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Movies

15 Revolting Movie Youths

By Simon Kinnear published 29 January 2010

Sorting out the rebels from the rabble

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Francois Dillinger

Francois Dillinger

The actor/film: Michael Cera, Youth In Revolt (2010)

Anti-social behaviour: Francois est un bad boy. Giving a Gallic shrug to good behaviour, he prefers sex, smoking and criminal damage.

Rebel Cause: Francois isn't real. He's the alter-ego of virginal nice guy Nick Twisp (also Cera), who's chosen the Serge Gainsbourg vibe in order to keep the girl of his dreams.

Rebellious or Revolting? Francois is kinda cool...but it must be well creepy for Nick's friends when he randomly starts behaving like un salaud .

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Prev Page 1 of 15 Next

Johnny Strabler

Johnny Strabler

Actor/film: Marlon Brando, The Wild One (1953)

Anti-social behaviour: Whaddya got? As head of biker gang Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, Johnny has the means to wreak havoc. But he still goes all tongue-tied in the presence of a girly.

Rebel Cause: Johnny doesn’t give much away, although he hints at an abusive childhood. Mainly, though, he doesn’t like squares.

Rebellious or Revolting? Today's Asbo kids would 'ave him in seconds. But without Johnny's iconic poise, we'd probably still be asking our parents permission to stay out past midnight.

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Prev Page 2 of 15 Next

Veronica Sawyer

Veronica Sawyer

Actress/film: Winona Ryder, Heathers (1989)

Anti-social behaviour: The ultimate about-turn. One minute she's an honorary Heather, the clique that runs her high school. The next, she's plotting their execution under the tutelage of canteen whack-job J.D. (Christian Slater).

Rebel Cause: Boredom with her job of being popular and shit. Her teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.

Rebellious or revolting? Serial killing really ought to put her in the latter category. But her Swatch dogs and Diet Coke head victims do kinda deserve it.

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Prev Page 3 of 15 Next

Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker

Actor/film: Haydn Christiansen, Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Anti-social behaviour: Betraying – and slaughtering – his Jedi mates to curry favour with the Dark Side’s head honcho, Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid). Bad padawan.

Rebel Cause: He says it’s because he wants to protect wife Padme (Natalie Portman). But, deep down, it’s because Yoda passed him over for promotion.

Rebellious or Revolting? Even before the charred stump of his body is encased in cybernetic body armour, he shows his vile nature by strangling preggers Padme.

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Prev Page 4 of 15 Next

Ferris Bueller

Ferris Bueller

Actor/film: Matthew Broderick, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

Anti-social behaviour: Truant maestro Ferris manages to cram modern art mockery, a parade day singalong and the demolition of a Ferrari into a single schoolday, without being caught.

Rebel Cause: A philosopher's awareness of the fleeting joys of life...although a shit-eating grin and unparalleled cockiness can't hurt.

Rebellious or Revolting? The most radical thing most of us do on a bunk-off is to snuggle under the duvet in front of Diagnosis: Murder . Compared to that, Ferris is Che Guevara.

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Prev Page 5 of 15 Next

Frank Abagnale, Jr

Frank Abagnale, Jr

Actor/film: Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Anti-social behaviour: Flying passenger jets, treating patients, trying court cases. Career stiff? Try 'unqualified teen conman.'

Rebel Cause: Traumatised after seeing his parents split up over bad debts, Frank Jr is just living the dreams denied his pauper papa (Christopher Walken).

Rebellious or Revolting? Come off it. Given half a chance, we’d all be trying it on, right?

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Prev Page 6 of 15 Next

Alex DeLarge

Alex DeLarge

Actor/film: Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Anti-social behaviour: High on drencrom and Ludwig van, Alex is up for lashings of ultra-violence and a bit of the old in-out. Oh, and he doesn’t care too much for the Queen’s English, either.

Rebel Cause: Alex sees only dullness in the cruel attitudes of family and society alike. So he's made sure his cruelty is exciting .

Rebellious or revolting? On the one hand, there’s the cheeky wit, the funky threads, and the fact that the authorities are brutal gits. On the other hand, you really wouldn’t want a surprise visit from Alex.

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Prev Page 7 of 15 Next

Billy Loomis

Billy Loomis

The actor/film: Skeet Ulrich, Scream (1996)

Anti-social behaviour: Watch a few movies, make a few notes, and suddenly Billy and partner-in-crime Stu (Matthew Lillard) are Munch-masked serial killers taking 'trick or treat' too far.

