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The Wild One

1953 outlaw biker film directed by László Benedek

The Wild One is a 1953 film about two rival motorcycle gangs who terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail.

Directed by László Benedek. Written by John Paxton and Ben Maddow.
Jazzed-up "beats" on a bust-up bing! (taglines)

John "Johnny" Strabler / Narrator

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  • [voiceover] It begins here for me on this road. How the whole mess happened, I don't know. But I know it couldn't happen again in a million years. Maybe I coulda stopped it early. But once the trouble was on its way, I was just goin' with it. Mostly, I remember the girl. I - I can't explain it. Sad chick like that. But somethin' changed in me. She got to me. Well that's later, anyway. This is where it begins for me. Right on this road.

Dialogue

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Police officer: [about the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club] Where'd that bunch from?
Street cleaner: I don't know. I don't even think they know where they're goin'. Termites, nutty. 10 guys like that give people the idea that everybody who drives a motorcycle is crazy. What are they tryin' to prove anyway?
Police officer: Beats me. Lookin' for somebody to push 'em around, so they can get sore and show how tough they are.
Street cleaner: Yeah.
Police officer: They usually find it someplace, sooner or later.
Johnny: Say, you live here all the time?
Kathie: All my life.
Johnny: We've been over to Carbonville at the meet.
Kathie: A bunch of motorcycles came through this way yesterday. They didn't stop. [She sees his trophy.] Is that what they give you in those races for killin' yourself?
Johnny: That's right. Want it?
Kathie: No.
Johnny: Well, go on, take it. Go ahead.
Kathie: No.
Johnny: Go on.
Kathie: You can't do that. You - You won it. You have to get your name engraved on it, or whatever you do. It's important to you. You don't - you don't give something like that away just like that, not unless you knew a girl real well and, well, and you liked her.
[Two B. R. M. C. members enter.]
B. R. M. C. member: Hey, Johnny.
Johnny: Yo!
B. R. M. C. member: About this town. They got a doc here.
Other B. R. M. C. member: They're gonna rewire Crazy. Hey, what are we gonna do, sit around and scratch our self?
B. R. M. C. member: Yeah, we gonna wait for Crazy, or we gonna get outta this dump?
Johnny: We gonna wait for Crazy.
B. R. M. C. member: What do you hicks do around here for kicks?
Jimmy: The roses grow. People get married. Crazy as anyplace else.
B. R. M. C. member: What about TV? Do ya like TV?
Jimmy: Oh, pictures! No, no pictures. Everything these days is pictures. Pictures and a lot of noise. Nobody even knows how to talk. Just grunt at each other.
Kathie: Where are you going when you leave here? Don't you know?
Johnny: [scoffing] Oh man, we just gonna go.
Kathie: Just trying to make conversation. It means nothing to me.
Johnny: Well, on the weekends, we go out and have a ball.
Kathie: And what do you do? I mean, do you just ride around? Or do you go on some sort of a picnic or something?
Johnny: A picnic? Man, you are too square. I'll have to straighten you out. Now, listen, you don't go any one special place. That's cornball style. You just go. [He snaps his fingers.] A bunch gets together after all week it builds up, you just...the idea is to have a ball. Now if you gonna stay cool, you got to wail. You got to put somethin' down. You got to make some jive. Don't you know what I'm talkin' about?
Mildred: Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?
Johnny: What've you got?
Kathie: [about her father] He was afraid of making a mistake. He was afraid of losing his job. He's the town joke and I'm stuck with him. He doesn't got any business being a cop. No more than you have with that [fake trophy]. He's a fake - like you. Well, you've impressed everybody now, big motorcycle racer. Why don't you take that back so they can give it to somebody who really won it?
Johnny: [irritated] Say what? Who are you? Some girl who makes sandwiches or somethin'? Your father wears that hat that says he's a big important man and you start telling me what to do. Nobody tells me what to do. You keep needlin' me, and if I want to, I'm gonna take this joint apart. And you're not gonna know what hit ya.
Kathie: [after Johnny forcefully kisses her] I'm sorry. I-I can't fight back. Too tired. It would be better, wouldn't it? Then you could hit me.
Johnny: You think you're too good for me. Nobody's too good for me. Anybody thinks they're too good for me, I make sure I knock 'em over sometime. Right now, I can slap you around to show you how good you are. And tomorrow, I'm someplace else and I don't even know you or nothing.
Kathie: Do you want to?
Johnny: I wouldn't waste my time with a square like you. What do I want to knock myself out for? I'm gonna take you back and dump you. Come on, where're you going?
Kathie: [softly] Johnny. [She gently touches his arm.]
Johnny: Quit that.
Kathie: It's crazy, isn't it? You're afraid of me. I don't know why, but I'm not afraid of you now. You're afraid of me.
Johnny: I'm afraid of you? Are you cracked? Come on, get on.
Kathie: [walking closer toward him] I wanted to touch you. I wanted to try anyway.
Johnny: Try what?
Kathie: I don't know. I wanted to make it the way I always thought it would be sometime - with somebody. The way I always thought it might be. You're still fighting, aren't you? You're always fighting. Why do you hate everybody? [touching his motorcycle] I've never ridden on a motorcycle before. It's fast, it scared me, but I forgot everything. It felt good. Is that what you do? You know what I used to think about? I used to think about it alot after my mother died - that somebody would come here and stop at Uncle Frank's place, and buy a cup of coffee or something, and he'd like me right away and take me with him. Johnny, you were going to give me that statue. Will you give it to me now?
Johnny: Why?
Kathie: I don't know. I just wondered if you still wanted to give it to me, that's all. It's crazy.
Johnny: Where did you want this guy to take you - this guy who had a cup of coffee?
Kathie: I don't know. Wherever he was going, I guess. I'm shaky. I wish I was going someplace. I wish you were going someplace. We could go together.
Sheriff Singer: I don't get you. I don't get your act at all, and I don't think you do either. I don't think you know what you're trying to do or how to go about it. I think you're stupid, real stupid, and real lucky. Last night, you scraped by, just barely. But a man's dead on account of something you let get started, even though you didn't start it. I don't know if there's any good in you. I don't know if there's anything in you. But I'm gonna take a big fat chance and let you go. There'll be a hearing on this tire iron business. You'll get a summons and you'd better show up. [pause] Don't you want to say anything to these people? What's the matter? You been hit over the head so often you don't know when you're getting a break? You could at least say 'thank you.'
[no answer]
Kathie: It's all right. He doesn't know how.
Sheriff Singer: Every one of you monkeys is down in my book, and every stick of damage around here will be paid for. You've got ten minutes to clear out. Just stick your nose back in this county, any of ya, and you'll never see daylight again as long as you live. Now git.

Taglines

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  • Jazzed-up "beats" on a bust-up bing!
  • Marlon Brando is the only man who can play The Wild One.
  • "C'mon, baby, let's have a ball!"
  • Hot feelings hit terrifying heights in a story that really boils over!

Cast

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