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The Wild One

1953

László Benedek

Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Keith, Lee Marvin ...

6.4

3,407

Drama Two rival motorcycle gangs terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail.

	Author	Review
United States	TV Guide	"The first and best biker movie."	POS
United States	Entertainment Weekly	"Brando’s tight denims and defiance prefigured James Dean’s archetypal rebellion."	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Tribune	"Legions of Brando impersonators have turned his performance in this seminal 1954 motorcycle movie into self-parody, but it’s still a sleazy good time."	POS
United States	Michael Sragow Baltimore Sun	"Although its leather and chrome iconography and Brando's hipsterism inspired biker and rebel cults for decades to come, it fits all too snugly into the musty category of "cautionary tale." "	NEU
United States	The Hollywood Reporter	"Laslo Benedek’s expert megging keeps the action taut and suspenseful, drawing top performances from a capable cast."	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"Inspired by an episode when a mob of youths on motorcycles terrorized a Californian town for an entire evening, this feature is long on suspense, brutality and sadism."	POS
United States	Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"This clumsy, naive film was banned and argued about in so many countries that it developed a near-legendary status."	NEU
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"Although the reality of it goes soft and then collapses at the end, it is a tough and engrossing motion picture, weird and cruel, while it stays on the beam."	POS

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