The Wild Ride

The Wild Ride is a 1960 American film directed by Harvey Berman and starring Jack Nicholson as a rebellious punk named Johnny, of the Beat generation, who spends his days as an amateur dirt track driver in between partying and troublemaking. The film has become part of the public domain and is considered by some to be a cult classic.

The Wild Ride
Directed byHarvey Berman
Produced byHarvey Berman (producer)
Kinta Zertuche (executive producer)
Screenplay byAnn Porter
Marion Rothman
Story byBurt Topper
StarringJack Nicholson
Georgianna Carter
Robert Bean
CinematographyTaylor Sloan
Edited byMonte Hellman
William Mayer
Distributed byFilmgroup
Release date
  • June 17, 1960 (1960-06-17)
Running time
59 minutes
88 minutes (producer's cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

A rebellious punk of the beat generation spends his days as an amateur dirt track driver in between partying and troublemaking. He eventually kidnaps his buddy's girlfriend, kills a few police officers and finally sees his own life end in tragedy.

Re-cut version

The Wild Ride was re-edited with new footage that makes the original film a long flashback sequence. Running 88 minutes and titled Velocity, the new scenes feature Jack Nicholson impersonator Joe Richards playing an older version of the character originally played by Nicholson, as well as performances by Jorge Garcia, Jason Sudeikis, and Dick Miller.

Cast
  • Jack Nicholson as Johnny Varron
  • Georgianna Carter as Nancy
  • Robert Bean as Dave
  • Carol Bigby as Joyce
  • John Bologni as Barny
  • Gary Espinosa as Cliff
  • Judith Tresize as Ann
  • Wesley Marie Tackitt
  • Sydene Wallace
  • Donna Dabney
  • Garry Korpi
  • Leonard Williams
  • John Holden
  • Raymond O'Day
  • Carl Vicknair as Police Officer #1

Production

The executive producer on the film was Roger Corman. Harvey Berman was a high school drama teacher in northern California who had gone to the UCLA drama school with some friends of Corman. He decided to make a film during the summer using some of his high school drama class students in the cast and crew and sending a few Hollywood professionals to work with them. One of these was Jack Nicholson. Corman later wrote "this is one of the little pictures I remember with pleasure; it turned out very well."[1]

See also

References
  1. Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p. 138


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