It was absolutely, hands down, everything we had hoped it would be and more; the movie AND getting to finally meet C. Thomas Howell and Ralph Macchio, as well as seeing Susie again.
Ralph and Tom were the only two of the actors who were able to come as it turned out, but they had a wonderful private visit with S.E. Hinton and got to spend considerble time with her just 'hanging out'; dinner, checking out the filming locations, ect. Tommy and Ralph both looked great as you will see in the pictures attatched.
We met up with 4 men and one woman who had bit parts in the film and still lived fairly close to Tulsa, as well as Mike Ransom and his wife, who runs the website Tulsa TV Memories. (www.tulsatvmemories.com)
Before we went to the theater, Karen and her son, James, Grady, and a friend of his drove around looking at filming sites. I stayed behind at the hotel to get ready. We didn't go to dinner or anything beforehand.
We arrived early, around 5:15pm so that we would be there when the rest of our group showed up. There were about 100 people there who were guests of Warner Bros. (should have the exact head count soon via WB representatives) as well as representatives and attendees from Street School and the Mayor of Tulsa's office.
There was about 500 people there total and many many more simply watched from outside theater to see Hinton and the guys on the Red Carpet. Newscasts were there as well as lots of other Media. Grady even got an interview by one of them before the actors arrived!!!!
We did receive total VIP treatment from Warner Bros. Home Video and all three (Howell, Macchio, and Hinton). See, you not only had to have the mailed invite to even get into the movie, but you had to have a seperate pass to go upstairs to the champagne reception.
During the Chamagne reception I and Karen both got the opportunity to speak briefly with all three (Howell, Macchio, Hinton) and James helped introduce the men whom they had worked with all those years ago. See the 'uncredited roles' page of The Outsiders website for more details on that (coming soon). Both Tom and Ralph were surprised and seemed thrilled to see them as they not only were in scenes with them but also simply 'hung out' with them off-set partying and having the typical teenage fun they did.
Both Ralph and Tom signed my guest ticket (S.E. Hinton did later too) as well as getting to speak with them both again after the film. The only reason I was included in this event was due to the fact of the website I believe, and the fact that we've worked with Hinton for so long. Susie was thrilled to see us and she looked wonderful and shining.
I did not approach Ralph or Tom until Susie waved me over. Even then I did the "who me?" motion to make double sure it was me she was waving to come over. So I let them make the first move. From then on it was easy though, and we (Karen and I) did approach them but only at the right time.Ralph was talking to me about having visited 'Johnnys house' [thanking us for having found it in June] and proclaimed in genuine shock "man, it's worse than it was then and there's a pig on the porch!". I imagine he doesn't exactly see much of that on Long Island
For the movie, our group was seated in the very front row of the mid level of the theater - prime seats! The guys (extras) had a blast it seemed seeing themselves on the big screen; pointing out their parts wearing ear-to-ear grins the whole time. There was lots of clapping and hoopla and it was just wonderful.
Susie got up and spoke before the movie, referring to herself "...not as a celebrity of Tulsa, but a citizen of Tulsa." Lots of cheers on that one as 99% of the folks there were Tulsa residents and supporters. BTW- the Mayor proclamined September 8, 2005 "S.E. Hinton Day in Tulsa"! Lots and lots of cheers and if I remember right a standing ovation on that proclamation.
After the movie they did a Q & A along with Kim Aubry who produced the new DVD. "The Outsiders Book and Movie Website" even got an honorable mention and Karen and I had to stand up and wave and do all that!! It was wonderful (a bit embarassing as I'm shy and not out there for atta-boys) and very very surprising to both of us. The 'Socs' and "Sandy" also got the light shone on them for a second as well; which was long coming and well deserved.
The movie is just phenominal and all fans will be thrilled with the new version. Everyone came home with a goody bag of the DVD, a paperback copy of the book, and information on an organization called "Street School" which hosted the event. (more on that later too as their website is still under construction).
After the movie folks gathered outside in the lobby gathering autographs from Tom and Susie; Ralph too but he was the quickest to leave as he had a crack of dawn flight to LA (reason / destination unknown). He signed a few autographs and I did catch him as he was climbing into his limo (oh yes, stretch limos for all three of them). I simply wanted to tell him "Aweseome and Loved it" so I just said his name; loudly but not hollering to get his attention as security had closed him off to autograph / photo seekers. He turned around apparently hearing me, climbed out of the limo, and motioning to the security that it was cool, came over to me (about 10 paces max), gave me a huge hug, thanking me again (as he had earlier) for my work on both his and The Outsiders sites and asking me a bit about where I was from again ect. I just lucked out on the limo thing...he could've just as easily ignored me and simply shut the door. He is such a genuine and kind person and I feel so honored to have finally gotten to meet him. (same with CTH, more to come on that). Saying goodbye and that he'd be in touch, he climbed back into the limo and off they went. Wow....anyway...
I went back inside and just hung around; watching people, talking to those in my group, ect. Susie Hinton was busy herself signing and doing the picture thing. She seldom (VERY) does public events such as this and it being such a huge night for her it was such an honor to be a guest. People were leaving and the crowd really only lasted maybe 45 min max after the movie / Q&A let out and our group (the 'extras and us) were really close to the last to leave. By now it was around 11:00 and we got to talk to Susie one-on-one for quite a while, along with her husband David whom we had met on our visit there in June. We had introduced her to the 'Socs' and 'Sandy' earlier and they got a little better time to talk with her briefly, along with Tom. Lots of discussing, laughing and a few hugs later, we departed; they on their way in their limos and us to breakfast at a local Denny's. Turns out Tom also was flying back to LA very early in the morning (Fri) and Susie was tired [very] as we all were; short on sleep and bordering on delirium from lack of [sleep].
After our midnight supper we went our seperate ways, we to our hotel, and the others to home or wherever. Friday was a long day for me and Karen of plane trips; home for me, NYC for her.
I will be getting more pics from the others in our little group soon and will share them with you. However unless the person providing them says 'fine' they are simply for your enjoyment and not for posting on other websites. They've giving their ok of course for them to appear on the Outsiders site.
But until then, there's the really really really short version of a event that will be simply unforgettable!
