On the Waterfront

Director: Elia Kazan


Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb

Genre: Thriller, romance

Year: 1954 (b/w)

A mixture of suspense and romance, this film by Kazan is an absolute classic, depicting a man torn between love and crime, loyalty and justice.



Here, Marlon Brando portrays Terry, a lackey to the head mob boss John Friendly (Lee J Cobb). His subservience to Johnny is knocked when he realises he has unknowingly led his friend Joey to his death at the hands of other mobsters. He reluctantly remains loyal to Johnny, despite the fact he is being questioned about Joey's untimely death and he remains unshaken until he meets Joey's grieving sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint). He falls in love with her, yet cannot risk telling her about Joey in case he loses both her and his connections with the mob.
The film opens with instant suspense and Kazan masterfully maintains this throughout the film, leaving very few scenes without some form of tension. It rivals the works of Hitchcock himself by helping us understand Terry's situation and making us sympathise for him. This is helped by the excellent score which manages to excite, terrify and sadden the audience almost instantly. The music seriously helps the film by changing the mood in an instance. It assists in progressing the plot from one sequence to another, as well as maintaining a certain mood for a scene.
The emotions portrayed in this film as spectacularly done, with a magnificent performance by Brando. He depicts Terry's thuggish personality in such a realistic way, as well as being able to portray raw human emotion, hidden and trapped under his facade. There are many scenes where this explodes, most famously when he talks with his brother Charlie about how he 'coulda had class, coulda been a contender, coulda been somebody'. This scene encapsulates Terry's struggles and what his desperation to escape his reality.
The rest of the cast are brilliant. Johnny is despicable and Cobb perfectly portrays him as the egotistical, ruthless mob boss. As we see Johnny progress and we see his character's personality more, he soon gains some deserved hatred. Karl Walden portrays Father Barry, the priest determined to uncover the truth about Joey's death. One of the great things about this film is that all the main characters feel explored to the extent that the audience understand them. There is very little exposition needed as it is all done through the script, well deserving of its academy award in 1955.

Ultimately this film is a masterpiece, flawless and a must watch. Despite being in black-and-white and being several decades old, it doesn't lose any of its vigour or tension that it might had 50 years ago.

VERDICT: 10/10