Benefit
Bluelighter
3 years after the success of Streetcar, director Elia Kazan re-teamed with Brando to make the socially conscience On The Waterfront in 1954. It won 8 Academy Awards, including Brando's first Oscar, and is widely considered one of the best films ever made. It's a perennial classic that explores union corruption, the plight of the working man and the moral decay of society. It features some of cinema's most famous scenes.
On The Waterfront is Hollywood neo-realism; method actors filmed on location in New York with mostly natural lighting. Very few studio or soundstage scenes here. The film is filled with an overwhelmingly nuanced realism, from Brando's strikingly naturalistic performance to the location shooting on the New York docks (using real longshoremen as extras, I believe). Carl Malden is rather bland, Lee J. Cobb overacts, and many of the other supporting roles are short changed or just shallow. It was Brando, and Leonard Bernstein's emotionally taut score, that carried this film into the annals of film history.
Personally, I think it's a little overrated. Streetcar Named Desire is a vastly superior film. The source material is sharper, and Brando's animal magnetism is showcased in its full force and power. He is far more reserved in On The Waterfront, playing washed up boxer Terry Malloy. Terry is on the fringe of the local mob, who control the longshoremen local and conspire to prevent honest working men from obtaining work, providing it only for those who can afford to foot the hefty kickbacks. Malloy is pressured to testify against the gang (of which his brother is a member), and spends most of the movie vacillating between his conflicted loyalties.
Many academics, and I think Kazan himself, have characterized this film as a response to the HUAC anti-Communist investigations of the 1950s. Kazan was one of the many Hollywood insiders who "named names" and outed his colleagues as communists. The film is seen as an attempt to exonerate his turncoating, suggesting that it is OK to break a code of silence if it's for the greater good. You can decide for yourself how you feel about that.
The undeniable fact is that Brando is stellar. His unlikely romance with a naive Eva Marie Saint brings out his vulnerable side, allowing the tough, cynical Terry Malloy to develop plenty of depth and texture as a character. There are plenty of modern actors who could play this part well; but in 1954 there was only Brando, which is what made him so special.
To top it all off, you have the following famous scene between Terry and his brother Charlie:
Terry: It wasn't him, Charlie, 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, Charlie.
It is variously claimed by different people that this scene was improvised. Who knows. It's pretty great either way.
On The Waterfront is Hollywood neo-realism; method actors filmed on location in New York with mostly natural lighting. Very few studio or soundstage scenes here. The film is filled with an overwhelmingly nuanced realism, from Brando's strikingly naturalistic performance to the location shooting on the New York docks (using real longshoremen as extras, I believe). Carl Malden is rather bland, Lee J. Cobb overacts, and many of the other supporting roles are short changed or just shallow. It was Brando, and Leonard Bernstein's emotionally taut score, that carried this film into the annals of film history.
Personally, I think it's a little overrated. Streetcar Named Desire is a vastly superior film. The source material is sharper, and Brando's animal magnetism is showcased in its full force and power. He is far more reserved in On The Waterfront, playing washed up boxer Terry Malloy. Terry is on the fringe of the local mob, who control the longshoremen local and conspire to prevent honest working men from obtaining work, providing it only for those who can afford to foot the hefty kickbacks. Malloy is pressured to testify against the gang (of which his brother is a member), and spends most of the movie vacillating between his conflicted loyalties.
He eventually flips and testifies for the government, helping crack the mob's hammerlock on the waterfront unions. As a result, his brother Charlie is killed.
Many academics, and I think Kazan himself, have characterized this film as a response to the HUAC anti-Communist investigations of the 1950s. Kazan was one of the many Hollywood insiders who "named names" and outed his colleagues as communists. The film is seen as an attempt to exonerate his turncoating, suggesting that it is OK to break a code of silence if it's for the greater good. You can decide for yourself how you feel about that.
The undeniable fact is that Brando is stellar. His unlikely romance with a naive Eva Marie Saint brings out his vulnerable side, allowing the tough, cynical Terry Malloy to develop plenty of depth and texture as a character. There are plenty of modern actors who could play this part well; but in 1954 there was only Brando, which is what made him so special.
To top it all off, you have the following famous scene between Terry and his brother Charlie:
Terry: It wasn't him, Charlie, 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, Charlie.
It is variously claimed by different people that this scene was improvised. Who knows. It's pretty great either way.
