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The Wild
One (1953)
In director Laslo Benedek's (and producer Stanley
Kramer's) crime drama - a sub-genre-defining motorcycle outlaw biker
film; the Columbia Pictures' film (co-scripted by John Saxon) was
based upon Frank Rooney's Harper Magazine's January
1951 short story "Cyclists' Raid" and became a
landmark film of 50s rebellion; it was the first feature film to
examine outlaw motorcycle gang violence in America; Marlon Brando
portrayed a stunning, brooding, nomadic character - a delinquent
archetype - in one of his central and early roles, that popularized
the sale of black leather jackets and motorcycles after the film's
release:
- a statement in the opening
title credits sequence referred to a real-life incident that inspired
the film - a 4th of July, two-day weekend rally in 1947 of the American
Motorcyclist Association in the small town of Hollister, CA (south
of San Jose); the event that brought together thousands of people
and two LA gangs (the Booze Fighters and the Nomads) was widely publicized
(and sensationalized with reports of wild racing, brawling and drinking)
a few weeks later in a Life Magazine issue
- the opening title, shown over a long, ground-level
shot of an empty, open country road and its white median strip
was a memorable, cinematographic sequence: ("This
is a shocking story. It could never take place in most American towns
-- but it did in this one. It is a public challenge not to let it
happen again")
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Opening Titles
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- in the initial scene, 40 black leather-jacketed
cyclists (members of 'The Black Rebels') roared directly into
the stationary, low-angled camera; the motorcycle gang rode in
a tightly-knit squadron formation, led by sideburned, leather-jacketed
anti-hero Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando) riding on a 1950 Triumph
Thunderbird T6 - the film's narrator, who had just spoken in voice-over
about the townspeople's repressive, backlashing, vigilante-style
behavior toward his gang of outsiders -- calling the encounter a "whole
mess": "It begins
here for me on this road. How the whole mess happened, I don't
know. But I know it couldn't happen again in a million years. Maybe
I could have stopped it early. But once the trouble was on its
way, I was just goin' with it..."
- the disruptive bikers rode into the main drag of
Carbonville and interrupted a legitimate,
weekend motorcycle race competition/meet in Sage Valley; they were
derided as an "outlaw outfit," and were quickly thrown out of the
competition by Sheriff Singer (Jay C. Flippen) and told to "Hit
the road...get goin'," but not before they stole the second-place prize trophy (the first place
prize trophy was too big to carry and "two feet high");
as they raced off, a race official asked: "What are they tryin'
to prove anyway?", and the Sheriff answered: "Lookin' for
somebody to push 'em around so they can get sore and show how tough
they are. They usually find it some place, sooner or later"
Johnny Eyeing the Race Trophies Before Stealing the 2nd Place Prize
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Sheriff Singer (Jay C. Flippen)
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Theft of Small 2nd Place Trophy
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- in the nearby sleepy town of Wrightsville, the bikers
continued to cause havoc by dragging on the main
street; they bet that the loser would have to buy beers for everyone
at Bleeker's: "Last guy to the door of that joint buys beers.
Last guy in buys"; the
gang was forced to remain longer in town when during their mischievous
and dangerous act of rowdiness, one of the bikers broke his ankle
when he collided with a car driven by elderly Art Kleiner (Will Wright)
- the main characters were introduced
in Bleeker's - the film's central gathering place - lenient and weak-willed
police chief Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith) - and his brother - opportunistic
owner-merchant of the local bar/cafe Uncle Frank Bleeker (Ray Teal);
Harry's attractive, clean-cut daughter Kathie (Mary Murphy) worked
for her uncle as a hard-working waitress, along with elderly dishwasher/bar
helper Jimmy (William Vedder); soon after,
Johnny was drawn into the bar/cafe to Kathie
Kathie Bleeker with Elderly Dishwasher/Bar Helper
Jimmy (William Vedder)
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Police Chief Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith)
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Cafe Owner Uncle Frank Bleeker (Ray Teal)
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- although Kathie and Johnny represented two very opposing lifestyles: a square,
stable, but restricted hick vs. a hip wanderer, he was obviously
attracted to her and interested in spending more time to get to
know her better; Johnny pressured her for a date that evening to a
Carbonville dance, and an invitation
to dance to the jukebox music, but she politely demurred, and asked
him about where the bikers were going; he scoffed at her and answered
that he represented forbidden freedom: "Oh man,
we just gonna go"
Johnny in the Cafe with Kathie
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Johnny in the Bar with Kathie - A Contrast in Lifestyles
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Johnny Offering Kathie the Stolen Trophy
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- in the film's most memorable
scene, as Johnny and his boys were guzzling beer and
dancing with some of the ladies in the bar, one blonde female dance
partner named Mildred (Peggy Maley), the owner of the local beauty
shop, questioned Johnny: "Hey,
Johnny, what are you rebelling against?"; while
tapping out a jazzy beat on the top of the jukebox, he raised
his eyebrow and drawled his amorphous reason for rebellion: "Whaddya
got?"
