The Outsiders (1983) made movies stars of some unknown kids.
The original novel and the movie were both created within a few blocks
of Jim McDuffie’s mobile home lot on Admiral Boulevard in Tulsa.
The wizard doesn’t know the movie actors, but he grew up
with the boys they’re pretending to be. 

Francis Ford Coppola breathed cinematic life into The Outsiders of
S.E. Hinton at the urging of a junior high librarian from Fresno, California.
Her letter was accompanied by a petition from the students.
“It was signed by like 110 little signatures,” Coppola recalls.
“Who can ignore that?”