I’ll throw out some wildcards. These three are rebels but they also ironize the romanticism attached to the rebel figure.
Kit (Martin Sheen)—Badlands
Sailor (Nicholas Cage)—Wild at Heart
Pvt Joker (Matthew Modine)—Full Metal Jacket
I think Paul Newman does a more interesting and complicated character in Cool Hand Luke as well as The Long Hot Summer, than Brando or Dean did in their early movies.
Dorothy was a rebel.
Most importantly. the great Michel Simon in Boudu Saved from Drowning and L’Atalante
Winona Ryder and Christian Slater in Heathers
Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction
Hillary Swank
Jean-Paul Belmondo!
Richard Gere
Brando in Last Tango
Brad Pitt in Kalifornia
the two mean guys in The Boys Next Door
Brian Slade (Jonathan Rys-Myers) in Velvet Goldmine
Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo Vincent Gallo
Laura Dern in Wild at Heart
Scorpio in Scorpio Rising
Bill murray in stripes
Maybe we should start to lay some criteria down for just what is a rebel. Here are mine:
-A character that defies or dis-respects the “rules”
-Scoffs at conventions and social restraints
-Has an attitude that distinguishes them from everyone else
-Is a loner – no herd mentality here
-Always thinks for themself and recognizes no laws higher than their own
-They are not afraid to defy authority
To distinguish them from gangsters or people who just behave badly, they think their own atitudes through a marked defiance, or instinctively know them. They don’t just mis-behave to mis-behave, but their actions are intentional.
Apply these, or other standards you can think of, to see if the character you are thinking about is truly a rebel.
billy crudup in both jesus’s son and world traveller…and probably for being a golden god
@Damola thru Bob’s criteria: PERFECT!
Ill tell you what, Klaus Kinski was one crazy bastard!
Any new rebels out there that want to give this oldie a shot? Are there some recent examples in film? From the real down mood on the thread: I have lost faith in the majority of the younger generation, I think we need to re-vitalize the inner rebel in all of us. Any ideas or suggestions?
best recent example in films off the top of my head both come from Comic Book/Graphic Novel based films:
The Joker as played by Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight. not your daddy’s bad guy, that’s for damn sure. doesn’t want money, doesn’t want power, unless its power to make people cower—that wasn’t supposed to rhyme, just kinda did. he doesn’t even play by the rules other villians play by. all he wants is Chaos. first he wants Batman’s head, then he wants him to save the day, just so he can go back in and destroy it all over again. his philosophy is unheard of in most movie villians, and somehow it makes sense. my favorite line (can’t remember the exact line, but) was explaining how people think its okay if a truck of soldiers die because they’re supposed to die, but if someone says they’re going to kill the mayor? eveyrone panics! makes alot of sense to me actually.
Rorschach in Watchmen. not your daddy’s superhero. so full of hate, but instead of becoming a villian out to get revenge on the world, decides to be one of the good guys and STILL manages to get revenge on the world, by being the ultimate vigilanty. a true outlaw if ever i saw one, he’s not a criminal or a villian. just a misguided loner who wants to punish the bad and save the innocent—even if the hates the innocent, too. sure, if that fat, rich doctor of his was being mugged or his wife was being raped, Rorschach wouldn’t have a problem killing their attackers. but get them in a room alone together? Rorschach will make that fat rich man beg for his life. not a hero with a heart of gold, but a hero of sorts nonetheless.
Isabelle Adjani
Emile Hirsch
Well, Isabelle is my kind of rebel off-screen as well as on: she’s socked it to Muslims over Satanic Verses, to the Pope over condoms and AIDS, to the media over photos, intrusions and all sorts, to the racists and French generally over immigration and North Africans, whose rebels she’s actively supported. How could Daniel Day-Lewis have dumped her, by fax or text, apparently; dastardly bounder. I think perhaps i should make contact, pass on my ardent admiration for her screen performances, her love of poetry, her political stances and with thanks for that blissful summer evening we shared at Baiona, Galicia.
And who could forget her sashaying around in a ra-ra skirt, cocking a nonchalant snook(?) at social etiquette and sexual hypocrisy, while ready to blast away with a vengeance, in One Deadly Summer.
Bob Stutsman
For those asking if I meant the actor or the character, I meant the character they played – although sometimes one morphs into the other. Otherwise, I am afraid the likes of Britney or Paris might slip in here, which would not be cool. I’ll let Madonna in, for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan where she clearly does play a rebel. Let’s leave personal lives out of it, unless we are discussing limo rides with Angelina (I am willing to add “Billy” to my first name if that would do it for her). Now, for a true rebel lady, who proves age is no barrier to being a rebel, I pick Ruth Gordon as Maude in Harold and Maude. Just saw this again and, boy, can that old gal rock!
For men, how about that truly conflicted character of Travis in Taxi Driver so brilliantly portrayed by Robert de Niro. There’s a whole thread devoted to him (Travis) on this site. Whatever you say about Travis, he fits the rebel image, and shows just how much it had changed – how much darker – by the time the 70s rolled around.