The Wild One
Of course, Johnny does not stay in town. The success of The Wild One as a road movie rests in its ability to respond to a desire in the viewer for unbounded freedom from social constraints. It is very important that Johnny not settle down with Martha in
the end. As movie critic, Stephen Harvey writes:
Road movies are a search with motion as emotion. There's this whole desire not to be rooted, and the hero does not settle down to a happy life with the pharmacist's daughter. (cite)
In this way, the hero's driving off into the sunset becomes the
ultimate expression of their individuality and courage,
and The Wild One conforms to this pattern. After the trouble is over and his gang has left town, Johnny returns to Uncle Frank's, order
s a cup of coffee, and then leaves his motorcycle trophy behind as a momento of his presence. He takes one last look at the Marie's ineffectual father and then rides his bike off into the horizon.
