The Wild One (1953)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Laslo Benedek

Writers:

John Paxton (writer)
Frank Rooney (novel)

Release Date:

February 1954 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Marlon Brando! Driven Too Far By His Own Hot Blood!

Plot:

Two rival motorcycle gangs terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail.

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Motorcycle | Rival | Rebel | Sheriff

Cast

Marlon Brando	...	Johnny Strabler / Narrator
Mary Murphy	...	Kathie Bleeker
Robert Keith	...	Sheriff Harry Bleeker
Lee Marvin	...	Chino
Jay C. Flippen	...	Sheriff Stew Singer
Peggy Maley	...	Mildred
Hugh Sanders	...	Charlie Thomas
Ray Teal	...	Uncle Frank Bleeker
John Brown	...	Bill Hamegan
Will Wright	...	Art Kleiner
Robert Osterloh	...	Ben
Robert Bice	...	Wilson
Yvonne Doughty	...	Britches
William Vedder	...	Jimmy

Also Known As:

Hot Blood (USA) (working title)
The Cyclists Raid (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1954) | Finland:K-16 (1966) | Norway:16 (1956) | Norway:(Banned) (1954 - 1956) | Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | UK:R (original rating) (1955) | UK:X (re-rating) (1967) (cut) | USA:Approved (PCA #16106)

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

Marlon Brando's motorcycle is a 650cc Triumph Thunderbird. From stills, its registration number looks like 63632. Lee Marvin also owned a Triumph 200cc Tiger Cub upon which he competed in desert races. 'Jr Gil Stratton' was featured in a print advertisement for Triumph motorcycles in 1963. He later became a well-known TV sports reporter in Los Angeles for decades.

Goofs:

Continuity: The mark on Johnny's face (below left eye and received in earlier fight with Chino) is missing in the motorcycle ride to park with Kathie, but shows up later in following scenes.

Quotes:

[watching Johnny and Chino fight]
Charlie Thomas: What are they fighting about?
Jimmy: Don't know. Don't know themselves, probably.

Movie Connections:

Featured in No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005)

Marlon Brando is awesome!

The movies I've saw with Marlon Brando have always sparked emotion in me. His movies like Down on the Water Front and now The Wild One. A viewer might watch this movie and think it has no plot. However I believe the plot of this movie is is the character Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando. It's not about the motorcycle or the destruction they cause or the vigilante citizens. Its really about getting into the psyche of Johnny Strabler. I love movies that really dig deep into character development and this movie does.

After I finished watching this movie I felt I knew Johnny. I don't think he really had ever been loved, so he never learned to express love. In the movie he expressed love the only way he knew, that was through physical interation. He had a heart harden by a lot of pain and lies. I thought I saw a tear in his eye a few times. He truly just didn't know how to express emotion. But the gesture he showed at the end was the closet he'd ever get to saying, I love you.

A very romantic movie...