Day 158: On the Waterfront (1954)

Movie #104 – On the Waterfront (1954) - 108 min, cert PG.

Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is a longshoreman and ex-prize fighter. His brother Charley (Rod Steiger) is a key associate of the local crime boss, Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), so Terry often finds himself acting as hired muscle. Friendly is using threats and violence to control the dockworkers union. When Terry is unwittingly used as an accomplice in the murder of a worker who was speaking out against Friendly, he begins to have doubts about the morality of his actions. He starts seeing the murdered man’s sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and she appeals to his conscience, sparking him into standing up to Friendly himself.

I still wouldn’t describe myself as a Marlon Brando fan, but this was considerably better than the other films of his that I’ve seen. He properly acts in this, and acts well. He has a way of moving about and delivering his lines which borders on neo-realism and makes his characterisation entirely believable. The ‘I coulda been a contender’ speech to his brother in the back of a taxi is extremely well-known and often copied – most notably by Robert De Niro in Raging Bull, and is full of emotion, but without being hammed up. On reflection, I may have misjudged Brando’s acting ability.

The film itself is about one man standing up for what he believes in, and turning his back on the people he used to consider friends. It is well-documented that Elia Kazan, the director, made the picture as a direct allusion to his own experiences giving evidence to the House Un-American Activities Commission, and his subsequent ostracisation. As a result of this, the movie does get a little preachy at times. But overall, a decent film.

Score – 7/10. A superbly understated performance from Brando, but not much else to it.

Next up is The Return of the Jedi, the final part of the original Star Wars saga. I know I’m in the minority, but I like this movie a lot.