On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront; drama, USA, 1954; D: Elia Kazan, S: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, John F. Hamilton

A port in New York. Head of the Trade union, Johnny Friendly, is a real mafioso who is becoming rich by membership fees of the workers whom he terrorizes and personally chooses who can and who can not work. Ex-boxer Terry Malloy and his brother Charlie work for him. When Johnny kills worker Joey who wanted to turn him to the police, Terry starts having doubts. Joey's sister Edie and priest Barry are strongly against Johnny, and after Charlie gets murdered Terry decides to testify against Johnny in the court. Johnny punishes him and forbids him any kind of work. Terry has a fight with him and thus gains sympathies from the workers and a job.

Legendary actor Marlon Brando won the Oscar on two occasions, for his iconic role as Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" and as shy, confused Terry Malloy in the fierce drama "On the Waterfront". The latter is a suggestive film from powerful director Elia Kazan that is not regarded as a classic of cinema for nothing. Compared to many conservative movies from the 50s, "Waterfront" felt refreshing thanks to Kazan's direct and electrifying moments that seemed genuine, yet today some of them do not stand out that much. The sequence where Edie finds her brother murdered and scolds Reverend Barry is incredibly bitter even today, but equally strong is the one where Johnny's people are breaking the windows of the church and driving out the workers who were inside for a session about the mafia that took over the dock business. And yet, curiously, the story contains one of the most magnificent roles of a priest on film, Reverend Barry (the best role Karl Malden ever had) who fights for the freedom of workers and speaks against Johnny's criminal methods, even though he gets targeted with tomatoes. 

Father Barry drinks beer, punches and inspires people to testify against the mafia, making him one of the most surprisingly proactive priests in cinema. At moments a virtuoso directed film with electrifying emotions, but upon second viewing, not all of its dialogues are equally as inspiring: some are indeed great ("You don't understand! I could have had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am!"; the exchange between Terry and Father Barry: "Johnny Friendly used to take me to ball games when I was a kid." - "Ball games?! Don't break my heart. I wouldn't care if he gave you a life pass to the Polo Grounds!"), but too many are also routine, bland or standard, and sometimes it takes too long, up to 20 minutes between those good parts. As the film encyclopedia "1001 Must-See Movies" observes, the story is a contemplation of betrayal—Terry has to betray either his gangster boss or his girlfriend and his own conscience—and thus mirrors Kazan's own dilemma when he betrayed his colleagues during McCarthyism; though the story about corrupt trade union leaders symbolically also speaks about the abuse of power and oppression of the "little man", thus the character of the greedy Johnny can even today be easily recognized with his actions by modern audiences. Still, the ending feels staged and thus weaker than expected, since it would have clearly been better if it was a "downbeat" ending.

Grade:+++