Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, ON THE WATERFRONT continues to be included on many top ten of all time lists. With the possible exception of THE GODFATHER, it, more than any other film, has inspired multitudes of people into becoming actors, screenwriters, and directors. Just the backseat taxicab scene between Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger alone served as a training ground in acting schools. And to illustrate how much reverence the script has earned, in RAGING BULL a washed up Jake LaMotta stands before his dressing room mirror reciting dialogue from ON THE WATERFRONT.
As with any great motion picture, there is a dark side, and this one involves Elia Kazan. A brilliant director on both the stage and screen, Kazan's leftist politics eventually got him subpoenaed to testify in front of the House un-American Activities Committee that was rooting out communists real and imaginary. His naming of names made him a pariah in Hollywood's liberal community, and some actors -not enough as far as I'm concerned- flat out refused to work with him again. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg was also a friendly witness to the committee, and many in the industry felt that ON THE WATERFRONT was Kazan's way of justifying being an informer, an act he finally admitted to towards the end of his life. To his dying day, he remained a polarizing figure in Hollywood.
Kazan damaged his credibility even further when it came to casting the male lead. Frank Sinatra originally agreed to play Terry Malloy, but when Marlon Brando found himself unexpectedly available, Kazan broke his verbal pact with Sinatra and gave Brando the part. The singer never forgave either one. To portray Edie Doyle, Grace Kelly was offered the role. But when Kelly declined so that she could work with Hitchcock, Kazan hired Eva Marie Saint, an actress with background in stage and television but about to make her silver screen debut.
Brando won his first Best Actor Oscar as Terry Malloy, an ex-boxer now making a living as a longshoreman on the Jersey docks. Once a promising contender, Terry works for Johnny Friendly (Lee J Cobb), a ruthless mobster -patterned after Albert Anastasia- who controls the union local with an iron fist. Friendly's mouthpiece just happens to be Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger), who not only provides legal representation but actively sits in on the crooked dealings, making him more of an accomplice than counsel.
Terry isn't a bad guy; he's simply a not particularly bright palooka who fell in with the wrong crowd. His first awareness of this is when he unwittingly lures a dock worker to his death. It turns out the victim was due to appear at a subcommittee hearing on organized crime within the labor unions, and was bumped off by Friendly's goons to prevent this canary from singing.
The dead man's sister is Edie Doyle (Saint), an inexperienced girl/woman who's determined to find out who killed her brother. Edie's only ally is Father Barry (Malden), a tough priest willing to risk his neck to clean up the unions by legally -and morally- getting rid of the racketeers in control. This is easier said than done because the longshoremen despite being shafted by Friendly -unless they give him a percentage of what they earn- and despite barely having enough pennies to rub together, adamantly refuse to become an informer.
Happenstance thrusts Terry and Edie together, and she starts seeing him socially, unaware of his involvement with her brother's murder. As he begins to fall in love with her -and vice versa- Terry is overwhelmed with guilt because he wants so badly to confess to her that he's terrified of losing her. But all of a sudden, he's been subpoenaed to testify before the waterfront commission!
Worried that the kid he's treated like a nephew is now going to betray him, the odious Friendly orders Charley to convince Terry to keep his mouth shut, or else he'll end up sleeping with the fishes. (Oops! Sorry, wrong Brando movie 😏!) And if Charley isn't successful, then both Malloy brothers will find themselves in the morgue. It's in the famous can scene where we learn all about Terry's fall from grace in the boxing ring....and the role Charley played in it.
Brando's forceful performance as Terry Malloy is one of the most influential ever put on film, even more so than his Stanley Kowalski in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. When he received his fourth consecutive Oscar nomination for Best Actor, no one in Hollywood had any doubts about him winning this time. It simply impossible to continue ignoring him and the impact he was having on screen acting. Future legends such as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and Martin Scorsese admitted they couldn't look away whenever Brando was on the screen.
Eva Marie Saint also took home an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her touching work as the sheltered Edie who is forced to mature quickly in response to the violence and corruption permeating around her. Steiger, Cobb, and Malden all found themselves cancelling each other out in their supporting category, with the statuette going to Edmond O'Brien -an excellent actor- for THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA.
The remainder of golden hardware recognized ON THE WATERFRONT for the screenplay, editing, black & white photography, and art direction/production design. The accolades continued long after the Oscars. In 1989, ON THE WATERFRONT was selected by the Library of Congress to be inducted into the newly established National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically,.an aesthetically significant". When the American Film Institute released its top 100 list, ON THE WATERFRONT landed at #8. It even found itself on the Vatican's own list!!! And Brando's "I coulda been a contenda" monologue is one of the most imitated in the movies.
