Rebel

A few days before Sylvester Stallone's latest movie The Expendables came out, I was at the used video store called Grand Cinema Station and stumbled upon this VHS case from Paragon Video Productions that had him on the cover and had the title of Rebel. I bought it right away but I have just now gotten through watching it. In a nutshell, Stallone plays Jerry Savage who is part of an underground terrorist group that's planning to blow up a building in Manhatten. It's interesting watching a film from this time in the late '60s-early '70s and seeing and hearing various news footage of the riots of the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 (where and when I was just a few months old), the speeches of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and various hit songs of the time. Also interesting is seeing someone later known as more of a conservative figure playing a left-wing radical. Not to mention his reactions when a woman in his group recounts her abortion or another lady from the country he likes argues with him about his bombing methods vs. her more peaceful tranquility living. This is not a great movie but it's certainly a fascinating document of such a turbulent time in U.S. history and of Sylvester Stallone's early contribution to that era.

I own this movie under a different title "REBEL". It's ok. A bit slow, but it does have a plot. It tells the story of a young man having to choose between his desire to be part of a social movement in the late sixties. Or the love of a country girl, a true "flower child" he meets on his way to Manhatten. I liked it because it shows Sly before he became so pretty

Believe it or not, I was pumped up to see this movie after seeing a preview for it on another tape. My hopes, however, were quickly dashed as I found it hard to get through the first 10 minutes with my eyes still open. Dreadfully boring and slow moving, the only redeemable factors are when Sly attacks a chair and his final run through a field......clad head to toe in denim. After watching this, my friends and I took a trip down to the shore and buried it in the sand. That was the only enjoyment we got out of this movie, which is truly one of the worst pieces of work I have ever seen. Enjoyment may be slightly higher if you make bad Stallone impressions while watching it.

Plot In A Paragraph: A young Sly Stallone plays a sixties radical who must choose between his love for a beautiful country girl and his loyalties to a terrorist group planning to bomb a Manhattan skyscraper.

This movie had all unknown actors, including a then unknown Sly, he looks really youthful and for me his performance shows early promise.

It starts with Sly hitchiking, stopping to feed a horse, before finally getting a lift to New York. Real life war footage is mixed with a guy singing a protest song " what are we fighting for". A random conversation about hamburger sales that wouldn't look out of place in a Tarantino movie later, Sly meets a guy in the street, it's revealed "everything is in place", and that Sly used to have a beard ("a lot happens in a year") as a movie It's OK. not great quality on my DVD, and the audio is out in places, which is annoying.

It's a bit slow, (I was tempted to turn it off after 20 minutes to do some ironing) despite a short running time it really feels like much, much longer. But it does have a plot, and takes the time to build the tension. With some reworking and a decent soundtrack, this could be a decent 70's thriller, but as it is, it's very cheap and only my devotion to Sly got me all the way through it...wonder if he could actually watch this movie now a days.

However Sly's performance is brilliant at conveying the confusion of the times. The end is a very emotional one for Sly as he's seen stumbling through fields, It also has a beautiful soundtrack (not counting the 70's horror music) with some good songs.

I can see why some people may not get all the way through this movie, I would like to know how many people actually paid to see this one when it was first released.

REBEL" (aka "NO PLACE TO HIDE") is mostly like an independent film that when it came out had little to no interest, but as decades passed it somewhat caught the eye of a ''few'' for the casting of its upcoming star. Still I wouldn't bother with it, unless you're a fan of Sylvester Stallone and want to see everything he's done. Outside of that, there's not much to recommend. The story follows a college dropout Jerry Savage, turned homegrown terrorist involved in an underground movement wanting to take down the corporate war machine while the FBI closes in.

This clunky low-budgeter is very much a product of its era. The movement of the late 1960s shines through and the backdrop of New York City is authentically brought across. Be it through stock footage, or gritty location shooting with its documentary-like style. Being made during the Vietnam era the political tailoring is at the forefront, yet the narrative is pretty long on its build-up consisting of numerous exchanges (capitalism, propaganda, spiritualism & etc) and tactical scheming of what needs to be done for this group to get their point across. Also the FBI is in the same boat in trying to weed out these organized bombers. Editing between scenes can be ragged and the script is more talk and ideas, than anything of action. So tension, or its attempts of it stems mainly from the character interactions. In spite of one or two minor visual moments towards the end. Even so there's a lot of sitting around and trivial waxing, causing it drag at times. Strangely though, the presence of Stallone keeps you watching. It's a raw, yet affecting performance of confliction that you can see why he went onto bigger, better things.