Ronald Reagan and James Dean Video

[Stearmen]

The Wild One

For those of you who think Marlon Brando's caricature in The Wild One was to feminine and to out of step with the 50s, I will remind you that the movie was based on a real event and real caricature, albeit loosely! Hollister, California July 4, 1947, where am AMA sanctioned race was being held. A bunch of WWII veterans crashed the race and started their own drags on the main street! They were the infamous Boozefighters motorcycle club, led by "Wino Willie” Forkner, a waist gunner on B-24 Liberators. There is a photo of him bellow, just in case you don't how he got his nick name. When they got home they wanted more action, and motorcycle racing was it. When the AMA banned the Harley Davidson JD from competition is when many broke off and formed the 1%. Later the Hells Angels splintered off, formed by other WWII veterans. It was said that Lee Marvin's caricature was closer, and he was a real rider, who later raced Triumph's. At Hollister, the CHIPs were called in and a lot of arrest made, mainly intoxication, and public indecency, they didn't take over the town, so much as stop traffic. On the 50th anniversary, one of the towns men said as a kid it was the first time he had seen a woman's breast. These were members of The Greatest Generation in the tame late 40s! When Willie was asked the famous question, "what were you rebelling against", he replied, "We were rebelling against the establishment, for Chrissakes," he roared. "You go fight a ******* war, and the minute you get back and take off the uniform and put on Levi's and leather jackets, they call you an a --. In the early days of biking, they immediately thought you were an outlaw sort of person. We didn't think we were. We didn't go around banging heads." Then again should we be suprised, after all, another member of The Greatest Generation was non other then Timothy Leary, the LSD counterculture guru! All the changes of the 50s and 60s for better or worse came out of the largest war in human history. There is a photo of him bellow, just in case you don't how he got his nick name.

 

[Guttersnipe]

That's a really astute comparison, I was thinking the the same thing too! Were you reminded of Dean's work in East of Eden, which was kinda the flip-side of that coin; that character can't seem win the approval of his father, which he desperately wants, so he acts out to get attention. I'm a HUGE fan of those early 50's NYC actors workshop fellows...Brando, Dean, Karl Malden. They just don't make 'em like that anymore!

You'll see in the final seconds of this short, James Dean's character cry out; "hit me man", watching the context of how he said that, it wasn't in a defiant manner as in "I dare you" but more as in "no one has every taught me the difference between right and wrong". Similar to his character's portrayal in Rebel Without a Cause, the Father in the movie never disciplined him, but rather tried to "buy" his way out and run from his responsibility. Both characters need an authority figure in their lives to guide them. That seems to be the point between the two films.

Stearmen,
Have you read the recent book about the Boozefighters? It has some really interesting facts about the 1947 Hollister "riots." There's a letter to the editor of a newspaper written by the county Under Sheriff in which he takes SERIOUS issue with how the weekend's events were portrayed by the press.

Apparently the vast majority of the arrests that took place over the weekend didn't anywhere near the city of Hollister! The reported death was a unrelated car crash many, many miles away, and what's more, the C.H.P. response was only a couple of officers - who were already assigned to the area for the weekend to anyway because of the crowds expected for the AMA races!

From the other firsthand descriptions in the book - both from bikers and locals - the reality sounds tamer than what goes on at every college campus after finals week these days lol

The Wild Ones is such an interesting film also. It has a really subversive ending if you think about it. The ending is totally absurd: a supposedly "upright" member of society, so outraged by the biker's challenging of norms, violently throws a wrench at an unwitting motorcycle rider, hitting him in the neck and causing him to loss control and kill another bystander, so the police arrest the bikers:eusa_doh:. That ought to teach those deliquents not to rebel against square society and force "good" townsfolk to commit criminal assaults lol.

I'm convinced the silly ending was the writers' and director's way of thumbing their nose at the Hayes Code.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Excellent link. :eusa_clap Thanks for posting it. A terrific short highlighting the traditional masculine, brave, alpha male played by Ronald Reagan versus the limped, warped, wimped male played by James Dean. Something that wouldn't be produced today.

Yeah, maybe because there are lots of possibilities between this two extremes that are more common and more healthy.

