The Wild One

May 4, 2008 at 7:58 pm (Uncategorized)

The Wild One was made in 1953 and starred Marlon Brando. The story follows a gang of motorcycle riders that raise hell and cause trouble everywhere they go. Supposedly, the story is based on an incident in 1947 when thousands of motorcycle riders took over a California town for a few days. No one was murdered or kidnapped, but this was the first time the public realized the power this new breed of outlaw really possessed.

Given my very sheltered raising, the fact that my father purchased this movie and made us watch it is amazing. It may have had to do with the fact that he spent the first half of his life in motorcycle gangs just like the one portrayed in the movie. Maybe having us watch the movie was his way of sharing part of his life with us. My dad is strange that way.

So back to the movie. The Wild One contains all facets of a proper outlaw movie. The gang leader falls for the police chief’s daughter. She rebuffs his advances. A rival gang arrives and causes trouble just as the first gang tries to leave town. The first gang gets blamed for the trouble. The girl gets chased by drunk gang members with bad intentions, then is whisked away by the handsome gang leader in the nick of time. They kiss, then they argue and part ways. Concerned townsmen capture the gang leader and beat him. The girl talks sense into her father, the police chief, and he lets the gang leader go. Someone dies. The gang leaves town. The end.

Marlon Brando fits the role of outlaw motorcycle gang leader perfectly, and I can’t picture another actor doing as good of a job. Not even James Dean. I suppose The Wild One could be considered the motorcycle gang version of Rebel Without a Cause. I am a big Marlon Brando fan, so that may have something to do with it too.

Growing up watching classic movies, the fact that this film was black and white didn’t bother me. In fact, I couldn’t imagine it in color. In my opinion, this left space for the characters themselves to be the color. Since color movies were in production at the time, I have to believe that the producers chose to use black and white for a reason. Does it matter if the reason was a style choice or budget constraints? Not to me. Because I don’t know what the reason was, I am allowed to imagine it however I would like.

In case you haven’t noticed, I have refrained from using that term “biker gang”, which all other information referring to this movie uses, and have instead replaced it with “motorcycle gang”. There are two reasons for this. One, the gang in the movie is actually referred to as the “Black Rebels Motorcycle Gang”. Two, my dad taught me never to refer to these groups as “biker gangs” or to the people in them as “bikers”. Apparently in his day, that term was offensive and used only by people that knew no better.

Here is the back story on that. Harley Davidson motorcycles were originally used for racing. After that, they were used by the army overseas. Once they were made available to the general public, they became popular with two different types of people. The people who loved motorcycles and just wanted to ride, and the people who used them as a symbol of their rebellion. The American Motorcycle Association actually came out with an advertisement claiming the first group was considered to be 99 percent of the people who rode and that they were clean-cut, upstanding citizens. The second group made up the last one percent and were considered to be troublemakers that gave motorcycle riders a bad name. The rebels looked upon this designation as a place of honor and “real” motorcycle gangs have since been called “One Percenters”. To this day, there is a One Percenter patch that can only be worn by certain motorcycle clubs. Oh yeah. They’re no longer called gangs. They’re called clubs. And you don’t just get the patch by being in one of the clubs. You have to earn it. In his day, my dad spent time in two of the One Percenter clubs.

I suppose that is all neither here nor there, but the gang portrayed in The Wild One was a One Percenter club. The gang wasn’t modeled after one gang in particular, but was meant to encompass the lifestyle of all outlaw motorcycle gangs. I think they did a good job. While the glorification of this outlaw lifestyle isn’t really in keeping with my morals, I can’t help but think it is romantic. That lifestyle is an integral part to who my father is. And while he may no longer life that lifestyle, he doesn’t deny it. I admire that.

I love this movie because I love my dad. For me, he is the star of The Wild One.