The Wild One
| The Wild One | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster. | |
| Directed by | László Benedek |
| Written by | Novel: Frank Rooney Screenplay: John Paxton Ben Maddow |
| Produced by | Stanley Kramer |
| Starring | Marlon Brando Mary Murphy Lee Marvin |
| Narrated by | Marlon Brando |
| Cinematography | Hal Mohr |
| Edited by | Al Clark |
| Music by | Leith Stevens |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | December 30, 1953 (USA) |
Running time | 79 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
The Wild One is a 1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. It is famed for Marlon Brando's iconic portrayal of the gang leader Johnny Strabler.
Basis
The Wild One was based on a short story, The Cyclists' Raid by Frank Rooney, in the January 1951 issue of Harper's Magazine. The story was later published in book form as part of The Best American Short Stories 1952. The story took a cue from an actual biker street party on the Fourth of July weekend in 1947 in Hollister, California that was elaborately trumped up in the July 21, 1947 issue of Life Magazine, and dubbed the Hollister riot, with staged photographs of wild motorcycle outlaw revelers. The Hollister event is now celebrated annually. In the film, the town is located in California.
Synopsis
The film starts by showing the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, a group of young and boisterous bikers led by Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando), that invade the small town of Wrightsville during a motorcycle race. The gang holds a race on one of the roads of the town and a trophy is given to the winner. A member of the gang steals the 2nd place trophy and presents it to Johnny. Countless times throughout the film, Johnny is asked whether he "won" the trophy, but he does not readily reply, showing the character's pride or embarrassment over the matter, or both. Signified by the trophy, Johnny's leadership is akin to the character he plays: he is all performance and show, there is little that he actually does: "I don't stop anything" he says. Such performances create an inner tension for Johnny. Johnny's internal tension makes him an archetypal postmodern anti-hero that reluctantly struggles with his ostensible role of leadership, a role that is as vacuous as his morality, and as aimless as his life. When a girl asks him "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?", he answers with "What do you got?"
As the bikers stop at a small cafe, Johnny encounters Kathie Bleeker, (Mary Murphy) the local policeman's daughter. Johnny tries to impress Kathie by bragging that he has won the stolen trophy. Attempting to court her in a traditional way that he does not understand, he asks her out to a dance that is being held that night. Kathie refuses. However she is visibly intrigued by Johnny's dark, brooding personality. As the gang causes more trouble, the local residents complain to Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith) who tries to confront Johnny and his gang and force them to leave. Johnny considers leaving when a rival biker gang, The Beatles, arrives. The leader of the gang is Chino, (Lee Marvin) who has a personal hatred towards Johnny, even though Chino wants to reconcile. It is revealed that Johnny and Chino used to be a part of one large gang before Johnny broke away to start his own. The two begin to fight each other and Johnny defeats Chino. When one of the town's residents hits a parked motorcycle while trying to leave, Chino pulls him from the car to rough him up and his gang threatens to overturn the car. Harry intervenes and begins to arrest both Chino and the resident, but, when Harry realizes arresting the resident will cause problems for him in the future, he only takes Chino to the station. Johnny then returns to the cafe and asks Kathie out but she again refuses, partly due to the fact that she has discovered that Johnny had stolen the trophy he claimed to have won in a race; Johnny is shown to have a hidden weakness. Later that night, Chino's gang abducts the resident and put him in the jail cell, intending to release Chino, but he is too drunk to leave. When the resident is later released by the local vigilantes, Chino escapes as well. Later on, Chino's gang chases and surrounds Kathie only to be rescued by Johnny. After Johnny and Kathie part, the vigilantes catch Johnny and beat him mercilessly but he escapes when the mob is confronted by Harry. Johnny flees on his motorcycle, however, while being chased by the mob he is hit by a thrown tire iron and his cycle strikes and kills an elderly onlooker. Johnny is initially arrested and will be charged for manslaughter, but is released after Kathie and another witness corroborates Johnny's version of the story; Johnny mutely declines to thank them for their help. Before he leaves town, Johnny returns to the cafe to say goodbye to Kathie one final time. He does this by offering her the stolen trophy and smiling at her.
