Review of On the Waterfront (1954) by Manny C — 26 Feb 2013

As a movie fan you may have heard time and again the same cinephile tropes such as 'Marlon Brando is the finest actor in movie history (though I'd argue Bogie or Kate Hepburn own that crown) and rolled your eyes because maybe you saw Brando in the 90's version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. But that statement does have a good amount of truth to it.

If you have only seen Brando in his post-Godfather peak, it's easy to see how you wouldn't think of him as one of the greatest and more like something of a one-note wonder, and that's when you should point yourself in the direction of the new Criterion Blu-Ray edition of Elia Kazan's 1954 classic On The Waterfront. Then you will be converted. From the first note of Leonard Bernstein's indelible score to the final shot caught by Boris Kaufman's stellar camerawork, On The Waterfront is a powerhouse of cinematic storytelling, acting and writing. It's a treasure.

Brando plays Terry Malloy, a burnt out former boxer working the docks of New York, and turning a blind eye to the shady and murderous dealings of crooked local union boss Johnny Friendly (the amazing Lee J. Cobb), until the death of a fellow longshoreman and his grieving sister ( a live wire Eva Marie Saint) get the best of his conscience. It's a fairly simple set-up but Brando invests it with a complexity and nuance seldom seen on the screen in any era. You see clearly the guilt eating away at him on the inside, a breakdown of moral conscience that culminates in his iconic, heartbreaking speech to his brother (Rod Steiger, excellent) in the back of a taxi cab. 'I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody,' he implores. Words are too puny to describe his explosive performance, one that's electrifying and thrillingly raw and alive. He won a much-deserved Best Actor Oscar, a fitting make up for his being passed over for his amazing performance in another Kazan classic, A Streetcar Named Desire (but he was beaten by Humphrey Bogart himself, so no shame). Brando's co-star, Saint, also claimed an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, not to mention a Best Picture and Screenplay award and Best Directing honors for Kazan. All of the performances shine, including a wonderful Karl Malden as a priest fighting for the people. Debates still rage today that Budd Shulberg's script, which has Terry turn informant against the union boss, was Kazan and Schulberg's way of excusing themselves of their role in naming names to Senator Joe McCarthy as he was on the hunt for supposed Commies. It's a controversy that still burns (boos were present when Kazan was given an honorary Oscar in 1999). But On The Waterfront is a film that's bigger than politics, it's a treatise on the power of conscience which is why its endured more than 50 years later.