Young Rebels (1989) Poster

(1989)

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4/10
Not as "good" as Samurai Cop or Killing American Style
Leofwine_draca10 July 2016
The third film I've seen by Iranian-born action director Amir Shervan, following on from his later-made KILLING American STYLE and SAMURAI COP. Sadly, YOUNG REBELS lacks the so-bad-it's-good quality of those two movies, the inherent entertainment in their cheesiness, although it is very similar in look and feel. Somehow, this one lacks the edge and subsequently is just a poor B-movie.

The action-focused storyline is very similar to those of Shervan's two other movies. A group of bad guy criminals go around wasting rivals and innocent people caught up in their crimes. Robert Z'Dar is one again a hulking henchman. The nondescript heroes give chase and attempt to ambush the villains, resulting in plenty of shoot-outs and cheesy action violence. Old-timer Aldo Ray shows up in support.

Needless to say this is a film affected by the curse of the B-movie: awful acting, badly scripted dialogue, and just a couple of locations in which to set the action. It's a particularly weak film in terms of story with around half of the running time made up of striptease sequences from various actresses you don't particularly want to see nude in the first place. There are also an inordinate amount of sex scenes included to pad out the running time although most of them get interrupted before anything happens. The action is over the top but not as well staged as in, say, KILLING American STYLE. One other thing I have to criticise is the sound design. The gun fights are accompanied by ridiculously loud cannon booms every time a handgun or shotgun fires, so you have to turn the sound right down and end up missing most of the dialogue, which annoyed me.
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5/10
Good-bad, not great-bad
ofumalow18 October 2022
As others have mentioned, this is not as inspired a piece of dreck as the same director's "Samurai Cop," though it does have many of the same basic elements, from WTF screen presence Z'Dar (has any actor's face ever been QUITE so square?) to the incessant lame "martial arts" to actresses with implants who were probably discovered as strippers, and in fact largely PLAY strippers here. (And they're not even impressive in that mode.)

In fact most of the cast appears to have been cast for their bodies, male and female--maybe they found their "talent" between gyms and strip clubs. So, needless to say, the acting is highly variable, and the certifiable professionals (like Aldo Ray, who yells his way through a couple scenes) are not at all reliably on the "better" end.

I guess what most distinguished "Cop" is that the dialogue was just jaw-droppingly awful at times--I can still quote some lines. It's bad here too, but not quite memorably so. There's also a greater monotony to the "plot," which is pretty much just one shootout after another, each killing off a dozen or so extras introduced solely for that purpose. So, not a great bad movie. But still, an entertaining one if you're not too choosy.
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5/10
Good-Bad
omerus9112 February 2022
It's an Armin Shevran film allright.

It's what you'd call good-bad. There's some unintentional laughs in there, whether by dialogue or the way it's edited.

Grab a few friends, some drinks, and you'll have a wonderful time.
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5/10
Young rebels, and gypsy virtually same movie
tleelouis11 March 2023
If you've seen the movie Gypsy, then you've pretty much seen the movie Young rebels. Pretty much the only thing they seem to change instead of gypsies they had Mexicans doesn't seem like they changed much else between the movies. It kind of played out the same way. PS on IMDb. There is a character name. Liz the character is actually Kim. If you had a choice between watching gypsy or young rebels, I personally would watch gypsy multiple times. It's a better movie even though the actress that's in gypsy is in this movie if you're going to watch this movie, watch it for the character of Kim played by Christine Lunde. Who is by the way never mentioned in the end credits. Along with a slew of other actors. Though Dahlia Shepard is who again played a bit part. My only guess for that is at the time she was better known.
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7/10
For a laughable and ludicrous good time, do check out Young Rebels!
tarbosh220009 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Mr. Vincenzo (Rivas) is a local California mob boss. His son Joey (Z'Dar) and his goons are causing havoc all over town. The Sheriff (Ray) (That's all he's credited as) is ineffectual against the reign of terror caused by the Vincenzo family. That is, until Charlie (Greene) shows up. And, to a lesser extent, his girlfriend Liz (Lunde). They decide to take on the mob family the only way they know how - extended scenes of mindless shooting. Of course, Joey Vincenzo is the scary final boss...will Charlie be man enough to take him down?