- after Johnny learned that Kathie was the police
chief's daughter (and he had told her: "I don't like cops"),
he was ready to leave town, but was halted by the arrival of a group
of rival cyclists led by crazy, vulgar biker Chino (Lee Marvin)
in a striped shirt with aviator goggles and a stogie - a former member
of Johnny's gang who broke away and begrudgingly formed his own rival
group (the Beetles); Chino taunted his ex-leader by stealing the trophy
off Johnny's bike (and putting it on his own bike's handlebars) and
issuing crude insults about Johnny's new 'girlfriend'; the two started
a vicious and savage fist-fight that ended with Chino's arrest and
jailing
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Rival Gang Leader Chino (Lee Marvin)
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- the police chief requested a favor from Johnny -
to leave town ("You take your boys and go on, and that other bunch
too..."), but Johnny refused to deal and remained in town, due
to the ambivalence of Bleeker who showed partiality by singling out
Chino, and for not arresting Charlie Thomas (Hugh Sanders) who had
foolishly driven his car into the crowd and injured a biker in Chino's
gang
- when night came, further tension mounted as Chino's
gang hovered outside the Police Department's jail, and Johnny's cyclists
caroused within Bleeker's Cafe; both gangs threatened to take over
the operations of the town and even members of Johnny's
gang suggested 'springing' Chino from jail because of the "phony
cop"; Chino's gang members terrorized the
town's switchboard operator Dorothy (Eve March) and cut off telephone
line connections at the main switchboard
- meanwhile, Johnny's gang - to
administer proper justice - rode to the house of Charlie Thomas,
apprehended him, and then dragged him to the police department jail
to share the cell with the drunken Chino; Johnny was approached by
his tight-sweatered ex-girlfriend Britches (Yvonne
Doughty), a member of Chino's gang who
was still pining for him and his attention, but he quickly abandoned her
- shortly later, some of the townsfolk again
took the law into their own hands, armed themselves, and released Charlie
from the jail; after they left, Chino noticed the jail cell door
left open, and also escaped
- gang
members of both groups wrecked the town, looted stores, and one group
of bikers cornered Kathie ("Johnny's
girl") in an alleyway after she left the cafe; Johnny intervened,
heroically rescued her and drove her during a moonlit ride (she clung
to him on the back of his motorcycle) to a secluded park just outside
of town
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Kathie Encircled by Bikers in Johnny's Gang and Then Rescued
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- after dismounting, he forcibly grabbed and brutishly
kissed and hugged her. Almost passive or dazed, she hesitantly replied
that she could not respond passionately: ("I can't fight back, I'm
too tired"); although he claimed he wasn't interested in her: ("I
wouldn't waste my time with a square like you"), however, she felt
that he was oddly attracted to her but was fighting against his true
feelings, and she wanted to try to understand him; she asked: "You're
still fighting, aren't you? You're always fighting. Why do you hate
everybody?"
Johnny: "I wouldn't waste my time with a square like you"
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Stand-off Between Them
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"Why do you hate everybody?"
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- Kathie also expressed her envy of him - and his
lifestyle of freedom; she had often dreamed about
leaving her depressing, routine, small-town lifestyle by taking off
with someone she would meet and have coffee with in the cafe; she
tentatively suggested: "I wish I was going someplace. I wish you
were going someplace. We could go together." When Johnny didn't
respond to her romantic fantasy and rejected her crazy dream, she began
crying and hugged him ("Johnny, Johnny, I love you"), but
he pushed her away. Then embarrassed, she ran away; one
of the townsfolk Art Kleiner witnessed the incident and misunderstood,
assuming that Johnny was intending to rape her
- moments later, Johnny chased
and caught up to her on his bike and she slapped him; he
was now intrigued, attracted and aroused by her freshness and innocence;
however, she broke free and fled again a second time, crying; then
Kathie watched as Johnny was attacked on his cycle by a vigilante mob
of townspeople; she rushed to the office of her father to alert him
- meanwhile, Johnny was dragged
into a building where he was pinned down while being viciously beaten
up - the townsfolk were far more violent than anything the gangs had
done in the small town; they were punishing him for representing unorthodox
freedom; the police chief finally found the courage
to confront the mob and take Johnny into his protective custody
- Johnny was able to wriggle free and raced to his
motorcycle; he attempted to leave town, but someone tossed a tire iron at his moving bike's
wheel spokes; he was thrown free of his bike that plunged out of
control and inadvertently struck and killed an elderly bystander
in the crowd - the cafe's helper Jimmy; the arrival of county Sheriff
Singer and other police cars restored order to town
- at a subsequent hearing before the Sheriff on possible
manslaughter charges, Johnny protested his innocence,
while Kathie also defended Johnny, explaining that it wasn't Johnny's
fault; she also vigorously defended Johnny from further accusations
of rape in the park; although Johnny was lectured by the Sheriff,
he was ordered to be set free, but he would never be allowed to enter
the town again with his gang of bikers
- in the final scene in Wrightsville, Johnny intended
to say goodbye to Kathie by himself in Bleeker's Cafe, but he could
not find the words to speak; at the door, he paused, walked back in,
and then with a vague smile, he pushed the stolen motorcycle trophy
down the length of the counter toward her; it was a symbol of his
emotional breakthrough and a gift to the understanding Kathie who
had redeemed him; and then he was gone, leaving the deserted town
on his bike
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The Approach of a Motorcycle Gang - The Black Rebels
Anti-Hero Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando)
Insignia of BRMC (Black Rebels Motorcycle Club)
Johnny with Gang Disrupting Race in Carbonville
Johnny - Defiant Symbol of Rebellion
The Stolen Trophy Mounted on Johnny's Bike
Bleeker's Cafe-Bar: Locale of Many of the Film's Scenes
Fresh-Faced, Youthful Kathie Bleeker
Johnny: "We just gonna go!"
Mildred: "Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?"
Johnny: "Whaddya got?"
Johnny: "I don't like cops!"
Fight on the Street Between Chino and Johnny
Johnny with Ex-Girlfriend Britches
Moonlight Ride with Kathie on Johnny's Bike
A Forceful Kiss and Hug
Kathie: "I Wish I Was Going Someplace...We Could Go Together"
Johnny Rejected Her and Pushed Her Away
Johnny Chased After Her on His Bike and She Slapped Him Before Running Off a
Second Time
Kathie Begging Her Father to Save Johnny From a Severe Beating
Effects of the Beating on Johnny
The Sheriff's Lecture to Johnny
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