The Wild One

A man with a leather jacket and military cap leaning casually against a motorcycle.

Before Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Easy Rider (1969), an Sons of Anarchy, there was The Wild One, directed by László Benedek and considered the original motorcycle gang movie.

Marlon Brando gives one of his greatest performances as Johnny Strabler, the leader of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a vicious, leather-jacketed biker gang that arrives to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting small town. The gang's drinking, drag racing, and rowdy behavior runs afoul with the residents of the town — except for Kathie, a quiet girl who is first fearful of and later falls for Johnny after meeting him at her uncle's cafe.

Things spiral out of control after rival gang leader Chino arrives on the scene, hell-bent on causing trouble for Johnny. After someone is accidentally killed, the outraged townsfolk find their scapegoat in the brooding gang leader, who seems just on the verge of redemption.

The film is based on real events that took place in Hollister, California, in 1947. The film was banned by censors in the United Kingdom until 1968 out of fears that the "hooliganism" depicted would contribute to juvenile delinquency.

The costume design for the Black Rebel Motorcycle drew extensively on World War II surplus — including combat boots, bomber jackets, aviator goggles, and mechanic caps — marking these volatile rabblerousers as products of the recent military conflict, unable or refusing to fit within existing social conventions.

Brando's leather jacket, blue jeans, and signature military cap stand in as a sartorial expression of his rebellious, "Whaddaya got?" attitude, one that mirrored frustrations amongst American youth in the postwar period and signaled the rise of a new subculture in the 1950s.

The screening will be introduced by Catherine Blumenkamp, Associate Director of the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC).

The film is presented in conjunction with "Fit for Duty: Form and Function in Military Dress," a multi-site exhibition catalyzed by the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC) on view Rachel Hope Doran '19 and Terrace Level Vitrines at the Human Ecology Building and Wortham Museum at Barton Hall from November 2025 through March 2026.

Part of our "Fit for Duty" film series. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures and Swank Motion Pictures.