Made as part of a deal producer Stanley Kramer struck with Columbia to supply a string of low-budget features The Wild One was intended to be a sensationalizing psuedo-social conscience filler instead of the icon of teen rebellion that it became, catapulting Brando as the improbably sensitive bikie gang leader (his gang rival, Lee Marvin, was much more convincing in this respect) to pin-up boy stardom and spawning a whole generation of bikerploitation films.
Based on a Harper's Magazine real-life story, The Cyclists' Raid, by Frank Rooney, as adapted by John Paxton despite being atmospherically directed by Benedek, it is more of a historical artefact rather than a compelling film in itself, lacking as it does the dramatic credibility of related films of the period such as Rebel Without A Cause (1955).