The Wild One - Plot

Plot

The Black Rebels Motorcycle Club, a group of bikers led by Johnny Strabler (Marlon Brando), rides into Carbonville, California during a motorcycle race and causes trouble. A member of the gang, Mouse (Gil Stratton), steals the second place trophy (the first place one being too large to hide) and presents it to Johnny. Stewards and policemen order them to leave.

The bikers head to Wrightsville, which only has one elderly, conciliatory lawman, Chief Harry Bleeker (Robert Keith), to maintain order. The residents are uneasy, but mostly willing to put up with their visitors. When their antics cause Art Kleiner (Will Wright) to swerve and crash his car, he demands that something be done, but Harry is reluctant to act, a weakness that is not lost on the interlopers. This accident results in the gang having to stay longer in town as one member injured himself falling off his motorcycle. Although the young men become more and more boisterous, their custom is enthusiastically welcomed by Frank Bleeker (Ray Teal) who runs the local cafe-bar, employing Harry's daughter, Kathie and the elderly Jimmy (Wiliam Vedder).

At the Bleeker's cafe, Johnny meets Kathie, (Mary Murphy). He asks her out to a dance being held that night. Kathie politely turns him down, but she is visibly intrigued by Johnny's dark, brooding personality. When another local girl (Peggy Maley) asks him "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?", he answers "Whaddaya got?" Johnny is attracted to Kathie and decides to stay a while. However, when he learns that she is the policeman's daughter, he changes his mind.

Then a rival biker gang, The Beetles, arrives. Their leader, Chino (Lee Marvin), bears a grudge against Johnny. Chino reveals the two groups used to be one large gang before Johnny split it up. When Chino takes Johnny's trophy, the two begin to fight and Johnny wins.

When local Charlie Thomas (Hugh Sanders) stubbornly tries to drive through, he hits a parked motorcycle and injures Meatball, one of Chino's bikers. Chino pulls Charlie out and leads both gangs to overturn his car. Harry intervenes and begins to arrest both Chino and Charlie, but when other townspeople remind Harry that Charlie would cause problems for him in the future, he only takes Chino to the station. Later that night, Chino's gang abducts Charlie and puts him in the same jail cell as Chino, who is too drunk to leave with his friends. Some Beetles members harass the telephone switchboard operator into leaving thereby disrupting the townspeople's communication.

Later, as both gangs wreck the town and intimidate the inhabitants, some bikers led by Gringo (Keith Clarke) chase and surround Kathie, but Johnny rescues her and takes her on a long ride in the countryside. Frightened at first, Kathie comes to see that Johnny is genuinely attracted to her and means her no harm. When she opens up to him and asks to go with him, he rejects her. Crying, she runs away. Johnny drives off to search for her. This is seen and misinterpreted by Art Kleiner.

The townspeople have had enough; Johnny's supposed assault on Kathie is the last straw. Vigilantes led by Charlie Thomas chase and catch Johnny and beat him mercilessly, but he escapes on his motorcycle when the mob is confronted by Harry. The mob give chase, and he is hit by a thrown tire iron and falls. His riderless motorcycle strikes and kills Jimmy.

Sheriff Singer (Jay C. Flippen) arrives with his deputies and restores order. Johnny is initially arrested for Jimmy's death. Kathie pleads on his behalf. Seeing this, two witnesses step forward and testify that Johnny was not responsible for the tragedy. Johnny is unable to thank them. The motorcyclists are ordered to leave the county albeit paying for all damage. Returning alone to Wrightsville, however, Johnny re-visits the cafe to say goodbye to Kathie one final time. He smiles awkwardly offering her his stolen trophy before leaving.