Although not completely successful, Rebel is most interesting as a sort of Australian Cabaret set in a 1940s Sydney nightspot. Into this setting stumbles Rebel (Matt Dillon), an American deserter who falls heavily for singer Kathy (Debbie Byrne) who fronts an all-girl band while her hardly-loved husband is away at war. Although Dillon, evoking memories of Montgomery Clift in From Here to Eternity, and Bryan Brown, as the local sharpie, supply the film's star-power, it's Byrne, unpretty for sure and with as many curves as a millpond but absolutely bursting with acting and singing talent, who dominates the whole film. Her songs are perfectly attuned to the gaudy, nerve-edged, raucous mood of a film which seems permanently under the third degree of a red filter. Fascinating and inventive entertainment.

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