Marlon Brando has starred in quite a few Greatest Movies. The
Godfather is regarded as one the best movies ever made and Apocalypse
Now, despite the fact he is one of the reasons why making it was an
apocalypse, is one of the standards for great war movies. On the Waterfront
(1954) is one of his oldest films and possibly not as re-watched as the two
I've mentioned, but its themes of corruption and morality remain relevant to
this day. One could also argue the second season of The Wire owes a
great deal to screenwriter Budd Schulberg and director Elia Kazan.
Until recently this was not an easy movie to find, but if you are in
Canada you can watch it for free online at the CTV app. It's nice to be digging
for old movies and then you discover there is a legal way to access a small
treasure trove of classics without having to pay anything. I watched this one with
no prior context, other than it deals with the grip of organized crime on dock
workers in New York. I was however with one of Brando's most famous lines of
dialogue: “You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender.
I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It
was you, Charley.”
Those famous words are uttered by Brando's character, dockworker Terry
Malloy while lamenting the day that ruined his shot at glory as a boxer. Terry
is a very interesting character living in a morally murky world. Like most of
the people in the docks when it comes to the activities of organized crime, he
plays D and D, which in this case does not mean Dungeons & Dragons but Deaf
and Dumb. Yet you can see the actions of union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J.
Cobb) are gnawing at his conscience, especially when Friendly's men have Terry
indirectly participate in the murder of a man who was thinking of talking to
the cops. Further complicating matters is the fact the Terry is attracted to the
victim's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) who wants justice for her brother's
murder with ferocious intensity.
The angel on Terry's shoulder is almost a literal angel. Father Barry
(Karl Malden) is a priest who smokes, occasionally drinks, and compares the
murders that happen on the waterfront to crucifixions. This man is so full of
fire and fury that Friendly's goons do very little to scare him, and even
strengthen his resolve. I lean more towards the agnostic side of religion and
have no love for priests in general, but if I were to listen to Father Barry's sermons,
I would definitely at least listen to what he has to say. That is exactly what
the priest hopes Terry will end up doing since he knows Terry has information
that could bring down Friendly and finally improve working conditions for the
dock workers.
There is unfortunately another wrinkle for Terry. On top of being liked
by Friendly, his brother Charley (Rod Steiger) is the gangster's right-hand
man. Therefore, if Terry goes to the police, he is not just a rat in the eyes
of the community but also betraying his brother and his employer. What the
community doesn’t know is that Charley's relationship with Friendly has been a
point of contention between the two brothers for a long time. The contender
speech is directed at Charley since the reason why Terry is a bum instead of a
contender is because he was told, by his own brother no less, to take a fall
during the big fight. That is some biblical conflict right there.
As Father Barry points out, Charley may be Terry's brother, but Terry has
a lot more brothers who are suffering at the docks. Many of these men are
struggling for money and live in cheap apartments while Friendly and his gang
wear expensive suits and get to have fun at the pool hall. Sadly, the concept
of a few men controlling all the money while many more do all the work is
nothing new and is still relevant since the days of On the Waterfront.
Terry might risk being ostracized for daring to speak the truth, but the same
men who will shun him are the ones who would suffer the consequences of his
silence.
Earlier I said The Wire owes a great deal to this movie and I
found myself liking these characters so much that I think episodic TV would be
a good fit for this story because I would like to spend more time in this
world. I would even like to get to know more of the gangster Friendly despite
the fact he is a bully and a brute. Villains make great TV characters so it
would be very interesting to see how Friendly copes with the violence of his
business and with the pressure of more powerful gangsters above him watch his
every move during the police investigation.
The ending of On the Waterfront is perhaps a bit too optimistic
and unlikely, but I didn't care. I was hooked by the story and was rooting for
Terry as he proudly did the right thing regardless of the consequences for himself.
If you only know Marlon Brando for his performances as Don Corleone or Colonel
Kurtz, then this one classic worth discovering.
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