time. (seamstress for the band) she led an amazing life. what else can you say, she was an amazing woman. (pretty eyed) whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman (pirate smile) who led an amazing life. i'm... (you'll marry a music man) i'm actually sad to hear that. i am sad to hear that. thank you very much. (ballerina, you must have seen her) (dancing in the sand)
this movie was also fine i wasnt paying all my attention (see above)
Review by FVB63 ★★★

I guess by the early '80s, Francis Ford Coppola could do anything he wanted to do. This strange movie isn't for everyone. I can respect some of what the director and actors were able to do in this film. But I didn't enjoy it.
Review by lily ★★★★½ 34

rusty james is one of the most fascinating characters out there. he really holds this all together, drifting through a fog as he puts himself in danger and tries desperately to live out a form of adolescence which will never be his. all trying to live up to his brother’s towering reputation. rumble fish is wonderfully, perfectly stylized. it’s painful and resonant and beautiful.
Review by Sander ★★★½

The Age of the Cage 2020-2021
11/12
A small role for Nicolas Cage in a movie directed by his uncle. He has not a lot to do in this movie but it is fun to see a very young Cage acting in this movie. It is more Matt Dillon's movie. It is a very strange movie, a lot of metaphors and really stylish. Not what I was expecting but a nice surprise of a movie.