On the Waterfront

Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Movie of All Time
Review: On the waterfront, in my opinion, is the greatest movie ever made. It had everything pathos, romance, and while it did'nt have a happy ending(a big plus) it left you as life sometimes does unresolved but with a feeling of hope. When I first saw the movie on WOR years ago I think thats when I first became aware of injustice and the courage of those who fight(most times against the odds) injustice and prevail. I truly believe that whatever activist leanings I have started with this movie. Very impressed Stings now as it did then. A must see for its subject-might v right, it's acting-method- and the direction of one of the greastest film directors of all time.Who directed the greatest actor this country has ever produced Marlon Brando.

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Summary: One of the most realistic mob,street movies ever made.
Review: This movie was made at a time when the mob still had a stranglehold on the waterfront. A brave attempt by producers and director to show how it really was on the docks of the 1950's. Brando's performance was absolutely true and he nailed the feelings and turmoil one had in those days between family, friends and inner decency. This movie even though made over 45 years ago is as timeless as if it were made yesterday with performances and acting by everyone involved as good or better than anything you will see on the screen today.

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Summary: A Battle Against Corruption
Review: This movie is even more timely today. It reminds us that corruption, which today is taken for granted, can and should be fought against.Outstanding preformances by Lee J. Cobb as the union boss looking out for his own interests at the expense of the union memebers, and Karl Malden as the rough and tumble priest who believes that right is might. This movie reminds us that corruption always exists, but we have a duty to stand against it, If we do not, than we become corrupt as a society.

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Summary: "Stop the conscience now, that's all I've been here'n
Review: It's the best movie I have ever seen, and is #8 on AFI's top 100 list. It's a classic drama, don't miss it.

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Summary: "I coulda been somebody, I coulda been a contenda"
Review: A great classic starring Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, a washed-up prizefighter who is led into the life of crime by his brother. He is disgusted by his bosses actions and ways of business, he choses to rebel, with tragic consequences. A great film!

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Summary: Brando At His Coolest!
Review: As many times as it's been imitated, you cannot help but be moved when Marlon Brando says 'I coulda been a somebody, I coulda been a contender'. Truely a classic and an asset to any video collection.

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Summary: VERY DISAPPOINTING TRANSFER OF AN AMERICAN CLASSIC
Review: Columbia continues its downward spiral where its classic DVD output is concerned. "On The Waterfront" is not only a great Academy Award winning film, it is an American icon. The plot is concerned with a union stooge, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who eventually realizes that the intimidation racket of his boss, Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) is an evil and destructive force in his community. Eva Marie Saint costars as Edie Doyle, the sister of a man who was thrown off of a rooftop on Friendly's orders. It is partially through her love and the stoic commitment of Father Barry (Carl Malden) that Terry reforms his ways. Rod Steiger is particularly effective as Charley Malloy, Terry's brother.

Quite simply: this transfer is a let down. Contrast levels are extremely low, fine details are lost in video noise reduction enhancement and digital grit, grain and noise are detected throughout. The gray scale is poorly balanced. Scratches, chips and distortions in the original camera negative stick out like a soar thumb. The audio is mono and undistinguished. It's not a bad mix, though there are moments where a slight background hiss crops up. No extras! Oh, come on Columbia. This is one of your BEST PICTURES and it gets this kind of treatment on DVD?!? It "could'a been a contenda'!"

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat dated but still compelling classic drama
Review: I recently re-watched Elia Kazan's ON THE WATERFRONT in honor of its late star, Marlon Brando. His performance as Terry Malloy is often considered one of his greatest (and he won an Oscar for it to back it up), and there is no doubt that this is a performance of spontaneity and great emotional realism that must have awed a generation of filmgoers who watched him. He truly brings his character---a former boxing champ tortured by pangs of conscience as well as disappointment---to authentic life in a way that is somewhat heightened yet always convincingly down-to-earth.

As for the film surrounding this great performance, it has inevitably lost some of its power since it made a splash in the '50s (during the height of McCarthyism, and during which Kazan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee and named names), but it still offers an emotionally compelling experience overall. If sometimes Budd Schulberg's screenplay seems a tad too overwrought (particularly in the final scene, too overtly symbolic), Kazan and his cast never allow it disintegrate into tiresome preachiness. If Brando's performance can be said to be "extraordinary" (and it is certainly something to watch), the other actors are hardly upstaged. I don't know if Eva Marie Saint really deserved an Oscar for her performance here, but perhaps that has more to do with her more conventional character than with her performance, which is good enough. Karl Malden, as the activist Father Barry, fares better: he is convincingly noble and impassioned in his role as, arguably, Malloy's conscience. And Lee J. Cobb is also good as the corrupt Johnny Friendly: while the script does not necessarily develop human sides to the character, Cobb admirably makes him convincing nevertheless rather than merely a one-note snarling villain.

Despite its topical origins---this film is often seen as Kazan's justification for testifying at the HUAC---the plot still resonates pretty strongly today. I mean, who wouldn't feel the same internal dilemma in the same kind of situations that Malloy gets into in this film? Feeling like you should do your duty as a citizen in the face of great corruption, and yet afraid of what might happen to you if you do? I think everyone can at least understand Malloy's tortured conscience in this movie---maybe, other than Kazan himself, Marlon Brando understood it most of all---and perhaps that is why, despite some of its more dated elements, this film continues to endure. Notwithstanding its political background, ON THE WATERFRONT remains a gripping drama to this day.

Rating:
Summary: Greatness Never Flags
Review: When director Elia Kazan unveiled ON THE WATERFRONT in 1954, both critics and the public agreed that this was a special film. This is a rare enough phenomenom and repeated viewings over the decades indicate that this film truly deserves to be labeled with that often overused 'great' tagline. Part of the reason why the audiences of the 50s loved OTW was not just the superlative acting of Marlon Brando as Terry Molloy, Eva Marie Saint as Edie or Rod Steiger as Terry's conflicted brother Charley, but rather the very feel and sound of the Hoboken waterfront were faifthfully recreated to the extent that they formed a tonal subtext. Have you noticed that OTW is not a quiet movie? In nearly every scene, one can hear the raucus shriek of railroad cars and ship clanghorns dolefully reminding us that sound can be used to place the actors both spatially and aurally. Remember the scene when Terry tries to explain to Edie his own role in the murder of her brother? As soon as he opens his mouth, a ship's whistle begins to shriek so his words are drowned out. We may not be able to hear, but the look of Edie's face tells us that she heard.

It is too easy to toss around memorable quotes of which OTW abounds: the "I coulda been a contenda" speech, for example. But this film is not great because of them. Rather, OTW is great because it does what all great movies manage to do: to engage us in the fate of its stars. When Brando is beaten to a pulp by Johnny Friendly's (Lee J. Cobb) thugs and has to stagger to reach the warf to report to work and thus break the stranglehold of the crooked union boss on the workers, we can feel each agonized step that Brando takes. It is only the great movies that allow us to feel pain like that.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS FILM
Review: It is unfortunate that it took Brando's death for me to realize the acting genuis he was. In this movie he brought forth such a vulnerability that you wanted to root for him. His acting is brilliant, I can understand why he won an Oscar for this performance. I now know what true acting genius is, it was Brando. Highly recommend this movie.