Actor C. Thomas Howell got his first acting gigs on television, but quickly moved on to film work in the early 80's. He had a small part in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," in which he got enough screen time to catch the eye of Director Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was casting for the lead role in an adaptation of a novel by S. E. Hinton, and Christopher Thomas Howell landed the starring role.

Other brat pack era actors who appeared in the film included Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Maccio, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez. What was the name of the film?

Bonus Question: The film mentioned in the first part of this question was probably the high point for Howell during the 80's. Despite being named one of the most promising young actors of the early 80's, many of his subsequent films didn't fare so well at the box office. Maybe it was because of the odd film roles he ended up in. In the movie "Tank," his father (played by James Garner) comes to rescue him from a juvie prison farm in a Sherman tank. In Red Dawn, he played a teen guerrilla who helps repel a Soviet invasion. He switched back to teen comedies with "Secret Admirer," which was a little more successful. But then in 1986 he starred in "Soul Man," a film that was poorly received due in part to its controversial premise.

There were plenty of 80's flicks where the star has to pose as somebody else to get a job/an apartment/a scholarship/whatever, but in "Soul Man" Howell has to pose as a black student in order to get into Harvard Law School. Not everyone found that funny. Oh well, if "Soul Man" didn't earn him rave reviews, it did give him the chance to meet his first wife. A few years later, he married the actress who co-starred with him in that film. What was her name?