What Did Ralph Macchio Say to Make the Cast Laugh in ‘The Outsiders’ Infamous Photo?

Francis Ford Coppola certainly had his hands full when he cast dozens of teen males — who would go on to far greater fame — to headline his 1983 megahit The Outsiders. Unlike most movies, he took the entire cast out of the luxuries of Hollywood and immersed them into small-town life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they needed to live, work and play together.

In the film, the wealthy teens, dubbed the socs, lived on the West side of Tulsa in the 1960s and were played by Leif Garrett, Randy Anderson and Diane Lane. The greasers with their slicked-back hair, blue jeans and tees lived on the poorer East side of the city and were played by Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Tom Cruise.

Coppola purposely segregated the cast to help them further get  into character, giving the socs more luxury accommodations and leather-bound scripts. Pranks were common on the set and in their living quarters, too, where rumors of Rob Lowe being pranked with a fake fire alert had him running out of the hotel in his skivvies or C. Thomas Howell returning to the set to find his entire hotel room turned upside down. There was also the time when the cast had re-created the drowning scene in the hotel’s fountain, only to find the hotel removing the fountain weeks later — all have been cited before, but the funniest story is perhaps the staging of the publicity photo.

Fast forward to the day when publicity photos for The Outsiders were being taken. Shots of just the socs were done and then shots of the greasers were starting to take place. Originally no smiles were intended of the greasers — just blue steal toughness. While the greasers were being photographed (pictured are Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell and Tom Cruise) in walked the food service lady with a tray of sandwiches. The lady announced to the full set that the sandwiches were for talent only.  Then Leif Garrett, who played the soc Bob, walked in and went to the table. Macchio yelled to him from where he’s pictured in the photo: “Hey Leif, that’s for the talent.” And according to C. Thomas Howell, they all lost it, and that’s when they captured the shot.

Pure gold!