And I haven't forgot about Elia Kazan. Despite his divisive actions, Kazan's direction won him his second Oscar. All in all, ON THE WATERFRONT is a powerful motion picture that demands to be seen, in spite of the warts of its director.
As with any great motion picture, there is a dark side, and this one involves Elia Kazan. A brilliant director on both the stage and screen, Kazan's leftist politics eventually got him subpoenaed to testify in front of the House un-American Activities Committee that was rooting out communists real and imaginary. His naming of names made him a pariah in Hollywood's liberal community, and some actors -not enough as far as I'm concerned- flat out refused to work with him again. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg was also a friendly witness to the committee, and many in the industry felt that ON THE WATERFRONT was Kazan's way of justifying being an informer, an act he finally admitted to towards the end of his life. To his dying day, he remained a polarizing figure in Hollywood.
Kazan damaged his credibility even further when it came to casting the male lead. Frank Sinatra originally agreed to play Terry Malloy, but when Marlon Brando found himself unexpectedly available, Kazan broke his verbal pact with Sinatra and gave Brando the part. The singer never forgave either one. To portray Edie Doyle, Grace Kelly was offered the role. But when Kelly declined so that she could work with Hitchcock, Kazan hired Eva Marie Saint, an actress with background in stage and television but about to make her silver screen debut.
Brando won his first Best Actor Oscar as Terry Malloy, an ex-boxer now making a living as a longshoreman on the Jersey docks. Once a promising contender, Terry works for Johnny Friendly (Lee J Cobb), a ruthless mobster -patterned after Albert Anastasia- who controls the union local with an iron fist. Friendly's mouthpiece just happens to be Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger), who not only provides legal representation but actively sits in on the crooked dealings, making him more of an accomplice than counsel.
Terry isn't a bad guy; he's simply a not particularly bright palooka who fell in with the wrong crowd. His first awareness of this is when he unwittingly lures a dock worker to his death. It turns out the victim was due to appear at a subcommittee hearing on organized crime within the labor unions, and was bumped off by Friendly's goons to prevent this canary from singing.
The dead man's sister is Edie Doyle (Saint), an inexperienced girl/woman who's determined to find out who killed her brother. Edie's only ally is Father Barry (Malden), a tough priest willing to risk his neck to clean up the unions by legally -and morally- getting rid of the racketeers in control. This is easier said than done because the longshoremen despite being shafted by Friendly -unless they give him a percentage of what they earn- and despite barely having enough pennies to rub together, adamantly refuse to become an informer.
Happenstance thrusts Terry and Edie together, and she starts seeing him socially, unaware of his involvement with her brother's murder. As he begins to fall in love with her -and vice versa- Terry is overwhelmed with guilt because he wants so badly to confess to her that he's terrified of losing her. But all of a sudden, he's been subpoenaed to testify before the waterfront commission!
Worried that the kid he's treated like a nephew is now going to betray him, the odious Friendly orders Charley to convince Terry to keep his mouth shut, or else he'll end up sleeping with the fishes. (Oops! Sorry, wrong Brando movie 😏!) And if Charley isn't successful, then both Malloy brothers will find themselves in the morgue. It's in the famous can scene where we learn all about Terry's fall from grace in the boxing ring....and the role Charley played in it.
Brando's forceful performance as Terry Malloy is one of the most influential ever put on film, even more so than his Stanley Kowalski in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. When he received his fourth consecutive Oscar nomination for Best Actor, no one in Hollywood had any doubts about him winning this time. It simply impossible to continue ignoring him and the impact he was having on screen acting. Future legends such as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and Martin Scorsese admitted they couldn't look away whenever Brando was on the screen.
Eva Marie Saint also took home an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her touching work as the sheltered Edie who is forced to mature quickly in response to the violence and corruption permeating around her. Steiger, Cobb, and Malden all found themselves cancelling each other out in their supporting category, with the statuette going to Edmond O'Brien -an excellent actor- for THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA.
The remainder of golden hardware recognized ON THE WATERFRONT for the screenplay, editing, black & white photography, and art direction/production design. The accolades continued long after the Oscars. In 1989, ON THE WATERFRONT was selected by the Library of Congress to be inducted into the newly established National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically,.an aesthetically significant". When the American Film Institute released its top 100 list, ON THE WATERFRONT landed at #8. It even found itself on the Vatican's own list!!! And Brando's "I coulda been a contenda" monologue is one of the most imitated in the movies.
And I haven't forgot about Elia Kazan. Despite his divisive actions, Kazan's direction won him his second Oscar. All in all, ON THE WATERFRONT is a powerful motion picture that demands to be seen, in spite of the warts of its director.