One of our favorite directors of silly movies, Amir Shervan, once again provides silly dubbing, silly editing, silly plotting, silly performances, and filmmaking that is from every angle - not to put too fine a point on it - just downright silly. Sure, while it may be a bit amateurish and repetitive, it's also a ridiculous good time that you can't help but love. Or at least appreciate, especially considering they really don't make movies like this anymore. Whether that's a good thing or not is up to you...well, we're the ones writing the review, and we say it's a bad thing that they don't make absurd gems like this anymore. So there.





Yes, there are countless shootouts, chases, barfights, and stripping scenes, and some unfathomable subplot about smuggling illegals into the U.S., but really a lot of the running time of the film consists of weird-looking people beating up other weird-looking people.



Aldo Ray is in two scenes, attired in an ill-fitting Sheriff's getup. He steals both scenes. There should have been more instances where a confused and angry Aldo Ray yells at people. Shervan mainstay and fan favorite Robert Z'Dar is also here, as chinny as ever, but the real question is: why is this movie called Young Rebels? Who are the Young Rebels? And what are they rebelling against?



Maybe it was this unanswered question that caused the lack of a wide release for this movie (although it is entirely fitting because it makes just as little sense as anything else on show here). As far as we can tell, it never got any kind of release at all, even though it was made in the golden video store year of 1989. It's available, as of this writing, on Amazon Prime, and pretty much nowhere else. For its rarity alone (if not any of its other qualities) it's worth seeing.

So, if you've seen the other Shervan Classics and are missing out, you pretty much know what to expect. It's funny, it's ridiculous, it's absurd, and...forget seeing a boom mike at the top of the frame or its shadows, those can be seen in lots of low-budget efforts. Only in Young Rebels do you see a crew member clack the slate before a scene begins (It happens towards the end).

For a laughable and ludicrous good time, do check out Young Rebels.
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6/10
All over the place, but, still just as good as Killing American Style.
b_kite24 July 2020
While there seems to be a lot more going on here story wise, this thing is really all over the place, quality wise it's pretty much on par with Killing American Style. I will say though Amir has no problem putting beautiful woman in front of the camera, and I definitely appropriate that, as with the lack of rape this time around and thankfully we get Robert Z'Dar back goofy hairdo and all to. Also cheers to Cinema Epoch for making this thing look brand new.
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6/10
High Octane Big Chinned Action Movie
torrascotia7 April 2024
This film sits well in the badly made but good to watch because it is category. It seems to have been made by someone who has never been to America before, so we get their vision of what America is like in their mind, and it is quite entertaining.

The story is something to do with drug dealers and helicopter pilots but nobody is watching this for the narrative.

What this isn't however is well made and its not just the dialogue that is laugh out loud terrible. Its also the recording of the dialogue which varies from okay that sounds reasonable in volume to very loud/very quiet, not in synch with the actors lips and even at times voices that obviously do not come from that actor. An old mans voice from a guy in his 20s? Such madness is on show. The other whacky sound issues are the punch noises which only seem to kick in after the first few silent hits land, as if the sound effects guy has been caught out because he is watching something else more interesting. But its the gun noises that take the biscuit. Handguns sound like a Howitzer, shotguns ricochet like bullets from a spaghetti wester and people get shot but they somehow manage to shrug it off. It must be the magical bullet proof blouson leather jackets on show which is where a big chunk of the budget went. Apart from one guy whose leather had a massive hole in the sleeve.

Other stand out scenes are the stripper scenes of which there are about three too many, which all use the same terrible synth music which is funny in itself. I am guessing the director loves strippers, in particular ones who wiggle their backsides at people. While most movies will have one lady do this scene, we actually get to benefit from one girl finishing her act and then another girl comes in and does hers. Unnecessary but you likely won't be complaining. As long as you can avoid noticing the bad sunburn and lack of grooming on the girls. But it's not just female nudity, the male lead seems to have an aversion to shirts and there is no way of knowing the temperature this was filmed in. Because we have guys wearing full on winter coats while others roam around bare chested. There are plenty of action scenes however, many involving the big chin man. He is also involved in a love making scene which borders on partner abuse, with him on the receiving end.

All in all this is a highly entertaining movie for those well versed enough to spot how badly it has been made. If you approach watching this as a standard Hollywood movie you will be disappointed.
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