Here is a very famous movie who’s cultural impact is remembered much more than the film itself.

Before Easy Rider, The Wild One was the original iconic outlaw biker movie. Marlon Brando stars as the leader of a biker gang who terrorise a small American town. It is all very tame stuff by today’s standards but at the time (1953) it tapped into real fears and social concerns about juvenile delinquency and gang violence. In the UK, it even ended up being banned for 14 years, and was first seen by the general public in 1968.

Brando’s ultra-cool ‘outsider’ screen persona became hugely influential, both in terms of fashion/style and attitude. At one point he gets asked “What are you rebelling against” to which he replies “What’ve you got?” (an exchange I remember being recreated on The Simpsons at one point, with Lisa in the Brando role). The US rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club also took their name from Brando’s biker gang.

This is the US one-sheet poster from the 1960 re-release, which features the same image as the first release but printed in (cheaper) two-colour, as is often the case with re-release posters. It is a bit damaged and cropped at the bottom but still very rare and collectible. I am glad I got my hands on this and it will make for a very cool piece of wall decoration for someone; however it is a bit outside my collecting wheelhouse, so I will be selling this one in due course.