The Legacy of Ivan Reitman: He Made Blockbuster Anarchy the New Rebellion
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIf there’s a word in American life that should probably be retired (or at least used a lot less often), it’s “rebel.” Back in the ’50s, when Marlon Brando was rebelling against “whatever ya got,” the rebel was a rare breed.
But the rock revolution opened the door to a generation of rebels — the freak-flag-flying music stars, plus their armies of followers.
The hippies and yippies were rebels. So were the glam rockers, punks, disco divas, and rappers, not to mention the raging antiheroes of New Hollywood films like “Bonnie and Clyde” and “M*A*S*H” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” By the time the director Ivan Reitman came along in the late ’70s, it seemed like there wasn’t much left to rebel against — at least, not in middle-class American life.
But that’s where Reitman, who died Saturday at 75, had an inspiration. What if rebellion as we knew it really was played out?
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