Rebel | |
---|---|
Directed by | Michael Jenkins |
Based on | play No Names, No Pack Drill by Bob Herbert |
Produced by | Phillip Emanuel |
Starring | Matt Dillon Debra Byrne Bryan Brown |
Music by | Chris Neal |
Production company | Phillip Emanuel Productions |
Distributed by | Roadshow Entertainment (Australia) Vestron Pictures (United States) |
Release date |
|
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Budget | A$5 million [1] |
Box office | A$886,769 (Australia) [2] |
Rebel is a 1985 Australian musical drama directed by Michael Jenkins and starring Matt Dillon, Debra Byrne, and Bryan Brown. It is set in World War Two. [3]
The movie was based on the play No Names, No Packdrill, by Bob Herbert, uncle of Louis Nowra.
The play had its premiere in 1979 at the University of New England.
The play was performed by the Sydney Theatre Company in 1980 starring Mel Gibson and Noni Hazlehurst, directed by George Ogilvie. The production was so popular the season was extended at the Theatre Royal. [4]
It has been revived several times, notably in 2006. [5]
Considerable changes were made from the play, including turning the female lead from a postal worker into a singer in a female band. It was originally hoped to cast Olivia Newton-John in this role but Debra Byrne was cast instead and made a great personal success in it. [6]
Director Mike Jenkins decided to push the musical aspect, and went for a stylised approach in collaboration with designer Brian Thomson. The manager of Matt Dillon, who was imported to play the lead, did not like the approach, saying it was too much like a Francis Ford Coppola movie - which Thomson took as a compliment. He wanted his client to appear in a straight period film closer to Breaker Morant. However Jenkins and Thomson's vision prevailed. [7]
The film was not a success. Director Mike Jenkins later said that:
It's funny, Rebel has attracted some fierce critiques from intellectuals who subsequently liked other things that I've done. But it also won five AFI awards and was the most nominated film of its year. It was a curious piece; it didn't altogether work. I was interested in it because of the basic story about the American boy who wants to desert. It said something about Australia and Sydney in World War II. [8]
A Soundtrack was released in December 1985 and credited to Matt Dillon and Debbie Byrne. The album peaked at number 75 on the Kent Music Report.
Matthew Raymond Dillon is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award nomination and Grammy nomination.
Bryan Neathway Brown AM is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include Breaker Morant (1980), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), F/X (1986), Tai-Pan (1986), Cocktail (1988), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), F/X2 (1991), Along Came Polly (2004), Australia (2008), Kill Me Three Times (2014) and Gods of Egypt (2016). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his performance in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).
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Sweet Talker is a soundtrack album by Richard Thompson released in 1991. It is the soundtrack for the Australian film of the same name.
Debra Anne Byrne, formerly billed as Debbie Byrne, is an Australian pop singer, variety entertainer, theatre and TV actress and writer, director and choreographer of cabaret. From April 1971 to March 1975 she was a founding cast member of Young Talent Time. She started her solo singing career with a cover version of "He's a Rebel", which peaked at No. 25 on the Go-Set Australian Singles chart. At the Logie Awards of 1974 she won Best Teenage Personality and followed with the Queen of Pop Award in October – both ceremonies were sponsored by TV Week. She repeated both wins in the following year.
Hugh Keays-Byrne was a British-Australian actor. He began his career on stage in his native England, where he was member of the Royal Shakespeare Company between 1968 and 1972. After emigrating to Australia in 1973, he established himself as a supporting actor in action and thriller films like Stone and The Man from Hong Kong. His breakthrough film role was as the antagonist Toecutter in the original Mad Max. Decades later, he played another villain in the series, Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road.
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A rebel is a participant in a rebellion.
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A real general audience film, a fairly gentle film about some relationships, almost father-son relationships, single mum relationship with her son. It's not what I would call a film that has major clout to it. It's an entertainment film, but what it says is not bad. It's a soft film - it doesn't really go out there pretending it's saying anything world-shattering... In this industry quite a few things are haphazard. Sweet Talker is one of the more haphazard projects that has come along.
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Rebel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack to the 1985 Australian film of the same name which is based on the play No Names, No Packdrill by Bob Herbert.