I have to admid that I can't stand this typical 50s movie clichees. I watched "Giant" with Dean and hated the conclusion of the movie as much as the portrayal of the characters. The wife was rebellious for a reason but than again she changed nothing....and it seems to be the only way to go.

 

[Stearmen]

Sturges

From the other firsthand descriptions in the book - both from bikers and locals - the reality sounds tamer than what goes on at every college campus after finals week these days lol

I should have worded it a little better! It is wilder at Sturges these days then at Hollister then! Still, interesting that the groups we call outlaws bikers, were started by WWII veterans and not Hippies as most seem to think! And it happened way before November 19, 1961!

 

[MCPRE]

I saw that clip last week on TCM channel and oh by the way, Ronald Reagan is my all time hero. :eusa_clap

 

[Lincsong]

No one ever said that bikers were hippies. [huh] And I doubt any of those guys at Hollister were crying and discovering their feminine side. (Unlike the Brando character). Those guys who were vets that became bikers, well I have no degree as a psychiatrist, but I wouldn't doubt that they were acting out on some type of mental scars brought on by battle. War affects each man differently, for every one who joined the bikers there were several dozen score who attempted to put their lives back to normalcy in the best way they knew. Some lived with their mental scars for many years after the war. I remember story by a vet who was a tank driver under Patton, in 1953 he was sitting at a stop light in front of a steel mill and there was a pounding in the background, he woke up 7 days later in a hospital not knowing what the hell happened. When he told me that story, there was no bitterness, no crying, no angst, it was just something that he had to deal with in his life and he did it the best way he knew; try to forget.

Anyway, back to this clip. Anyone notice when the gun shot victim is on the table how James Dean grabs his hand and starts to dance????

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Gentlemen please, we should be able to discuss golden era actors that transitioned into politics without constantly referencing their politics. More importantly, we should be able to disagree with each other without being disagreeable. Try a little humor and patience.

 

[Feraud]

Great info. Thanks for posting it.

For those of you who think Marlon Brando's caricature in The Wild One was to feminine and to out of step with the 50s, I will remind you that the movie was based on a real event and real caricature, albeit loosely! Hollister, California July 4, 1947, where am AMA sanctioned race was being held. A bunch of WWII veterans crashed the race and started their own drags on the main street! They were the infamous Boozefighters motorcycle club, led by "Wino Willie” Forkner, a waist gunner on B-24 Liberators. There is a photo of him bellow, just in case you don't how he got his nick name. When they got home they wanted more action, and motorcycle racing was it. When the AMA banned the Harley Davidson JD from competition is when many broke off and formed the 1%. Later the Hells Angels splintered off, formed by other WWII veterans. It was said that Lee Marvin's caricature was closer, and he was a real rider, who later raced Triumph's. At Hollister, the CHIPs were called in and a lot of arrest made, mainly intoxication, and public indecency, they didn't take over the town, so much as stop traffic. On the 50th anniversary, one of the towns men said as a kid it was the first time he had seen a woman's breast. These were members of The Greatest Generation in the tame late 40s! When Willie was asked the famous question, "what were you rebelling against", he replied, "We were rebelling against the establishment, for Chrissakes," he roared. "You go fight a ******* war, and the minute you get back and take off the uniform and put on Levi's and leather jackets, they call you an a --. In the early days of biking, they immediately thought you were an outlaw sort of person. We didn't think we were. We didn't go around banging heads." Then again should we be suprised, after all, another member of The Greatest Generation was non other then Timothy Leary, the LSD counterculture guru! All the changes of the 50s and 60s for better or worse came out of the largest war in human history. There is a photo of him bellow, just in case you don't how he got his nick name.

 

[Lincsong]

I thought that guy was Lee Marvin.

 

[Stearmen]

Gentlemen please, we should be able to discuss golden era actors that transitioned into politics without constantly referencing their politics. More importantly, we should be able to disagree with each other without being disagreeable. Try a little humor and patience.

Agreed! Already apologized to one of the Bartenders, call me a cab before I get on religion!

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I thought that guy was Lee Marvin.

The fellow at the bottom looks a bit like Hugh Laurie as well.

 

[Lincsong]

Oh yeah, House. Good one Hem.

 

[MCPRE]

A good one I have not seen for a while is "The Hells Angels" with Jack Nicholson, I would like to see that one again.[huh]