Review of On the Waterfront (1954) by Matt P — 24 May 2009

In Elia Kazan's brilliant tale of redemption on New York's mob-controlled docks, Marlon Brando gives one of the most outstanding, raw and least self-conscious performances of his career as Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter who gave it all up in the name of loyalty.

Brando has such a strong sense of conviction inside him, that he gives himself over to his role (and to Kazan's direction) completely. He's not playing the meaning or the themes of the script, begging for empathy, or even playing the story... and that's an incredibly difficult thing for an actor to do -- to live completely in truth in the given imaginary circumstances. Any actor-in-training will have studied this performance a thousand times but it is truly something to behold. (And perhaps the only actor ever capable of doing it even more profoundly was DeNiro in Raging Bull).

Eva Marie Saint makes her terrific debut in this film and is like a beacon of light in the grim, hard-living back-alleys, rooftops, bars and waterfront packing yards, but my personal favorite character in the film is the smoking priest Father Barry, played by Karl Malden, who delivers one of the greatest movie monologues of all time as he addresses a pack of dock-workers following the death of one of their bretheren. And then there is of course Brando's famous 'contenda' speech... On The Waterfront is the story of one man's difficult journey into the light of truth, and his discovery of the courage to stand up for what is right... shit, if only movies today attained this level of greatness more often... Perhaps we'd never need to sigh with disappointment come Oscar night...