On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront_360P

Elia Kazan's "On the Waterfront" is frequently listed among the greatest of all American films. It concerns a longshoreman's inner and outer struggles in exposing the corruption of union bosses. Unquestionably, the strength of the film is the acting. Brando's performance in particular is one for the ages. He won his first Oscar for this role and Eva Marie Saint also garnered an Oscar in her introductory film role. On top of that Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb & Rod Steiger all earned Best Supporting Actor nominations. These accolades give an idea of the level of talent on display here. Kazan's direction is well done as he strives for a gritty, realistic look. Shooting on location was an important part of that. Leonard Bernstein's score, on the other hand, is often overbearing. There's nothing wrong with the music itself, only the prominence of it. The main area in which I feel the film doesn't quite deliver is the story. The film does a fine job of exploring the characters but I find that the underlying storyline doesn't really work for me. The main premise is a good one but after the initial confrontation I began to lose interest. The self-consciously 'inspiring' ending doesn't help, either. All things considered, I give the film high marks for the excellent acting and direction which, unfortunately, are in service of a merely average story.

IMDb Top 250: 105 I finished On the Waterfront about 2 hours ago, and something strange happened. Something I haven't done in a long while, I can't for certain remember the film that caused it. When the film ended, I sat in silence for about 10 minutes. On the Waterfront is an inspiring film. There's a feeling you get watching it- movie magic. Something great is playing out in front of your eyes and you are taking in the collective effort of geniuses. Right from the start, with the dramatic score (that stays fine throughout) introducing the film, something special is happening. The plot synopsis gives the appearance of a plain film, and plain it is not. The mob, murder and romance are the stars of this show and right off the start this is apparent- like the lighting of a fuse. Then as the wick burns down, the drama unfolds. We learn about Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), his past and present, and his conflicted thoughts. We are introduced to characters that push him down the path he has to choose. A viewer grows to care about Terry, and until he decides for himself, we have no idea what he'll do. This film is an acting gold magnet- it received 5 nominations in acting alone. I'll start with Brando's legendary performance. It doesn't matter what you think of him offscreen because for 2 hours he is at his very best, one of the best in acting ever. Terry is a fantastic character and Brando gives an unrivalled, honest performance. Wanting him to stand against his negative influences are Father Barry (Karl Malden) and Edie (Eva Marie Saint). The father is a frustrated man, furious in his quest for righteousness. Only in The Exorcist have I liked a priest as much. He gives a raging performance, at its peak with a scolding of the longshoremen. Riveting. With him, but quite the opposite in character is Edie, who falls into the plot. Saint aces her characters role, which is to mold Terry. Their scenes are tender, believable, and in a recurring theme with the film, honest. During their bar scene I thought they could've just made a romance together, leaving out all the drama. On the other side, the mob union leaders, we have Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), the head honcho, who is ferocious, intimidating, and impeccably evil to honest workers. There's also Charley (Rod Steiger), Terry's older brother who is comfortably in with the mob. I didn't notice him at all, except for 'the scene' which must've made him in the Academy's eyes. Speaking of 'the scene', the pivotal Taxi cab dialogue between Terry and Charley, you can tell as it happens this is the moment, the peak of On the Waterfront and Marlon Brando. It is the turning point of the film, where Terry makes some huge realizations that we can infer from only his face and tone. I won't even discuss his words, as it's been done by absolutely everyone. There are several other great scenes, like the 'It's a crucifixion' speech and the various rooftop scenes. Right until the last scene we aren't sure what will happen. I won't spoil it, but it's elevating. Heroic. Even enlightening. On the Waterfront is about the small speaking out against the large and corrupt. It's about going against the flow, breaking the silence. Sometime in your life you were or will be in Terry's position to some degree, and you'll either do or don't. Leave it at that, please don't read the director's reasoning behind the film. Take it for what it is: a fantastic film that will make you want to be a better person who can speak out against wrongdoers. Powerful indeed. I thought On the Waterfront would be good, but not this good. With stupendous performances, a top notch story and a strong message, On the Waterfront is film at it's best. 9.4/10

At the time this was probably a fairly brave subject to tackle. Unions have such a powerful history have been around for a long time with very little having changed. Corruption still appears to be at the top of the agenda whether it's the docks or the trades or any other union. It's this along with good performances that make this movie so relevant today. It's the best performance I've seen Marlon Brando give, to a role that probably suited him perfectly. He made the movie along with a good script. This wasn't enough for me to find it as one of my most enjoyed movies of all time as the AFI may have you believe. Even if you don't like watching old movies, you should definitely make an exception for this one.

Sure the fight against mafia gangrene, corruption, the « one against all » sympbolic are appealing subjects but the treatment the story had is too timid. The dramatic progression is rather mediocre, the narration lacks grip, tension, it is too linear, too predictable and too slow to captivate the viewer's attention from end to end. The actors are bland, a vast majority of people by the way even consider Marlon Brando's performance as one of his best when his acting is just dreadfully inexpressive. As for the cinematography, which is also often highly regarded, it's more than OK but very academic, and often badly served by a deafening, too grandiloquent soundtrack. With 8 Oscars and a solid reputation, On The Waterfront appeared like a true masterpiece but ultimately the movie could very well be part of the overrated classics category.

