The Wild One is based on an actual incident that occurred during Independence Day festivities in 1947. Four thousand motorcyclists, from the biker gangs known as the Booze Fighters and the Nomads, thundered into the sleepy town of Hollister, California and wrecked havoc. Two days later, they drove off, leaving broken windows, destroyed property, and empty liquor bottles everywhere. According to Life magazine, the bikers said later, "We like to show off. It's just a lot of fun."

Producer Stanley Kramer, who was well known for his interest in controversial social and political issues which were often the subject of his films (racism - The Defiant Ones [1958], nuclear war - On the Beach [1959], war crimes - Judgment at Nuremberg [1961]), read an account of the outlaw weekend in Harper's and saw a potential film in the story.

The Breen office, the Hollywood censorship watchdog responsible for censoring unfit material for the movie-going public, called John Paxton's script for The Wild One "antisocial, if not downright communistic."

One Breen office official commented, "The idea of a bunch of roughnecks coming into a town and taking it over! You make them seem like heroes. By God, if they tried to do that to a town where I lived, I'd shoot 'em first and ask questions later."

Screenwriter John Paxton eventually rewrote the climax of The Wild One, removing the suggestion that the bikers' violence was rooted in the restlessness of an unchallenged mind, coming from social pressures and dead-end jobs. This was not a change that pleased Marlon Brando, the star of the film.