Francis Ford Coppola is responsible for half a century of leading men on screen. The greatest Hollywood actors of the late 20th century, from Al Pacino to Robert De Niro to Robert Duvall? They also got their big break in one of the first two films, The Godfather. It does not mean that these actors I wouldn't were stars without Coppola's films (none of them one-hit wonders), but New Hollywood did put a few artists in the right place at the right time to produce classic films.

In 1983, Coppola did it again with The Outsiders, adapting the coming-of-age novel by S.E. Hinton from 1967 about a couple of low-class "Greasers" teenagers in 1960s Oklahoma. The main ensemble was played by several then-new, now-stars: Ralph Macchio as the sensitive Johnny Cade, Matt Dillon as the eccentric tough guy Dallas "Dally" Winston, and Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze as the brothers Sodapop and Darrell. Darry” Curtis. Diane Lane also appears as Cherry, a girl on the right side of the tracks who catches the eye of the Greasers.

Funnily enough, Tom Cruise (easily the cast member who became the biggest star) has one of the smallest parts: Steve, Soda's best friend who mostly fades into the background. In contrast, the film's lead has become more obscure. That would be C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis, Sodapop and Darrell's younger brother. (Like Sodapop, Ponyboy is no nickname). Most of The Outsiders follows Ponyboy and Johnny on the run, when Johnny accidentally kills a member of a rival high-class gang, the Sox.

Howell may not be a Tom Cruise-level star, but he's gotten plenty of acting work since The Outsiders.

The Outsiders was the second film of K. Thomas Howell after Steven Spielberg's ET The Extra Terrestrial, where he played Tyler, one of the friends of big brother Michael (Robert McNaughton). Even as one of the bike kids, Howell's role in The Outsiders was definitely a tougher step up. He was also the youngest of the cast, born in 1966 and an actual teenager during filming. (Most of the other young men in The Outsiders were in their early 20s—baby-faced Ralph Macchio was actually one of the oldest, born in 1961.)

Howell's believable youth makes him extra convincing as the naïve emotional center of Greasers and the film. Johnny is all for Ponyboy "staying golden," but Howell's later roles definitely remain no they have the same doe-eyed innocence. After The Outsiders, Howell appeared in Red Dawn, played the lead role in the romantic comedy The Secret Admirer, and then his career hit its big hit. In 1986's Soul Man, he played a young white man who pretends to be black to qualify for a law school scholarship. And yes, Howell wore blackface in "Soul Man," the film now credited with severely damaging his career.

These days, Howell is mostly a character actor with an extensive television resume. In particular, he had a recurring role on "Criminal Minds" during seasons 4-5 (when the serial killer profiling police procedural was at its best). Howell played George Foye, the only surviving victim of the masked, long-gone killer Boston Reaper. In the Season 4 episode "Omnivores," the Reaper comes out of retirement; It turns out that he made a deal with the investigator on the case, Detective Tom Shaughnessy, to disappear until one of them died. Unfortunately, Shaunessy gets through first and the main characters are called upon to capture the returning Reaper.

Foye initially appears to be a fragile man, still shaken many years later by barely surviving a multiple stabbing attack (until his girlfriend does). Then Foye comes out is The Reaper, after framing himself as a victim to throw off suspicion. He escapes at the end of Omnivore and becomes particularly obsessed with the show's main lead Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), who turned down the same deal Shaughnessy did. The Reaper stalks Hotchner and his family until he is killed in the episode "100".

Howell's role as a reaper may be what earned him the role of voice another psychopath: Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

The Outsiders isn't necessarily Coppola's best-remembered film — but then again, when its competition was The Godfather , The Conversation , and Apocalypse Now , it probably never could be. It especially comes across as a safer and more commercial film than Coppola after his experimental box office bomb, 1982's One From The Heart.

However, the film has a decently strong following. Coppola released a longer cut of The Outsiders in 2005and a recreation museum The Curtis House currently stands in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It even got a sequel, and I don't mean Coppola's Rumble Fish. (Another SE Hinton adaptation and one that's more surreal than the classic drama The Outsiders.)

In 1990, a 13-episode TV series of The Outsiders debuted on Fox and ran for one season. It was specifically intended as a sequel to the film, and was produced by Coppola and his Zoetrope studio. With the original cast getting older (and more expensive), a remake was the only practical move.

The new Ponyboy was played by J.R. Ferguson (not to be confused with musician Jay Ferguson). Just as Howell was on film, Ferguson was a debutant actor; The Outsiders was his first credit, debuting just months before the TV movie Shattered Dreams. Ferguson's career is never quite explodedbut he enjoyed Mad Men as art director-turned-hippie Stan Rizzo, and currently stars in the Roseanne spin-off The Conners as Ben Olinsky.

The Outsiders is a story about class divisions. Most of the actors, including Howell and Ferguson, are not huge stars, but workers who move from gig to gig like the Greasers.