Rebel *** (1985, Matt Dillon, Debra Byrne, Bryan Brown) – Classic Movie Review 7309

Co-writer/ director Michael Jenkins’s 1985 Australian movie Rebel stars Matt Dillon as the eponymous American Marine sergeant Rebel, a traumatised American deserter from World War Two, who, while recuperating from battle, falls for married Aussie nightclub songbird Kathy McLeod (Debra [Debbie] Byrne) down under in Sydney.

If Michael Jenkins and Bob Herbert’s iffy screenplay does not always fully convince, director Jenkins’s comic-strip musical has enough pizzazz and oomph to pull it through. Dillon is at his most sculpted and romantic, while Byrne shows star quality. And the movie’s heart is in the right place with humanitarian sentiments expressed through the repeated beating of our poor rebel.

It won four 1985 Australian Film Institute awards – for Best Achievement in Cinematography (Peter James), Best Achievement in Production Design (Brian Thomson), Best Achievement in Costume Design (Roger Kirk) and Best Achievement in Sound.

Also in the cast are Bryan Brown, Bill Hunter, Ray Barrett, Julie Nihill and Kim Deacon.

Nine original songs are written by Peter Best.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7309

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