Born to Be Wild (1938)
Truck drivers Steve Hackett and Bill Purvis are fired from their jobs with the West Coast Trucking company for not using second-gear going down steep grades. Davis, the company vice-president, surprisingly asks them to carry a load of merchandise to Arrowhead and offers a $1000 bonus. He tells them it is a load of lettuce. Several miles out of Los Angelese, they are stopped by a mob of lettuce-farm workers on strike. When the first crate is tossed off the truck, it explodes and the two pals learn their merchandise is a cargo of dynamite. The workers let them proceed and they crash into a car driven by Mary Stevens, whom they had met at a restaurant. She and her dog, "Butch" (played by a Credited dog named Stooge), join them and they deliver their cargo, and learn unscrupulous real-estate operators have jammed the locks on the dam in order to ruin the ranchers and farmers and take over their property.
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A waste of 90 minutes of my life
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Ralph Byrd (Steve Hackett), Doris Weston (Mary Stevens), Ward Bond (Bill Purvis), Robert Emmett Keane (Davis), Bentley Hewitt (Wilson), Charles Williams (trucking company spotter), Davison Clark (the stranger), Byron Foulger (husband), George Anderson (mayor), Edwin Stanley (Randolph), Ben Hendricks junior (deputy), Stelita Pulffo (Manuela), Lew Kelly (Riley), Harrison Greene (Malloy), George Magrill (Hank), Anna Demetrio (Cristobella), Harry Harvey (Wilson's henchman), Maston Williams, Stanley Blystone, Frank Darien, Robert Fiske, Ethan Laidlaw, Reed Howes (men), George Cleveland (Stevens), Alan Bridge (trucker in café), James Flavin, Dan White (strikers), Edna Lawrence, Nellie Walker (women), Chris-Pin Martin (Garcia), Frank O'Connor (Jim), Jack Rockwell, Ray Henderson (townsmen), Oscar "Dutch" Hendrian, Pat McKee (thugs), Max Wagner (Jake), Dave O'Brien (trucker), Harry Cording (masher in diner), and "Stooge" ("Butch", the dog).Director: Joseph KANE. Original screenplay: Nathanael West. Photography: Jack Marta. Supervising film editor: Murray Seldeen. Film editor: William Morgan. Art director: John Victor McKay. Costumes designed by Irene Saltern. Music director: Alberto Colombo. Songs: "Danger Ahead" (Byrd and Bond, reprized Byrd, Bond and Weston); "I Love You So" (Byrd and Weston) by Jack Lawrence, Peter Tinturin, Eduardo Durant, Harold Peterson, Carlo Ruffino. Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Special effects photography: E.J. Thackery. Production manager: Al Wilson. Associate producer: Harold Shumate. Copyright 21 February 1938 by Republic Pictures Corporation. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 16 February 1938. No record of any theatrical release in Australia. 7 reels. 66 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Shades of "The Wages of Fear": A couple of truckers are induced to deliver a load "that will save thousands of lives." COMMENT: A wonderfully wacky movie, full of screwy characters, dippy dialogue and oddball action, from the pen of Nathanael West, author of that famous Hollywood exposé, "The Day of the Locust". Oddly, director Joe Kane, not normally one of the most intelligent of Republic's workhorses, has risen nobly to the challenge. The players are great too, from our singing trio of truck-mates, Byrd, Bond and Weston, through Robert Emmett Keane's purple-prosy vice-president to the hat-tossing villains. Excellent production values include thrilling stunts, believable miniatures and highly-charged location work. Plus a couple of nice songs too. In fact, this is a "B" movie with everything except a believable plot. But who's looking for credibility at Republic Studios?
Easygoing truck driver Steve Hackett (likable Ralph Byrd) and his worrywart partner Bill Purvis (solid Ward Bond) get a job hauling a lot of dynamite to a town that needs a dam blocked before it breaks and floods said town. Our intrepid pair face opposition in the form of hired thugs and treacherous roads as they try to make their delivery in the nick of time.Director Joseph Kane keeps the engrossing story moving along at a brisk pace, maintains an amiable tone throughout, and stages the action with a reasonable amount of aplomb. Nathanael West's compact script boasts plenty of sharp dialogue. Byrd and Ward display an engaging natural chemistry in the leads, pretty Doris Weston delivers a charming portrayal as the spunky Mary Stevens, and Robert Emmett Keane cuts a suitably obnoxious figure as pompous trucking magnet J. Stearns Davis. Jack A. Marta's competent black and white cinematography makes neat occasional use of fades and wipes. As a pleasant bonus, Byrd heartily belts out a few nice songs. Nothing special, but a fun enough diversion just the same.
A couple of truck driver get talked into doing a special haul.This is a pretty good movie. Its a tad bit slow. Some of the comedic timing is off. There are parts where the lighting wasn't the greatest. And I didn't care for the singing truck driver. But the story line moves well with plenty of twist a turns. And its a good story. Joseph Kane,Nathan West, and the rest of the crew did a pretty good job on this film. John Waynes' best friend,a young Ward Bond, of "The Searchers" and Wagon Train" is in this one.Ralph Byrd drives the Studebaker big rig.Ralph Byrd was a permanent A list actor.Doris Weston and Sterlita Peluffo were hot.erldwgstruckermovies.com
Truth be told, "Born To Be Wild" is not a good film, but there are much worse. Starting with the title - it seems to fit a JD flick or a biker flick better than it does in this trucker's movie, as really, who exactly is 'born to be wild?' It certainly isn't the truck driving stars, who aren't that wild at all. Matter of fact, one just wants to sleep, and the other breaks out in song at weird times! What kind of songs? Truck driving songs of course! The plot - our two "wild" drivers are hired to haul a truckload of lettuce (which is really dynamite) for a grand (each? never specified) while bad guys of some sort try to stop them. It all gets revealed in the film's last ten minutes, in a confusing array of nonsense which you are not going to care about.As they are hauling, you'll see it's mostly a dull trip. There is a LOT of talking, and it's all that 1930's real fast "witty" talk that either cracks you up, makes you roll your eyes, up, or both. There is a good quick scene where their truck smashes a car.The pretty girl they pick up is kind of a secret agent, or double agent, or, well, who cares. It's explained later but by then even though the movie is just over an hour, you are too exhausted to care who is who and why.There is some interesting miniature special effects work at the end which is fun to see. The film also has probably the worst and least convincing "fake background scenery scenes as we show the people driving" scenes ever done."Born To Be Wild" isn't wild at all, but may interest you if you are feeling sick on an afternoon where you have NOTHING better to watch on hand for a little while.