showing on 15/07/07 in London

The Wild One is showing on 15/07/07 at the National Film theatre in London UK as part of a Brando season.

It has already been shown last weekend and when I saw it I was still shocked by the film considering it's vintage.

The behaviour of the motorcyclists and the townspeople added up to an ugly picture of smalltown America which could not have gone down too well with the geenral run of America-the-beautiful Hollywood pictures.

Brando thought the film's message a failure. He wanted to show that the wayward behaviour of those who felt themselves socially repressed should be addressed though decency and kindness rather than violence. I think the film succeeded and Brando underestimated the picture.

I can see why it was banned in UK for so long...to have the actor who'd recently played Mark Anthony turn up as a trouble-maker added respectability & thus sympathy to a character that ought to have had little or none- at least initially.

Probably because of the iconic images & associated insolence, it is as important to the Brando legacy as Godfather, Tango, Waterfront or Streetcar despite what some would consider it's out-datedness.


This Sunday will be it's final showing as part of the season- be there or , man, you are toooo sqaure- I gotta straighten you out !