Born to Be Wild (1938) User Reviews

Enjoyable B-movie quickie

[Woodyanders · 7/10 · 5 October 2015]

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.

One Truck Drivers Opinion

[ehrldawg · 7/10 · 7 November 2011]

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

No stinky cabbage this piece of B cinematic lettuce.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 17 February 2024]

I'll never forget the sudden break into song in this B Republic road picture, dealing with issues that truckers face on the road while hauling what they believe to be lettuce. Ralph Byrd and Ward Bond face lots of obstacles on their run, whether aiding Doris Weston or dealing with striking farm workers. Robert Emmett Keane is the heavy who stops the truck to try and get Weston back, and the ensuing dangers that follow them, including inclement weather.

There's several musical sequences here including one in Spanish featuring the squeaky voiced Sterlita Peluffo, and another where Bond emotes dramatically (and get laughs) while singing. At a little over an hour, this offers lots to amuse, and the dialog is certainly top notch and real. Weston is spikey as the romantic lead, although she didn't move much past B films and unlike Byrd (later on Dick Tracy) and Bond didn't last long in movies. Her duet with Byrd is rather forgettable. Good special effects go into the finale involving a huge dam threatened with explosion.

Boring and talky but a bit of a curiosity

[stevenfallonnyc · 4/10 · 31 January 2009]

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.

Golden Turkey Sleeper

[boblipton · 2/10 · 12 September 2003]

Or perhaps 'Snoozer' would be the right term for an undiscovered masterpiece of bad film making.

If you've ever seen THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, you may know there was a genre of trucking pictures in the late 1930s. Well, this is a SINGING trucking picture. Yes, Ward Bond sings! And no ordinary songs of love and the open range, but songs of the dangers of trucking and truck stops and blowouts. Surprisingly, the score was not considered worthy of being nominated for an Oscar.

Then there's the plot, which is about two truckers who are not in the least surprised to be given a $1000 bonus to drive lettuce to market, how they discover it's dynamite and the beautiful woman who doesn't believe them.

Given the not inconsiderable talent -- that's Western director Joseph Kane behind the camera -- it's a real achievement for a movie this bad to show up. Take a look if you don't believe it. You'll find yourself humming 'Danger Ahead'.

Pure delight

[davost · 10/10 · 1 January 2008]

Joseph Kane seems to have some kind of golden touch. The low budget films he directs would appear to be very depressing and embarrassing to the cast. Or so you would think. In Kane's films, he seems to be able to get them to see the light side and have fun and this shows. This is what I like about them. the plots are ludicrous and brutally contrived but they are less like film and more about a surprisingly enjoyable house party. That's why his westerns are so fun. There's no Oscar stress, it's the depression, and they're working. Look at Public Cowboy No. 1 or Man From Music Mountain. In Born to be Wild we have a couple of guys driving a truck and having some pretty crazy problems. Ralph Byrd shows way more personality than in those Dick Tracy things. The female lead is a very appealing Doris Weston who had practically no career. The surprise for me was Ward Bond who showed great range and personality as a curmudgeonly truck driver who was capable of being the life of the party with a hilarious rumba. The relaxed wit and chemistry among these three is excellent. The other great thing about this film is the location shooting and the period atmosphere. You can't fully enjoy this film unless you have an interest in 30's history. They show things like a picket line, a hokey land developer, etc. And the film moves along, you never wallow in tedium. As usual in a Kane film, even the bad guys seem to be having fun. The story, well I don't know.

Always specify "Nathanael", when you say "West"! A must-see movie!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 11 November 2017]

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?

Early Jo Kane's material

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9 August 2023]

This early talkies stuff is as usual fun, fact paced, lousy, with many comedy lines, light hearted, but forgettable. This is not the kind of film that Joseph Kane would be proud of. You have a young Ward Bond and the plot coul announce Henri George Clouzot's LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR. A couple of truck drivers are in charge of a shipment of explosives - dynamite here and nitroglycerine in LE SALAIRE...- and that is far enough to keep the audiences stuck to it, especially for a so short movie. It is agreeable to watch, and this is a "truck driver" film. Also here announcing a future American series from the seventies: MOVIN ON.