The first of the Cycle cycle of films choreographed for bikes, The Wild One was also an early entry into the J.D. genre of the fifties depicting the random violence of angry young men without a war on their hands. Based on a 1947 incident when the town of Hollister played unwitting host to a motorcycle convention, the film scared a lot of people in 1953 who thought that, thanks to Marlon Brando's affecting portrayal of the brooding, leather-clad leader of the "Black Rebels," their town might be next. Little did anyone know the real victim would be men's haberdashery; The Suits never recovered from this outburst of T-shirts and leather. For it was an open secret that dressing bad just felt good. The real force of evil in The Wild One wasn't tight pants but small minds whose "justice" was more vicious than the rebels' terror. (JB)