Rebel Cause: It's scarier without a motive. Sadly, Billy has a rather humdrum one: abandoment, leading to revenge. Less "Boo!" than boo-hoo.

Rebellious or Revolting? Crazy? They prefer the term 'psychotic.' Same difference when you're being garrotted. Somebody revoke their Blockbuster rental card, will ya?

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Prev Page 8 of 15 Next

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko

Actor/film: Jake Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko (2001)

Anti-social behaviour: Oh, the usual... Flooding his school, swinging an axe into a statue, burning down the home of a local paedophile, that sort of thing.

Rebel Cause: The long version – involving time travel and falling jet engines – is complicated. But essentially, he’s acting out because a rabbit told him to.

Rebellious or Revolting? When most messed-up kids’ defiance takes the form of drinking cider in the park, Donnie scores 10/10 on originality alone.

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Prev Page 9 of 15 Next

Jim Stark

Jim Stark

The actor/film: James Dean, Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Anti-social behaviour: The full gamut of 1950s teen scandal from the mildly outrageous (drunk and disorderly) to the insanely dangerous (a clifftop 'chicken run' drive).

Rebel Cause: Surely he's Without ? Well...no. The cool title's just a smokescreen for another by-rote dysfunctional movie family.

Rebellious or Revolting? Just a bit mixed up, is all. He'll soon grow out of it. For textbook fucked-up delinquency, check out Jim's best mate, gun-toting headcase Plato (Sal Mineo).

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Prev Page 10 of 15 Next

Raymond Aibelli

Raymond Aibelli

Actor/film: Jeremy Davies, Spanking The Monkey (1994)

Anti-social behaviour: The monkey-spanking we can understand. The suicide attempts aren’t that unusual. But dont’cha think he’s getting too close to invalid Susan (Alberta Watson)? After all, she is his mother.

Rebel Cause: Mom's totally coming on to him with those endless requests to be washed. And, stuck in the middle of nowhere, there’s not much else to do.

Rebellious or Revolting? If your first thought isn't "Eww!" you might want to reconsider your life's priorities.

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Prev Page 11 of 15 Next

Louise Freeland

Louise Freeland

Actress/film: Evan Rachel Wood, Thirteen (2003)

Anti-social behaviour: Led astray by wild child Evie (Nikki Reed), 13-year-old Louise hurtles headlong into body piercings, sniffing aerosols and underage blowjobs. Sounds like the synopsis for one of those late night Hollyoaks specials, doesn't it?

Rebel Cause: Mom (Holly Hunter) is a ex-addict screw-up has suddenly gone all puritan on Louise's ass. So of course she's gonna play up.

Rebellious or Revolting? It's a phase. Give it a year and she'll be back into Hannah Montana and Nintendogs.

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Prev Page 12 of 15 Next

The Sherminator

The Sherminator

Actor/film: Chris Owen, American Pie (1999)

Anti-social behaviour: Chuck Sherman is a sexual revolutionary. As The Sherminator, he’s a one-man robot army from the future, here to make some sweet loving to humankind.

Rebel Cause: It’s totally an act, dude. None of Chuck’s Sherm-sperm has ever got within 100 yards of the laydeez.

Rebellious or Revolting? Remember: no likey, no lightey. Blimey, it's gone dark in here.

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Prev Page 13 of 15 Next

Antoine Doinel

Antoine Doinel

Actor/film: Jean-Pierre Léaud, The 400 Blows (1959)

Anti-social behaviour: Quantity rather than quality. Antoine indulges in minor mischief (theft, graffiti) but gets caught so often he’s interned in a work camp for delinquents.

Rebel Cause: If you guessed 'bad parenting,' you'd be right. Yet again. Antoine's adulterous mother is so cold she actually told her son she wanted to abort him.

Rebellious or Revolting? Antoine grows up to be a bit of a dick in the sequels (we say franchise, they say français) but here we just want to reach out and give him a hug.

Prev Page 14 of 15 Next

Prev Page 14 of 15 Next

John Bender

John Bender

The actor/film: Judd Nelson, The Breakfast Club (1985)

Anti-social behaviour: Specifically, pulling a false fire alarm. But of all the kids in detention (brain, athlete, basket case, princess) it's Bender, "the criminal," who is the regular.

Rebel Cause: John cites an abusive father as the root of his woes. Most flagrant act of abuse? Calling him Bender.

Rebellious or Revolting? After a Saturday morning with this lot, Bender's gone from wild one to princess-lovin' softie. Detention: it's cheaper than therapy.

Prev Page 15 of 15 Next

Prev Page 15 of 15 Next

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