Cast
- Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler and the narrator
- Mary Murphy as Kathie Bleeker
- Robert Keith as Chief Harry Bleeker
- Lee Marvin as Chino
- Jay C. Flippen as Sheriff Stew Singer
- Peggy Maley as Mildred
- Hugh Sanders as Charlie Thomas
- Ray Teal as Uncle Frank Bleeker
- Jerry Paris as Dextro (uncredited)
- Alvy Moore as Pigeon (uncredited)
- Gil Stratton as Mouse (uncredited)
- Richard Farnsworth (uncredited)
Controversies
The Wild One was released in the USA on December 30, 1953.
In the United Kingdom, the film was banned by the British Board of Film Censors for fourteen years. Its first UK public showing was at the 59 Club in Paddington, London in 1968, to a mostly Rocker audience.[citation needed]
According to the book, Triumph Motorcycle In America, Triumph motorcycle's then-importers, Johnson Motors, objected to the prominent use of Triumph motorcycles in the film. However, later, Gil Stratton Jr, who played "Mouse" in the film, advertised Triumph motorcycles in the 1960s when he was a famous TV sports announcer (ironic given his antics mocking this activity at the film's opening). Moreover, the current Triumph factory now uses images from the film to advertise their motorcycles. In their 2009/10 season, Triumph marketed a leather jacket similar to that worn by Brando's character in the film with the B.R.M.C. logo reproduced at the back and a 'Johnny' signature at the front. Triumph also marketed a t-shirt with the same designs and a limited edition print of the famous pose of Brando slouched over his Triumph Thunderbird 6T.
Parodies
The Beach Party movies were in some degree a parody of "The Wild One".
Brando's image
Brando's portrayal of the Johnny has become an iconic image. His character wears long sideburns, a Perfecto style motorcycle jacket and a tilted cap; he rides a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T.
The Wild One greatly boosted sales of black leather motorcycle jackets, Triumph motorycles, jeans, white caps, and sun glasses.[citation needed] In addition, Brando's haircut inspired a craze for sideburns, followed by James Dean and Elvis Presley, among others.[citation needed]
James Dean bought a Triumph TR5 Trophy motorcycle to mimic Brando's own Triumph Thunderbird 6T motorcycle that he used in the film.[citation needed]
Brando's image remains potent today. In the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Shia LaBeouf's character, Mutt Williams, first appears in the same outfit as Johnny Strabler, right down to the tilted cap.
Other references
The rock group Black Rebel Motorcycle Club got its name from the name of Brando's motorcycle gang, although in the film, the gang is referred to as "Black Rebels Motorcycle Club". One story maintains that The Beatles took their name from the other motorcycle club led by Lee Marvin, the Beetles, as referred to in the The Beatles Anthology.
In a Bloom County strip Cutter John, a wheelchair-bound Vietnam War veteran, asks his girlfriend Bobbi whether she had seen last night's late movie, an old 50's classic with Marlon Brando playing "the leader of this outlaw wheelchair gang that rides into this sleepy mid-western town and terrorizes the citizenry". Bobbi doesn't seem to be interested, so he adds: "It's called The Wheeled One" and glances at his wheelchair.
The Happy Days episode "Our Gang" flashes back to Fonzie and Richie's first meeting. Fonzie wears the same style cap as Brando in this film.
The Ready or Not episode "Smoke Screen" features a fantasy sequence in which the character Busy imagines herself a cool rebel. She rides into a local arcade dressed like Brando in The Wild One, with her best friend on the back of the motorcycle.
In Episode 11 ("Cool Jerk") of the first season of Hey Arnold!, Arnold and new friend Frankie watch this film at a local theater after Frankie persuades him to play hooky for the day.