The Wild One (1953)

Director:

Laslo Benedek

Writers:

John Paxton (screenplay)
Frank Rooney (based on a story by)
(more)

Release Date:

February 1954 (USA)

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 | Rebel | Sheriff | Trophy

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	...	Frank Bleeker
John Brown	...	Bill Hannegan
Will Wright	...	Art Kleiner
Robert Osterloh	...	Ben
William Vedder	...	Jimmy
Yvonne Doughty	...	Britches
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Del Tenney
Wally Albright	...	Cyclist (uncredited)
Chris Alcaide	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Don Anderson	...	Stinger (uncredited)
Robert Anderson	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Robert Bice	...	Wilson (uncredited)
Nicky Blair	...	One of Chino's Boys (uncredited)
Norman Budd	...	One of Chino's Boys (uncredited)
Timothy Carey	...	Chino's Boy #1 (uncredited)
Charles Cirillo	...	Bee Bop (uncredited)
Keith Clarke	...	Gringo (uncredited)
Jim Connell	...	Boxer (uncredited)
Ted Cooper	...	Racer (uncredited)
Dude Criswell	...	Cyclist (uncredited)
George Dockstader	...	Cyclist (uncredited)
John Doucette	...	Sage Valley Race Official (uncredited)
Darren Dublin	...	Dinky (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	...	(uncredited)
Don Fera	...	Cyclist (uncredited)
Jack Gargan	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Sam Gilman	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Frank Hagney	...	Official (uncredited)
Joe Haworth	...	One of Chino's Boys (uncredited)
Pepe Hern	...	One of Chino's Boys (uncredited)
Harry Landers	...	GoGo (uncredited)
Eve March	...	Dorothy - Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Patrick Miller	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Mort Mills	...	Deputy (uncredited)
Alvy Moore	...	Pigeon (uncredited)
Mary Newton	...	Mrs. Thomas (uncredited)
Kathleen O'Malley	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Sawyer (uncredited)
Jerry Paris	...	Dextro (uncredited)
Gene Peterson	...	Crazy (uncredited)
K.L. Smith	...	One of Chino's Boys (uncredited)
Angela Stevens	...	Betty (uncredited)
Gil Stratton	...	Mouse (uncredited)
Jerry Sullivan	...	Spectator Cyclist (uncredited)
John Tarangelo	...	Red (uncredited)
Bruno VeSota	...	Simmonds (uncredited)
Danny Welton	...	Bee Bop (uncredited)
Blackie Whiteford	...	Bystander at Art's Accident (uncredited)

Directed by
Laslo Benedek

Writing credits
John Paxton		(screenplay)
Frank Rooney		(based on a story by)
Ben Maddow		uncredited

Produced by
Stanley Kramer	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Leith Stevens

Cinematography by
Hal Mohr		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Al Clark

Production Design by
Rudolph Sternad

Art Direction by
Walter Holscher

Set Decoration by
Louis Diage

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Paul Donnelly	....	assistant director

Sound Department
George Cooper	....	sound engineer

Stunts
X Brands	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Carson	....	stunt double: Marlon Brando (uncredited)
Larry Duran	....	stunts (uncredited)
Richard Farnsworth	....	stunts (uncredited)
Whitey Hughes	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carey Loftin	....	stunts (uncredited)
David Sharpe	....	fight double: Marlon Brando (uncredited)
Tom Steele	....	fight double: Lee Marvin (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Shorty Rogers	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Jim Cameron	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Willie Forkner	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Stanley Kramer Productions (as A Stanley Kramer Company Production)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1953) (USA) (theatrical) (presents) (as Columbia Pictures Corporation)
• Columbia Pictures (1960) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1986) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (1998) (Canada) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (1999) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia Pictures (1955) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2013) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Sony Pictures Television (????) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | UK:R (original rating) (1955) | UK:X (re-rating) (1967) (cut) | USA:Approved (PCA #16106) | Finland:(Banned) (1954) | Finland:K-16 (1966) | Norway:(Banned) (1954 - 1956) | Norway:16 (1956) | USA:TV-14 | West Germany:16 (f)

Filming Locations:

Conejo Valley, Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Trivia:

This was the first film in which the manufacturer's logo on motorcycles was not blanked out. Johnson Motors, who imported Triumphs into the USA, protested at their product being linked with Brando and his Black Rebels, but the association served them well.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Wire holding handle-bar/throttle can be seen during side view of Johnny's run-away cycle before it hits and kills Jimmy.

Quotes:

Johnny:I'm afraid of you? Are you cracked?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Rise of Two Legends (2006) (V)

Strong performances in an original take on a persistent theme

An early Brando vehicle, The Wild One has the air of a local genre for the postwar American youth, determined to strike out and be different from the previous generation - despite little idea of what the alternative is. Of course, there is no real genre at work in this sort of movie but the rise of the youthful celebrity typified by Brando and the obvious climate for generational schism brought by the end of the war specifically midwived films such as this.

Brando is very watchable - I particularly like an early sequence, where, despite his determination to defy any expectation, he gets trapped into following a bargirl (Mary Murphy) around like a puppy. His aimlessness is well calibrated, offset with the defining line of the movie: 'What are you rebelling against?' asks a local. 'What have you got?' ripostes Brando's Johnny.

Also popping up on screen is a necessarily over the top Lee Marvin as an amigo/antagonist counterpart to Johnny and a brilliantly ineffectual yet despondently wise town Sheriff, given by Robert Keith. He alone sees the ever-turning circle of young growing up but is rendered powerless by the very circumstance that gives this study in the unassuming, self-education of youth its ring of temporal genre. With equally committed performances across the rest of the ensemble, the film becomes more than a document though. 6/10