Movie Notes: A Streetcar Named Desire
Synopsis
Highly mannered but mentally fragile Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) and her loutish working class husband Stanley (Marlon Brando).
Movie Notes: On The Waterfront
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.