Classic 50’s Movie: “On the Waterfront”
May is Classic 50s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Bilbo Poynter.
Movie Title: On the Waterfront
Year: 1954
Writer: Bud Schulberg (based on a series of articles by Malcolm Johnson)
Lead Actors: Marlon Brando, Lee Cobb, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint
Director: Elia Kazan
IMDb Plot Summary: “An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.”
Why I Think This Is A Classic 50’s Movie: A big reason I think of On the Waterfront as a classic 50’s film is because of the emblematic cinematography of Boris Kaufman, who later shot 12 Angry Men, The Fugitive Kind, and a little later on, The Pawnbroker, among others. Kaufman came out of the French realism movement of film making and brought that style to Hollywood. The result has the feel of an old newsreel or the Gillette Friday Night Fights — fitting for a movie about a washed up boxer.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: Is actually not the iconic scene of the film — and one of the great movie scenes of all time (see below) — but a much quieter scene where Terry (Brando) and Edie (Marie Saint) take a walk together through their neighborhood and stop at a set of swings. At one point Brando picks up one of Marie Saint’s gloves from the ground and absentmindedly starts to play with it. It’s hard to imagine this was scripted and yet it lends itself so well to building on the moment — meant to be a vulnerable one in world without sentiment. Here the tough ex-pug is fascinated and becoming smitten with the sweet and completely alien girl from the neighborhood who made good. This scene is why Brando was great.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: It would be hard to include anything other than the following — which I act out for my daughter regularly to much eye rolling.
Charlie: Look, kid, I — how much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry: It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, “Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.” You remember that? “This ain’t your night”! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charlie: Oh, I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry: 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.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie: The fact that this was filmed on location in Hoboken: the bars are real, the mist off of the concrete, the rooftops and docks all real, but the drama is elevated here by the score of Leonard Bernstein (the only original film score by Bernstein).
The other thing to note is that this a collaboration of Kazan and Schulberg, who had by then both testified before the House Un-American Activitites Committee against others in Hollywood. You can’t help but draw a comparison to the hounded, morally compromised Terry testifying before the Waterfront Crime Commission. Being a rat and what that means is a big part of this film — Don’t take my word for it though. On the Waterfront cleaned up at the Oscars that year, and has been preserved by the Library of Congress as one of the greatest American movies.
Thanks, Bilbo! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of classic 60s Movies, 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 50s movies.
Here is an updated list of 19 fine folks who have already volunteered [those who I put in bold have already sent me their posts]:
A Place in the Sun — Zach Jansen
A Star is Born — mkm28
All About Eve — Ricardo Bravo
American in Paris — stefani1601
File on Thelma Jordon, The — David Joyner
High Noon — Jeff Messerman
Invasion of the Body Snatchers — Rick Dyke
Kiss Me Deadly — jhenderson
Marty — jetwillie69
Night of the Hunter — Mark Twain
On the Waterfront — Bilbo Poynter
Rear Window — Roy Gordon
Rebel Without a Cause — uncgym44
Searchers, The — mkm28
Seven Samurai, The — PaulG
Some Like It Hot — Will King
Sunset Blvd. — Rick Dyke
Tokyo Story — Jeff Messerman
Vertigo — Jason Pates
I’m looking for 31 guest posts, one for each day of May. Why not pitch in to help add to this online resource to inspire writers to learn about and — most importantly — watch great movies.
If you have a classic 50s movies on which you’d like to do a writeup, please either post in comments or email me.
Thanks in advance!
For the original post explaining the series, go here.
For all of the 50s movies featured in the series, go here.
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