The Outsiders after 55 years

The Outsiders was authored by Tulsa native S.E. Hinton, who wrote the novel while she was in high school. The book, and those Hinton wrote next, are considered founding works in what has become known as the “young adult genre.” The Outsiders has sold more than 14 million copies over the past 55 years and has been translated into at least 30 languages. 40 years ago, a movie based on the novel and directed by Hollywood legend Francis Ford Coppola was filmed here in Tulsa, launching the careers of a plethora of actors who today are household names and giving a number of local talents the chance to appear in a major motion picture. La Semana recently spoke with two individuals who grew up in and around the north Tulsa neighborhood in which many of the scenes were filmed and whose faces have been immortalized, albeit briefly, on the silver screen.

La Semana met with Tim Ziegler and Joe Cervantes at The Outsiders House Museum, located at 731 N. St. Louis. The house and the neighborhood it is part of served as primary filming locations for the Coppola film. Private donations saved the house from obscurity a few years back, and transformed it into a museum dedicated to the movie and the book that started it all.

Cervantes grew up in the neighborhood, and Ziegler’s family’s art and framing store has been a mainstay in nearby Whittier Square – also featured in the move – for decades. Both men made appearances in The Outsiders film, and photographs taken by Cervantes can be seen at the museum.

Cervantes said celebrities visit The Outsiders House from time to time, and he recently had the pleasure of meeting one of them. “Leonardo Dicaprio was here to see the house not long ago, and he bought one of my photos,” Cervantes said.

Ziegler, who also appeared in Rumble Fish, another Coppola film based on a book by Hinton, recalled when the movie had one of its three official premiers.

“It had premiers in Los Angeles, Fresno, California, and Tulsa,” Ziegler said. “The one here in Tulsa was in March of 83. Patrick Swayze was here and C. Thomas Howell came.”

In addition to helping start the film careers of Swayze and Howell, other soon-to-be big names were also part of the cast, including Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, and Rob Lowe.

40 years since their brush with cinematic greatness, Cervantes, Ziegler, and other Tulsans who participated in the film get together at The Outsiders House from time to time to reminisce and answer questions from any curious visitors who happen to be there.

It was a story that sprang from the mind of a young Tulsa high school girl more than half a century ago, was further immortalized by a famous filmmaker, and is now the focus of a museum that reminds the world that great and enduring things can come from the most unexpected places.

For more information about the museum, or to schedule a private screening of the film, visit www.theoutsidershouse.com. (La Semana)