According to Antoine Wilson’s 2003 biography, S. E. Hinton, director Francis Ford Coppola was introduced to the novel, Rumble Fish (New York, 1975), while filming his screen adaptation of Hinton’s first book, The Outsiders (New York, 1967). Midway through production on The Outsiders (1983, see entry), Coppola was eager to follow-up the film with another Hinton project, and asked the author to recommend a different story from her catalog. Upon reading Rumble Fish, Coppola hired Hinton to collaborate with him on the script and they wrote on Sundays, their day off from The Outsiders, to have the project ready as soon as The Outsiders was completed. Coppola planned to remain on location in Tulsa, OK, and use many of the same cast and crew as The Outsiders, including actor Matt Dillon, director of photography Stephen H. Burum, and production designer Dean Tavoularis. At that time, Walt Disney Productions was preparing to release Hinton’s Tex (1982, see entry), also starring Matt Dillon, and actor Martin Sheen had acquired screen rights to Hinton’s 1971 novel That Was Then, This is Now, as reported in a 12 May 1982 Var article.
       Rumble Fish was originally printed as a short story in 1968, not long after The Outsiders was published, and Hinton was inspired by a 1967 magazine photograph of a young man and a motorcycle, according to S. E. Hinton. A magazine photograph of “The Motorcycle Boy” is replicated in the film. Although Hinton initially developed The Outsiders and Rumble Fish concurrently, they were conceived as separate stories. However, Coppola drew visual connections between the two by filming The Outsiders and Rumble Fish back-to-back with the same production teams, and many viewers concluded that the pictures marked a “new category of non-sequel sequel” in American filmmaking, as noted in the Nov 1983 edition of Box.
       However, director of photography Stephen H. Burum, who oversaw both pictures, told the May 1984 AmCin that the films were conceived as “opposites.” Coppola believed Rumble Fish was an evolution of themes raised in The Outsiders, indicating transformation from innocence to adulthood, and he punctuated the differences with visual clues. While The Outsiders was shot in color and staged theatrically, with the camera taking on the audience’s objective perspective, Rumble Fish was filmed in black and white to portray the point of view of the colorblind Motorcycle Boy and his doting sibling, “Rusty James,” who wished to see the world through his brother’s eyes. Burum explained that The Outsiders depicted large-scale “classical and pictorial” compositions to reflect the sweeping passion and idealism of teenagers, whereas Rumble Fish used close-up shots and hand-held cameras to position viewers within the dark, psychological world of the film’s protagonists.
       Although Coppola achieved box-office and critical success with his 1970s films including The Godfather (1972, see entry), The Godfather Part II (1974, see entry), and Apocalypse Now (1979, see entry), his career hit a setback with One from the Heart (1982, see entry), a high-budget musical-drama in which Coppola innovated “Electronic Cinema,” an onsite video-editing technique. The film’s failure to recoup its cost at the box-office left both Coppola and his Zoetrope Studios bankrupt, but the company remained in business to produce Hammett (1983, see entry) and The Outsiders. Four days before principal photography ended on The Outsiders, an 11 May 1982 DV article announced that Zoetrope planned to move forward with Rumble Fish despite ongoing financial problems. At that time, the company refused to disclose the film’s budget or the source of its financing, though a 19 May 1982 Var column speculated the money may have come from a recent six-picture foreign distribution deal with Producers Sales Organization (PSO), which included The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. Six weeks later, a 30 Jun 1982 Var article announced that Universal Pictures had acquired domestic distribution rights for Rumble Fish through a negative pickup deal in which Zoetrope was guaranteed payment upon completion. With finances secured, principal photography was set to begin 12 Jul 1982 in preparation for an anticipated fall or early summer 1983 release.
       Continuing to use Electronic Cinema on The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, Coppola set up a portable studio in the gymnasium of a Tulsa high school for the two productions. As stated in the Nov 1983 Box, a rehearsal cut of Rumble Fish was shot entirely on video before principal photography began. Filming took place during a two-week rehearsal period at the Tulsa gymnasium, with actors performing in front of a blue screen. While Coppola blocked each scene of the picture on video, music composer and performer Stewart Copeland was brought to rehearsals as a “rhythmic consultant,” according to the May 1984 edition of Rock World. Copeland, an admirer of Coppola, wished to expand his role in the picture and offered to punch up the video demos with musical sound effects. Copeland told Rock World that he punctuated the film’s theme of “time running out” with aspects of musical time and mechanical instruments, looping the sounds of watches, jackhammer, printing presses, typewriters, and percussive instruments including timpani, bells, chimes, and a synthesizer. Instead of using drums for rhythm, Copeland created musical beats by overlapping and repeating sampled noises. According to Copeland, this type of crossover between music and sound design was new to American filmmaking at that time, and provided a contrast to standard orchestral compositions.