After loving Brando's incandescent performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire", and conditioned by the hagiographic treatment it gets in film history, I was psyched to see "On the Waterfront". What a disappointment. Karl Malden's "acting" is wooden and banal. Brando seems constrained (almost bemused at times) and halfhearted at best. The Bernstein score is an annoying and distracting retread of "West Side Story". The screenplay is full of stilted dialog, with a plot (apparently developed with the creative consultation of J. Edgar Hoover) that was hackneyed 15 years before the film was made. The supporting characters are stereotypes from gangster movies from the thirties and forties. A prime example of a movie perhaps somewhat blindly worshiped.

Terry lives in the shadow of his smart brother Charley the Gent working for a double-handed businessman of the underworld. He had his best times of his life during his boxing career, and has brought his dimes in for his brother. Charley's boss named Johnny Friendly is the man who is behind Terry's fame, but he is also the same man who nibbled his dimes from boxing. The curtain opens with Terry working for Johnny Friendly to be participated in a murder. He does his duty and the murder takes effect. The victim was a labor, whose labor leader also works for Johhny Friendly. Terry turns gloomy when he finds out that the victim has been only seeking his rights when he became a rebel. Especially when Terry meets with the victim's sister his suspects grew. She reasons with him that there are two opposite sides: Johnny Friendly's rich and still-growing syndicate versus the dependent and needy workers who are driven into Johnny Friendly's punitive sanctions. Provided that Terry finds a third side: His own. A run of the mill plot of the mid-20th century. Everybody is pretty much familiar with labor union issues. Mainly the subject gives nothing more than workers seeking out their rights. However, consider that it's Elia Kazan who ushers a new era of actors who rage the whole scenes and turn out heroes out of bums. On the Waterfront has surely inspired millions. For instance, in Robert De Niro's "Raging Bull", a prize-fighter like Terry Malloy turns out to be a stage actor and affirms Terry's speech of reproach to his brother, where no other words could describe his situation he fell into. Marlon Brando's can-do attitude created an inspirational movement, imprinting our memory, that "If Terry Malloy can do this, yes; I can do this, and yes; everybody can do this". Subsequently movie makers began to deliver efforts and accomplishments to the silver screen in order to catch viewers' appreciations. On The Waterfront, Elia Kazan and Marlon Brando are those to remember together in the motion picture history.

Except for Karl Malden who overplays his role as a priest, the acting here is quite good. Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, and Eva Marie Saint all give fine performances. And Brando is indeed terrific as Terry Malloy, the non-intellectual brick-head and former boxer who is torn between his own conscience and loyalty to a corrupt gang of bullies. His scene in the taxi with Steiger is his most famous in the film. But I actually prefer his performance in the bar, wherein he tries to console the sister of the dead man. Apart from the acting, however, I find little of interest. The B&W cinematography, though competent, is nothing special, except for the scene where Malloy and his girl run through an alleyway; that scene is quite effective and a good example of noir lighting. Otherwise, the visuals are drab, cheerless, and dull beyond words. The low contrast lighting of the blue-collar shipyard area conveys a mood of bleakness and misery. Most of the script's characters are humorless hoods and thugs devoid of sentiment or kindness. Everyone is angry, and they're angry through the whole story. There's not an ounce of humor anywhere. Conflict is both verbal and physical. This is a very talky script. Some of the longer scenes could pass for stage play material. I couldn't care less about the political intrigue that was the basis for the original film concept. And the film's background music is loud and overbearing. "On The Waterfront" is one of several old movies that film school instructors like to use to show examples of high quality acting. Similarly, for a viewer to say he or she likes this movie would be "safe"; hardly anyone will force him to defend his opinion. But times change. The movie is way outdated. Along with a number of other cinematic "sacred cows", "On The Waterfront" seems stale, bromidic, shopworn and tired. However "instructive" the film might be for new actors, I find it lacking in entertainment value.

