One of the most iconic movies in Marlon Brando's career, but I have to say that it's not one of his best. His visual portrait of a motorcycle gang leader, all dressed in black leather and with sideburns, was as important culturally and aesthetically as his white t-shirt macho from "A Streetcar Named Desire" and influenced contemporary stars like Elvis and James Dean. But the performance itself hasn't aged so well and has all the worst attributes of the Actors Studio method. When you compare his stiffness and overacting with the freshness of the performance by his co-star Lee Marvin is easy to see the difference. Still, the movie is an iconic film of the 50s deserving to be seen, but it would also have benefited from a much more powerful direction.
Review of The Wild One