       As noted in the May 1984 AmCin, Coppola used black and white film in Rumble Fish to create atmosphere in the same way he used over-saturated color in One from the Heart – a “look” which production designer Dean Tavoularis described as “not unreal, but not quite real, either… a look that was impressionistic and sometimes even surreal.” According to director of photography Stephen H. Burum, visual inspiration for the film included F. W. Murnau’s German film The Last Laugh (1925), Orson Welles’s Macbeth (1948, see entry), and Johnny Belinda (1948, see entry), as well as Decision Before Dawn and Viva Zapata! (1952, see entries). Studying these pictures, Burum selected short lenses to create greater intimacy with the action, using mostly 25mm, with 35mm for close-ups and 18mm for shots with forced perspective. A 9.8mm lens was also used for “high, raking” shots with exaggerated perspectives. In keeping with source material, Rumble Fish was shot on Eastman Plus-X black and white film for exteriors, and XX black and white film for interiors and night scenes. Contrast was enhanced by painting shadows on the backgrounds instead of manipulating light sources, and shadows were placed at forced and unnatural angles to accentuate “uneasiness, that something is a little bit off from reality.” The near-death sequence in which Rusty James rises out of his body and levitates over the city was not an added effect during post-production, but rather created during the shoot with “50/50 front-surface mirrors.” The filmmakers used a dimmer to bring up one image as the other disappeared. Matt Dillon, in the role of Rusty James, was rigged to a body mold attached to an articulated arm that controlled his movement, and he was “flown” above the set with wires.
       Although the film is black and white, there are several scenes that incorporate color elements: the pet shop sequence in which the Motorcycle Boy is mesmerized by the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), or “Rumble Fish,” which are depicted in color, and the scene of Motorcycle Boy’s murder, which is accented with flashing red lights. Fish also appear in color at the beginning of the picture. Explaining that Motorcycle Boy was color blind, and that black and white was his natural way of seeing the world, Burum stated that color film was used to indicate the character’s breaks from reality, and an “emotional schism” in both the Motorcycle Boy and Rusty James. The colored fish effect was created by filming the main action in black and white, then projecting the footage on a rear projection screen. Placing the Betta fish in front of the black and white projection, the scene was shot again in color. Release prints were hand-assembled to accommodate the color inserts.
       According to Box, Coppola included a take in the final cut that was damaged by the lab, and it can be viewed in the picture with sprocket marks on one side.
       Coppola’s daughter, Sofia Coppola, made uncredited appearances as a baby in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, but she was first listed onscreen by the alias “Domino” for her roles in The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. Sofia Coppola, as “Domino,” receives an “introducing” credit in Rumble Fish, even though the film was released after The Outsiders. Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married (1986, see entry) marked the first time Sofia Coppola was credited onscreen under her real name.
       In the print viewed for this entry, Coppola is listed “Francis Ford Coppola” for his director credit, but “Francis Coppola” for executive producer and screenwriter.
       End credits conclude with: “This film is dedicated to my older brother, August Coppola, my first and best teacher.”
       End credits include the following acknowledgments: “The producers wish to gratefully thank: The citizens and businesses of Tulsa and Sapulpa, Oklahoma, for their patience, generosity, and kind assistance throughout the production of this motion picture,” and, “Special thanks: The Oklahoma Film Commission—Jim and Mary Nell Clark; Agamenmon Adrianos; Audiofidelity Enterprises, Inc.; Ben Breslauer; David Carrol; Alex Carter; Sean Daniel; Don Donigi; Roy Gardner; Hart Getzen; Herb Hower—Action Cycles; Barry Hirsch; Mayor Inhofe of Tulsa; David Korda; Bryce Marshall; Donna Martine; Cathy Masom, Chris Memke, Moody’s Jewelers of Tulsa; Debra Morrissette; Governor George Nigh of Oklahoma; Corky Overton; John Peters; Phil Radcliffe; Vic Ramos; Greg Sheldon; Richard Soames; Solow Glass Company of Tulsa; Robert Spiotta; Steve Starosta; Laura Kate Stevens; Steve Sutter; Everett Tippen; Jane Vickerilla; Wayne Wagner; and Mary Wilde.”