On the Waterfront [Region 2] | Marlon Brando, Karl Malden | Early Brando reveals full-blown genius

On the Waterfront [Region 2] | Marlon Brando, Karl Malden | A little trivia

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On the Waterfront ...

	On the Waterfront [Region 2] Marlon Brando, Karl Malden Columbia average customer review:based on 161 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Early Brando reveals full-blown genius

Superb performances by Marlon Brando and Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint in this raw, gritty classic of union corruption on the NYC waterfront, offers a study of Brando's profound ability to become the tormented "Terry" with every subtle change of expression a reflection of the inner man. The film is as fresh and gripping today as it was 50 years ago and bears watching again and again for anyone who claims to be a student of acting, cinemantography or just plain great films that don't need to rely on special effects for their impact. - A. Madsen, Baltimore

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A little trivia

I hate to be trivial about such a great film, but has anyone else noticed a weird flying insect land on karl malden when he's talking to a beat up dugan?

None Better

This is simply one of the five greatest motion pictures ever made, perhaps the best.

ELIA KAZAN"S PROBLEM

Director Elia Kazan had a problem in 1954; this picture and "East of Eden". Either film was deserving of multiple Academy awards."On the Waterfront" prevailed, but has any director ever produced two finer films in one year? Shot on the Jersey side of New York harbor, this film completely brings out the flavor of a union gone rotten. It's an expose of how men lose their freedom, dignity, independence, and their lives through mob infiltration. Brando is superb in his best role as Terry Malloy, who,with encouragement from Saint and Malden, finally summons up the guts to turn on the "establishment". Some questions: How many remember the Polo Grounds? After "North by Northwest", did Saint live up to her promising introduction in film making? Am I the only person who thinks that Karl Malden spent a career over-acting? Finally, name a director who throughout his career was better able to slam pure,raw emotion at the viewer than Kazan? Let the debates begin.

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Redemption and rage.

On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)

"I coulda been a contender!" That's the line everyone knows from On the Waterfront. It's funny, because to me, Marlon Brando's truly great scene in this movie comes about five minutes later, amid the fallout of the contender conversation. He's desperately trying to keep from breaking down, barking orders to his girlfriend while getting ready to start a one-man war against the city's crime bosses. It's great stuff. And here I was, having seen the contender excerpt at least a thousand times, thinking it was a movie about a washed-up boxer. Well, it is, but that's only the tip of the iceberg.

Terry Malloy (Brando) is a longshoreman, an ex-boxer who's been taken under the wing of union leader Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). As the movie opens, Terry is seen having a brief conversation with his acquaintance Jimmy, who is soon pushed to his death from the roof of a tenement building. Terry, disturbed by this, goes back to the bar out of which the union operates, protesting that he just thought "they were gonna lean on him a little." This begins Terry's long and painful journey from a longshoreman who follows the "deaf and dumb" code of the union to a man proud enough to stand up for himself and his fellow workers against the corruption at the higher levels of the union.

Man, this must have been a tough film to get through McCarthy's goons...

Amusing political peccadilloes aside, On the Waterfront really is a great movie. Kazan was at the height of his directorial power, and Brando was never better as an actor. Karl Malden, as a meddling priest willing to stand up for the little guy, does a fantastic job as well, and most of the rest of the cast range from good to great. (There are a few minor characters who seem to be there just for amusement's sake, but they don't get enough face time to really do much damage to the quality of the overall film.) If you haven't seen it, well, it's not just a movie about a washed-up boxer, that I can tell you. ****

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