The Wild One

The Wild One has Marlon Brando ditching Mark Anthony's toga for a pair of greasy blue jeans and a leather jacket. In the process he picks up a flashy motorcycle and some cool bop talk, and accompanied by a grizzly crew sporting well oiled side-burns, Brando roars to a stop in a one-car town. For a moment it looks like a desperadoes-shooting-up-the-village western with over-powered motorcycles replacing the trusty steed. But what might have been little more than a modern horse opera turns into a brutally realistic blend of tension and violence forceful enough to arouse even the exam drugged scholar.

Based on an actual incident in California where a motorcycle club nearly wrecked a small city, the plot warms up with good-natured pranks, shifts to drunken brawls, and then speeds to an open clash between the irate residents and the invading cyclists.

As background for the conflict, the town is a believable combination of small time cafe and bar, dinky shops and shaggy park. In the tavern cyclists gleefully guzzle beer while Brando strides about with an alley cat swagger, convincing the town and audience he harbors a grudge against the world in general. Center of his interest is Mary Murphy, playing a tousled, mixed-up waitress, who asks "Isn't it all crazy?" As her father, the local cop, Robert Keith sometimes seems to worry more about his part than his inability to cope with the disturbance. But he does well as a man who can see a problem yet is unable to do anything about it. Local profiteers anxious to make an extra buck and vigilante-minded citizens aggravate the situation so that it is impossible to place the blame entirely on the motor club.

When the last cyclist has disappeared from sight, you are likely to feel both jarred and satisfied. Clever photography and careful acting produce a definite atmosphere--you can almost smell gasoline and oil. Of course this may be due to the mob of leather jacket fans you fight through to find a seat. But it's worth it.