ON THE WATERFRONT is considered to one of the great classics of American cinema . It's easy to see why . It's a story that involves a nobody standing up to a powerful and corrupt organisation and doing the right thing , of one man making a difference . However it's impossible to watch this once you know the background of the director Elia Kazan . A Turkish immigrant to America he started off in theater and along with Lee Strasberg introduced something called " Method acting " where the actor gets in to the psychological depths and motivation of their character and effectively becomes that character . Where as previously film stars like Clark Gable , Errol Flynn etc etc were always playing a different shade of themselves a new breed of actors in the 1950s such as James Dean and Marlon Brando brought the method acting style to cinema and the method hit new heights in the late 1960s and 70s with New Hollywood . Perhaps we should be thankful for Kazan ? Maybe but the downside was Kazan was not a nice person at all from a very important moral viewpoint This film features a corrupt union who are fleecing the workers and lining their own pockets . The Waterfront Crime Commission are very interested in bringing down this corrupt union but they have a problem in that no one wants to talk to them and the union are more than happy to arrange accidents for suspected informers such as throwing people off roofs and fearing that former boxer Terry Molloy might snitch on them because they murdered the brother of a girl Molloy is falling in love with decide to put heavy pressure on him . You might like to consider that a couple of years previously Kazan was more than happy to testify in front of The House Of Un-American Activities and named eight former colleagues he knew from the American communist party with these eight people then being blacklisted . In effect he grassed them up and stabbed his friends in the back .With friends like that who needs enemies ? Continually this film screams that informing on " bad guys " is all that's needed for good to defeat evil and unfortunately while being a red might not necessarily make you a bad person there does seem to be some sort of moral equivalence of being a murderous gangster and someone suspected of leftist leanings . I mean it doesn't matter what someone has done because if they've done something wrong then they've only got themselves to blame if someone snitches on them isn't that right ? . A snitch is a good thing There's also a large dose of irony . The only character with a moral compass is Father Barry played by Karl Malden . Yeah I mean a Catholic priest makes for a superlative role model . Yeah I'm sure if Father Barry found out about a paedophile ring for example he'd be round the police station right away naming names ? Or maybe not . After the death of a longshoreman who knows too much Father Barry pleads in the name of Jesus for the workers to rise up against their cruel union bosses who are taking the bread from hungry babies and using it to pay for expensive suits .Let's think about this for a tiny second . If the character of Barry wasn't a priest and just an ordinary worker , and who doesn't mention Jesus and pointed out the exploitation the workers were experiencing what sort of person would Barry be ? No doubt a good guy but one with leftist , almost certainly fundamental Marxist leanings , in which case he'd automatically be blacklisted as a filthy red . Oh it's an entirely different ball game now eh comrade ? Yet another example of Americans not getting irony . And remember - no one likes a snitch

This compelling and dynamic drama is set on New York's dock where mobsters control the Union and stevedores . An ex-prize fighter named Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando who deservedly won an Academy Award) turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses (Lee J Cobb) and is embroiled in violence . Malloy faces the terrible dilemma of whether or not to turn informer . While his brother (it was originally offered to Lawrence Tierney , but he asked for too much money so the role went to Rod Steiger who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance) is a crooked lawyer and he meets a beautiful ex-nun (Eva Maria Saint , Grace Kelly turned down the role of Edie Doyle, deciding to make Rear Window instead) and falls in love for her . This is an interesting and thought-provoking film with attractive plot by screenwriter Budd Schulberg , containing intense drama with pungent lines , emotion , wonderful performances , memorable climax , magnificent direction and classic musical score by maestro Leonard Berstein . For this brooding film and highy charged throughout story writer Budd Schulberg took the idea from newspapers , as he started with an expose series written for The New York Sun by reporter Malcolm Johnson , the articles won him a Pulitzer Prize and were reinforced by the 1948 murder of a New York dock hiring boss which woke America to the killings , graft and extortion that were endemic on the New York waterfront . Marvelous acting by entire casting . Marlon Brando is perfect as stevedore who faces the thorny dilemma of whether or not to become himself into an unfortunate informer . The taxicab scene , one of the most known scenes in the cinema, in which Brando began to improvise some dialogue , while surprising Rod Steiger listened and Kazan simply stood back and let the two actors direct themselves . Along with first-rate main cast : Brando , Steiger , Eva Maria Saint , appearing here and there great secondaries giving nice interpretations , such as : Lee J. Cobb , Leif Erickson , Michel V. Gazzo, Pat Henning , James Westerfield , Martin Balsam , Pat Hingle , Nehemiah Persoff, among others . Being film debuts of Michael V. Gazzo, Pat Hingle, Martin Balsam, and Eva Marie Saint . The leading characters were based on real people: Terry Malloy was based on longshoreman and whistle-blower Anthony De Vincenzo ; Father Barry was based on waterfront priest John M. Corridan ; Johnny Friendly was based on mobster Albert Anastasia. On the Waterfront is widely known to be an act of expiation on the part of Elia Kazan for naming names to the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) during the Joseph McCarthy witch-hunts of the 1950s. This trend-setting film has a gritty portrait of N. Y. waterfront and stand up well nowadays and resulted to be a huge financial hit , it is a winner all the way , as from a budget of just under $1 million, the film went on to gross ten times its production costs in its initial release. And winning eight Academy Awards , including : Best Picture , Direction (Elia Kazan) , Actor (Marlon Brando), special mention for Eva Maria Saint who gave a debut performance that won her the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, Cinematography (cameraman Boris Kaufman) , Art Director (Richard Day) . The motion picturre was compellingly directed by Elia Kazan , and it seems to be a direct response to Miller's play The Crucible. In fact , Kazan intended it as a direct attack at his former close friend Arthur Miller who had been openly critical of Elia's actions . Rating : Very good , above average , and a real must see . Well worth watching .