Who Plays Ponyboy Curtis In The Outsiders?

Francis Ford Coppola is responsible for half a century of onscreen leading men. The greatest Hollywood actors of the later 20th century, from Al Pacino to Robert De Niro to Robert Duvall? They also got their big break in one of the first two "Godfather" films. That's not to say these actors wouldn't have been stars without Coppola's movies (none of them are exactly one-hit wonders), but the New Hollywood truly put several artists in the right place at the right time to produce classic films.

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

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. Conversely, the film's lead became more obscure. That would be C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis, little brother of Sodapop and Darrel. (Like Sodapop, Ponyboy is not a nickname). Most of "The Outsiders" follows Ponyboy and Johnny on the run, when Johnny accidentally kills a member of the rival upper-class gang, the Socs.

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

"The Outsiders" was C. Thomas Howell's second film after Steven Spielberg's "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial," where he played Tyler, one of big brother Michael's (Robert MacNaughton) friends. Even if he got to be one of the kids on the bikes, Howell's role in "The Outsiders" was definitely a more demanding 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 — the baby-faced Ralph Macchio was actually one of the oldest, born in 1961.) 

Howell's believable youth makes him extra convincing as the naive emotional center of the Greasers and the film. Johnny pleads that Ponyboy "stay gold," but Howell's later roles definitely do not have the same doe-eyed innocence. After "The Outsiders," Howell appeared in "Red Dawn," played the lead in romantic comedy "Secret Admirer," and then his career hit its big bump. 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 did wear blackface in "Soul Man," the movie which is now credited with seriously hurting his career.

These days, Howell is mostly a character actor with a large 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 Foyet, the lone surviving victim of masked, long-disappeared killer The Boston Reaper. In season 4 episode "Omnivore," the Reaper comes out of retirement; it turns out he made a deal with the case investigator Detective Tom Shaunessy, to vanish until either one of them dies. Unfortunately, Shaunessy passes first and the main characters are called in to catch the returned Reaper.

Foyet initially appears to be a fragile man, still shaken many years later from barely surviving a multiple stabbing attack (while his girlfriend didn't). Then it turns out Foyet is the Reaper, having framed himself as a victim to throw off suspicion. He escapes at the end of "Omnivore" and becomes particularly obsessed with series lead Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), who refused the same deal Shaunessy made. The Reaper stalks Hotchner and his family until being killed in the episode "100."

Howell's role as the Reaper may well be what got him the voiceover role of another psychopath: Reverse-Flash/Eobard Thawne in "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox."

"The Outsiders" is not necessarily Coppola's best remembered movie — but then again, when its competition going in was "The Godfather," "The Conversation," and "Apocalypse Now," it probably never could've been. It especially comes across as a safer and more commercial movie by Coppola after his experimental box office bomb, 1982's "One From The Heart."

Still, the movie has a decently strong following. Coppola released a longer cut of "The Outsiders" in 2005, and a museum recreating the Curtis' house set currently stands in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It even got a sequel, and I don't mean Coppola's "Rumble Fish." (Another S.E. Hinton adaptation, and one that's more surreal than the classical drama of "The Outsiders.")

In 1990, a 13-episode TV series of "The Outsiders" debuted on Fox and ran for one season. It was specifically billed as a sequel to the film, with Coppola and his Zoetrope Studios producing it. Since the original cast had gotten older (and more expensive), recasting was the only practical move.

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

"The Outsiders" is a story about class divides. Most actors, including Howell and Ferguson, aren't huge stars, but working men who drift from gig to gig like the Greasers.