Heartwarming / The Outsiders

• Darry Curtis gave up his chance at college and works two jobs to support his younger brothers. Soda ended up dropping out of high school so that he could work full time and help Darry pay the bills. They're both fiercely protective of their youngest brother, Ponyboy, though they have different ways of showing it.
• Most seventeen year olds wouldn't let their fourteen year old brothers tag along with them and their friends, or sleep in the same bed with them to keep them from getting nightmares. Ponyboy's Big Brother Worship of Sodapop is definitely justified.
• Ponyboy and Johnny's time spent together at the church.
• The reunion between Ponyboy, Darry and Sodapop at the hospital. Soda hugs Ponyboy and spins him around, and Darry ends up crying with relief when Ponyboy hugs him. Its one of the first moments of genuine positive connection between the oldest and youngest of the Curtis brothers, and has a profound effect on how Pony sees Darry.
  I let go of Soda and stood there for a minute. Darry didn't like me... he had driven me away that night... he had hit me... Darry hollered at me all the time... he didn't give a hang about me... Suddenly I realized, horrified, that Darry was crying. He didn't make a sound, but tears were running down his cheeks. I hadn't seen him cry in years, not even when Mom and Dad had been killed... He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. "Oh, Pony, I thought we'd lost you... like we did Mom and Dad..."
  That was his silent fear then— of losing another person he loved. I remembered how close he and Dad had been, and wondered how I could ever have thought him hard and unfeeling.
• Darry also ends up carrying Ponyboy into the house after he falls asleep in the car, which is really just too cute for words.
• Soda runs out of the house when Pony and Darry try to drag him into their argument, and they both end up chasing after him. After Pony tackles him, the three of them end up having a conversation where he begs the two of them to stop fighting so often, and they agree.
• Dally is frequently described as the harshest member of the gang, and the only one deserving of their delinquent reputation. Still, when Ponyboy and Johnny go to him after Bob's murder, he drops everything to help them without hesitation, giving them money, a gun, and suggestions on how to get out of town and where to hide once they do. True Companions indeed.
• The scene of Ponyboy and Johnny watching the sunrise is a very iconic and poignant moment, which seems to give the two boys a glimmer of hope during their time in hiding, especially after all the brutality that they have witnessed.
• Tough-as-nails Dally in any scene with Morality Pet Johnny. (Doubles as a Tear Jerker)
  Dally swallowed and reached over to push Johnny's hair back. "Never could keep that hair back..."
• Real Life example: The actors pulled some pranks in the hotel where they stayed while shooting this movie. Years later, Tom Cruise was introduced to someone who said he worked at the hotel Cruise and the rest of the cast stayed in, while they shot this movie. The first thing Cruise said when he heard that was, "I'm sorry."