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Camus On A
Motorcycle At
The Border-Line
Of The Ocean
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By Raymond Stolp
January 20th,
04'
Article
Copyright
Raymond Stolp
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When Rumble Fish
hit the screens
in 1983, the
opinions about
it were as
opposite as the
black & white in
which the film
was shot. It was
an experimental
film, in which
the content of
the story and
cinematography
seemed wildly
apart. Francis
Ford Coppola
made it straight
after he did
'The Outsiders',
with pretty much
the same cast
and crew in
Tulsa. Someone
who made quite
an impression
during the
casting of 'The
Outsiders' but
wasn't quite
right for any of
those parts, was
in the back of
Coppola's head
for the part of
The Motorcycle
Boy in Rumble
Fish. This
promising young
actor was, of
course, Mickey
Rourke, fresh
from a stunning
performance in
'Diner', in
which he stole
the show. He was
about to do the
same in this
new, arty
Coppola movie.
When shooting
began, Rourke
was almost
afraid he was
going to get
fired every day,
with all the
freedom he took
with the
character. He
needn't have
worried; Coppola
loved working
with him and
encouraged the
improvisation.
In fact, it was
quite a daring
movie to make,
as Rourke has
famously said
that the film
was shot without
a script; the
actors
improvised a lot
of the dialogue.
It's a testament
to Rourke's
talent as a
wordsmith, that
the words he
chose for his
character to
say, are among
the strongest
lines in modern
cinema. Rourke
never felt The
Motorcycle Boy
to be a happy
guy in any way,
so he drew
inspiration from
his brother who
was suffering
with cancer at
the time, the
look in his
eyes, the look
of knowing you
might not be
around much
longer. Rourke's
father was dying
at the same
time, and the
sense of not
being able to
really get to
know his father
anymore, of not
having enough
time left for
that, it being
too late, is
something Rourke
used in the
movie, as well.
Let's take a
closer look at
the story of the
movie.
Based on the
S.E. Hinton book
of the same
name, Rumble
Fish tells the
story of two
brothers, a
dirt-poor kid
called Rusty
James (Matt
Dillon) that
looks up to his
older brother:
someone without
a name, who
everyone calls
The Motorcycle
Boy (Mickey
Rourke). The
Motorcycle Boy
has a legendary
past amongst the
youth as the
leader of all
kinds of street
fights. Ever
since The
Motorcycle Boy
went to
California,
Rusty James has
difficulty
finding his way.
When the older
brother returns
to save Rusty
James from a
street fight, a
rumble, the two
young men start
analyzing their
shared past.
They go out for
a night on the
town and talk
about their mom,
who ran away
from them when
they were at a
very early age,
and their
alcoholic father
(Dennis Hopper).
The Motorcycle
Boy is the
opposite of his
little brother
Rusty: while
Rusty is a
chaotic talker,
his bigger
brother is a
dreamer, a born
leader and a
charismatic
charmer. His
soft whisper is
a voice-over
throughout, that
he did in
post-production
with Coppola, to
heighten the
feeling that The
Motorcycle Boy
is a character
at the end of
his ropes.
Rourke's advice
in case you
can't hear him
clearly in the
movie, is to
'move closer to
the screen,
baby'. When The
Motorcycle Boy
starts to mumble
in his tight,
stylized poses,
inspired by the
books about
Albert Camus
(Coppola called
the movie 'Camus
for kids') and
Napoleon
Bonaparte that
Coppola made him
read for his
character,
everyone listens
and looks at him
like he's a
prince. 'He's
like royalty in
exile', a guy
says about him
in a bar, and
Steve (Vincent
Spano), Rusty
James' buddy,
responds with
'Isn't there
anything he
can't do?'
The tragedy of
the film is that
The Motorcycle
Boy can't live
up to these high
expectations,
because there is
one flaw in his
personality,
that is revealed
by his father
towards the end
of the movie:
'He was born in
the wrong era,
on the wrong
side of the
river, with the
ability to do
anything that he
wants to do, and
finding nothing
that he wants to
do'. This is why
The Motorcycle
Boy has no
purpose in his
life. This is
reflected in all
the clocks in
the movie that
spin out of
control. These
clocks refer to
a time that is
not linear, but
like a cycle
(all points of a
circle on which
time is
projected are
run through
twice a day in
an endless
movement). Every
point on the
circle is a
point within
this repetition
that goes on
eternally, and
this feeling
that time
causes, that
it's just a
cycle in which
nothing happens,
can only be
broken when the
events in which
time manifests
itself, are
understood as
changes with a
purpose. The
Motorcycle Boy
doesn't have a
purpose; hence
time becomes
'empty' for him.
In an attempt to
escape this
emptiness that
the
post-adolescent
world has become
for both him and
his younger
brother, the two
create a fantasy
world based on a
past that is no
longer there.
They try to give
color to reality
by inhabiting
this fantasy
world of gangs
and their
imaginary
opposites,
fighting their
own reflection
with opponents
that are in fact
a projection of
their own
imagination. But
he who turns his
back to reality,
will inevitably
be visited by
the ghosts of
the reality
that's so
unbearable. This
causes a
suicidal impulse
in The
Motorcycle Boy,
which has fatal
consequences for
him when he lets
himself get shot
on purpose by a
cop, when he
frees the rumble
fish from the
local pet store.
'Someone oughtta
get you of the
streets' growls
the cop and The
Motorcycle Boy
responds, with
an all-knowing
smile, 'Someone
oughtta put the
fish in the
river'. It's the
cry of a
generation,
because young
people, like
Coppola says,
have no room to
grow, our
institutions
only want to
control them.
Like the fish
are caught in
the fish tank,
The Motorcycle
Boy is caught in
a cyclic life
without purpose.
With that, his
death becomes a
tragic, but also
liberating,
destiny.
The last image
of the movie,
wherein Rusty
James drives on
a motorcycle to
the ocean that
his brother
never got to
see, whereby the
beach is reduced
to a narrow
space due to a
distortion of
perspective, is
the border-line
of that cyclic
fantasy world. |