On the Waterfront (1954) – Classic

Genre: Crime Drama

Platform: Netflix/ You Tube

Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Director: Elia Kazan

Cast: Marlon Brando. Eva Marie Saint. Rod Steiger. Lee J Cobb. Karl Malden.

Plot:   Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) watches his friend Joey Doyle being thrown off the roof by a couple of gangsters whom he knows is part of his brother Charlie’s (Rod Steiger) group who in turn reports to the boss of the waterfront extortion racket Johnny Friendly (Lee J Cobb). The whole area is “D&D” – Deaf and Dumb and everyone knows the truth but no one wants to talk. Terry pursues Edie, Joey’s sister who in turn wants answers to her brother’s death, aided by the local priest who tries to appeal to the conscience of the suffering labourers. Terry knows that if he testifies to the crime commission, he is as good as dead . Terry also knows that if he wants to win Edie’s love, he must tell her about the truth about his part in Joey’s death…

On the Waterfront got the Oscar for the best picture (producer Sam Spiegel), best director (Kazan) and best leading actor (Brando). The morality tale is camouflaged as a crime drama and was largely shot in the Hoboken , New Jersey , supposedly resembling the New York waterfront. The black and white cinematography adds to the overall gritty feeling of the film and we can feel the grime and desperation of the men, battling both their inner conscience and the need to earn an honest dollar in an honest way.

The film is also controversial for a completely different reason and this is to do with Kazan testifying in the HUAC – House of UnAmerican Activities – against some of his fellow Hollywood brethren resulting in some of them being blacklisted unjustly for belonging or suspicion of belonging to Communist organisations. There were even objections to him getting the Oscar for best director. The film was viewed as Kazan’s cinematic justification for his ratting out on his former comrades and saving his own life and career.

That may be the political angle but the direction can’t be faulted as everything moves perfectly and there is not a single performance or scene out of place. The confrontation scene between Charlie and Terry in the back of a taxi is the stuff of legends and has been endlessly studied and even imitated (Robert de Niro as Jake Lamotta, does an imitation in Raging Bull as per the character

The film is largely male dominated as it’s everything that one an expect from great cinema – brother against brother, crime versus conscience, harsh reality of dock workers versus flowery speeches about duty and honor , and finally the loss of innocence/ growth of Terry as a human with a conscience and what is morally and legally right.

Tailpiece: Ghulam (1998) starring Aamir Khan as “Terry Malloy”/ Munna, Sharat Saxena as “Johnny Friendly”/ Ronnie, Rajit Kapoor as Charlie/ “jai”, Rani Mukherjee as “Edie”/ Alisha was a 70% copy of On the Waterfront.  It is Alisha’s brother Hari (Akshay Anand) who inspires the local shopkeepers to stand against Ronnie’s extortions , aided by a lawyer Fatima madam (Mita Vashist) and who pays the price, which shocks Munna. There is a long prologue about Munna engaging in confrontation with a bike gang where Alisha is a member and some distractions about how Munna is asked to throw a boxing match. The “taxi” scene becomes a temple pond’s bank scene and is less impactful even though the dialogues and even Jai’s killing are all the same. Despite that Ghulam is a decent 70% copy that adds the typical Indian masala moments that somewhat dilute the relentless gritty feel of the original.

I saw the film at the special screening of the Film Heritage Federation at Regal cinema, where they screen a classic every Thursday free for anyone, on a first come first served basis. Strangely I found the next day that the film was on Netflix too (Netflix gave me a notice of “you might like this”). The film is also free on You Tube (I saw it some forty odd years ago and also have the DVD).

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 5 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 5 out of 5

 Total – 5 out of 5