REBEL
Australia, 1985, 91 minutes, Colour.
Matt Dillon, Debbie Byrne, Bryan Brown, Bill Hunter, Ray Barrett, Julie Nihill. Kim Deacon.
Directed by Michael Jenkins.
Rebel is based on the play No Names... No Pack- Drill by Bob Herbert and was adapted for the screen with director Michael Jenkins. It is an unusual mixture of a World War II story, Sydney 1942, with a more contemporary musical style. The range of songs, many of them very attractive and entertaining, are by Peter Best (The Picture Show Man) and the musical score by Chris Neal.
Whether the film works as a coherent whole is open to question. However, it is an experiment in making a stylised war movie decades after the event.
Debbie Byrne gives a strong performance as well as lively renditions of the songs. Bryan Brown is at home with the role of a black marketeer in Sydney during the war. However, the American lead is Matt Dillon - giving a tortured performance but not necessarily credibly integrated into the whole film. Character actors like Bill Hunter and Ray Barrett lead a strong supporting cast.
In the '80s, several films were made about the effect of Americans in Australia during World War II: Emma's War starring Lee Remick and Death of a Soldier, based on the Leonski killings, starring James Coburn and Reb Brown.
1. Interesting and entertaining war story? Human story of relationships? A glimpse of the past? Musical interpretation?
2. The style and structure of the film: drama and musical? Showy and stylised, contrived? The Panavision photography? The sound engineering for the songs, the cabaret? The atmosphere of World War II and the stylised flashbacks? Sydney 1942, the club, the wharves? The stage sets? Colour and the pervading red? Decor, costumes? The choreography and style?
3. The title of the film and its focus, the original play - the film? The man from the south, the southern gentleman, absent without leave, the deserter? His experience of war?
4. The prologue and its stylised presentation, the pervading red, the war, the bamboo, the explosions, the Japanese and the Americans? Violence - desperation? The inserts of the war footage throughout the film? Rebel's story, audience reaction to it? And his showing the photo?
5. The songs and their range, the welcome to the Americans, air raid? The more plaintive songs and the ballads? `Don't Sweetheart Me'? `Mourning Steve'? `Nothing So Lethal as Love'? `Hero'? `The Boy from Alabama Meets the Girl from Gundagai'? The American war music? Debbie Byrne and her rendition, the musical accompaniment, the chorus, the mood and the choreography? The insertion of the songs into the plot?
6. The club, decor for the war, gaudy, the lights, the stage, the crowds? The American soldiers? The drinking? Bubbles and his style? Costume, playing? Singing with Kath? Steve? The characters at the club, performance? The reaction to the situation, tragedy?
7. American and Australian relationships in 1942? The outbreak of the war, the loud Yanks in Sydney, rest and recreation? Brothels, the black market, the spivs? The reaction of Australian women to the presence of the American soldiers? In retrospect?
8. Debbie Byrne's performance as Kath: the background of her life, the marriage? Singing and her talent? Steve and her brother, at war, deaths and sadness? Her ability, Bubbles using her? Her relationship with the girls in the chorus? The birthday party? The meeting with Rebel, the attraction, caution, hiding him? The friendship, the growing relationship? The return, their experiences together? Tiger and his double deals to get Rebel away? The police search? Joycie and her reaction, the truth? The search for Rebel? Helping him escape? Prison, return? Her relationship with him, her love for her husband - and the news of death?
9. Matt Dillon as Rebel, in the war, the experience of war, shell-shocked? Landing in Sydney, relying on the club? Its effect, happiness? His trauma? The party, the effect, his needs, haunted? Going round the town? The encounters with Tiger, the money for the boat, the failure of the escape? The pursuit of the military police? The friendship with Kathy and the bonds, the sexual encounter? The telegram? The hiding, Tiger and his collaboration? The bath, betrayal? Giving his word, the escape? The fight, wrestling? Tiger and the final confrontation? His return, giving himself up? The Christ symbolism - walking on the water to Chile? Tiger as the Judas? The confrontation, the knockout?
10. The portrait of the girls, Joycie, their performance, the relationships with the Americans, the good times? The work and the band? The police?
11. Tiger, the spiv, the black market and his industry, deals, the car, henchmen? Boats and tickets? Santa Claus? The house, his pretence, the betrayal, helping Rebel? The knockout?
12. The MPs and their work during the war, Australians, deserters? The investigations? Interrogations, the bashings, black and white soldiers? Arrests?
13. A partial look at Sydney during World War II, the experience of war, rest and recreation, memories?
