The Wild One (1953)
This provocative movie about a biker gang - The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - who ride into a small town and cause chaos with fatal results was banned in Britain for fourteen years even if seventy years later we might wonder what for.
The film which made Marlon Brando, turning him from a rising star to cultural icon, from the classic image of him resting on his motorbike to it's cool as f*ck dialogue - one girl asks Brando "Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?" to which he replies "What've you got?". The Wild One was the first and the best of the 'Motorcyle gang' genre.
It's not what you'd call a perfect film. Although it gave Brando the legendary status he delivers a better performance in the following years On the Waterfront which is a superior film all round. Co-star Lee Marvin, head of the rival Beetles gang seems too old for the part and the back projection as Brando rides the highways is terrible and not helped by the image quality of Blu-ray.
However it also gets a lot right. The horror of a small town invaded by thugs, the lynch mob mentality as the town strikes back as the lawman is ineffective and the total desperation and restlessness of everyone living in a country not long out of depression and war time.
Shot in crisp black and white, the film looks stunning on the Indicator Blu-ray with the disc host to a wealth of additional material.
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