Movie Notes: On The Waterfront

January 30th, 2009

= 5 stars

Starring Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Stieger
Directed by Elia Kazan

On the Waterfront introduces a litany of social issues, all during its opening sequence. We watch longshoreman Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) unwittingly play a part in a co-worker’s murder. A dark bunch of thugs joke about the grisly crime, and the dim Terry struggles to comprehend their amusement. Edie (Eva Marie Saint), the dead worker’s sister, and the parish priest (Karl Malden) discover the crime. Within minutes, we learn the waterfront is a dangerous world with an unspoken order: a corrupt union controls the docks, decides who works and who doesn’t, and takes a cut from every ship entering and leaving the port. Anyone who talks about the union’s corruption to the authorities is labeled a “canary” and bumped off. The intimidated public’s fear is palpable. Men can’t earn a living on their own terms and a select few get rich. The status quo is immorality, greed, and injustice. We know the situation, the stakes, and what certain characters must do to bring some sort of justice to the waterfront. Most of the burden of responsibility falls on Terry’s shoulders.

Marlon Brando’s performance as the dim-witted ex-boxer Terry showcases his unconventional yet realistic acting style. He turns his back to the camera, mumbles his lines, yet displays an odd delicateness as he casually slips on Edie’s dropped glove, or gingerly pushes aside his brother Charley’s pistol. These touches add contradictory complexity to Terry. He’s innocent yet tough, in need of redemption yet aggressive. His contradictions make him unpredictable, and our interest is held as we can’t easily tell if he’ll choose the path of justice or further corruption.

Edie is the idealistic youth, just starting to recognize the complacent amorality and casual unfairness of the “real world.” She doesn’t realize Terry’s role in her brother’s death for quite some time, and my favorite scene shows Terry’s bumbling confession blared out by a ship’s horn. The look of terror on Edie’s face alternated with Terry’s silently speaking mouth visually captures the terrible pain of hearing horrible things and not being able to stop their utterance.

The cigarette-smoking and beer-drinking Father Barry (Karl Malden) represents a largely helpless moral center. He organizes disgruntled workers in the basement of his church, yet receives silence and violence in return. He prods Terry to testify to the crime investigation trial, goading him to listen to his conscience. Terry’s cynical response: “Conscience! That stuff will drive you nuts!”

Through Father Barry, religious themes of confession and crucifixion are sprinkled throughout. Terry’s path of redemption centers around testifying against the mob — a confession. The greater good of the waterfront workers requires this personal sacrifice from Terry, alluding to the crucifixion. Television antennas near the rooftop pigeon coop where Terry hangs out look oddly like crosses. Terry’s brother Charley is strung up and put on public display. Terry’s struggle to return to work after a bloody beating is a physical and personal resurrection. Then there’s the amazing scene where Father Barry preaches over the body of a murdered longshoreman, comparing the “accident” to a crucifixion. Note the symbolic placement of people present: Father Barry, the workers, and Terry are down below in a dark ship hold, while the mob bosses gaze warily downwards from the ship deck above, laying out a physical representation of the social order. Everyone is well aware of the injustice — and part of the injustice is that nobody is does anything about it.

Eventually, events tear Terry in different directions and a key scene forcing him to take a stand involves a betrayal by his brother, Charley (Rod Steiger). This famous, pivotal scene brings the film’s themes to the surface in bold minimalism: two men sitting in the back seat of a taxi cab, where the only prop is a gun. Charley realizes his mob ways have driven him to nearly kill his brother. He makes a choice to free his brother, knowing full well this will mean his own death. Terry realizes the mob has taken away everything he ever hoped for from life, and finally begins to listen to his conscience. The scene is powerfully acted and contains Brando’s famous “I coulda been a contender” monologue.

It should be mentioned director Elia Kazan made this film to demonstrate his reasoning behind his naming of names to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the postwar Red Scare spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Because of his cooperation with the witch hunts for communism, Kazan’s career was forever tainted. I hope modern viewers can separate this controversial personal history from the wonderful film masterpiece that is On the Waterfront.

IMDB: On The Waterfront
Wikipedia: On The Waterfront
Rotten Tomatoes: On The Waterfront 100%