The Wild One

The Wild One is said to be the first biker film ever made. That may well be true, for it certainly looks rather dated some forty-odd years on. It is as if the film does not really know whether it is actually supposed to deal with the reasons why these young people are so maladjusted, or whether it should simply become what it ultimately is, a melodrama in which the bikers are "the bad guys".

In the film two rival motorcycle gangs come to the same provincial town. Johnny is the leader of one gang and the cheeky Chino of the other. They were once one gang. The townspeople swing from treating the hoodlums undeservedly well at first to working themselves into an outright lynch mood at the end. One of the few who does not behave so fickly is the girl Kathie, who serves in the local bar. Johnny takes a shine to her from the start, which he cannot hide, even though he is not one for revealing his feelings. In the end he gets into serious trouble, but Kathie helps him out of the jam.

The Wild One is interesting for what it reveals about its own time, and because the legendary Brando plays Johnny. Unfortunately the story is a little thin.