"Let's drag for beers."
That was about the best part of this Brando film. Made in 1953, The Wild One is a story about two rogue motorcycle gangs who take over a small town in who knows where. Early in the film, Johnny (Brando), the leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club (BRMC), steals a second-place trophy from a motorcycle race. There's some poorly placed sub story about this trophy and him being a "fake" and that he'll never amount to anything, yada, yada, yada.
Then there's this accident in town where one of the BRMC dudes gets hurt and the entire gang has to wait around until he gets his ankle fixed. So the BRMC gang hits "Bleekers", the local bar/ diner where they proceed to get good and drunk and Johnny meets Kathy, the waitress and daughter of the town Sheriff. Kathy's the typical 1950's heroine who can't help herself, stuck in this small town, waiting for prince charming and whatnot. Plus no one listens to her. Johnny of course falls for her and in his nonchalant, I could care less about you, way.
To make a long story short, all hell breaks loose because Kathy's Dad, the sheriff, is a drunk and can't really do his job. The gangs start fighting and looting and peeling out and whatnot. Then the town gets a posse together, Johnny is hit in the head with a tire iron and he crashes his motorcycle into an old dude and kills him. Finally some real police show up, kick ass and take names. Predictably, Johnny is a victim of circumstance, they arrest him, and just like 1950's justice, they hold some kangaroo court in the town hall. Of course he says nothing in his defense because he's brooding, and no one listens to Kathy, cause she's a girl. And so they are ready to put him away when some other guy comes to his rescue, blah, blah, blah. Then he gives Kathy his trophy that he stole.
The End.
We give it 2 1/2 Marbles out of 5.
Although Brando was hot.. uh, I mean great, the story was bad and poorly constructed. Plus the editing was careless; strange shot transitions, stunt doubles that looked nothing like Brando, and fake "filmed in front of a screen" motorcycle riding scenes.Next up, "Julius Caesar"
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