Rating: 
Summary: Best Picture of 1954
Review: I bought this DVD the day it was released and watched it that night. I hadn't seen "On The Waterfront" in several years, and I had forgotten just how good it is. I've seen the famous "I coulda been a contender" scene a hundred times during Oscar telecasts, AFI specials, and PBS documentaries about film history, but seen in the context of the whole film, it still takes my breath away. I can't think of a finer performance by any actor in any film than Marlon Brando's portrayal of Terry Malloy. The supporting cast of Karl Malden, Eva Marie-Saint, Rod Stieger, and Lee J. Cobb is superb as well. This is movie-making at its finest, and it gets my highest rating, 5 stars.And if you look closely, you'll see a young Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster) working for Johnny Friendly.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty Drama
Review: On The Waterfront was released in 1954, but even today, it remains one of the grittiest and uncompromising films of all time. Director Elia Kazan examines the seamy underworld surrounding the shipping docks in New York City. The starkness of the black and white cinematography adds a sense of despair. The main reason to watch this film, though, is Marlon Brando. His portrayal of a has been boxer is a text book example of method acting. Mr. Brando chews up the screen in every scene he's in and gives one the best performances of all time. There are some excellent supporting turns from Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb and a young Rod Steiger. Mr. Brando finally won the Best Actor Oscar after being nominated 3 times prior and Ms. Saint won Best Supporting Actor while the film took home the Best Picture award.
Rating:
Summary: best of the best
Review: This movie is pure Brando at his best. Despite outstanding performances by a superb cast (Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden) all eyes are on Brando from start to finish. I had the opportunity to see this film in a theater and you could feel the audience react to Brando. There are many scenes in this film which are classics and will stay with the viewer. The story is fast paced and climactic scene on the dock is one of the best endings ever. If "Onthe Waterfont" isn't in your top ten movies then you don't know movies.
Rating:
Summary: Astounding!
Review: Marlon Barndo's performance in this movie, i.e., On the Waterfront VHS, is on the brink of perfection. Brando becomes so immersed with the role that one has to pinch oneself several times to realize that it is only a movie. The love interest of Brando's (whose name has for some reason gotten lost in my mind) does a very good job. The dialgue and the script is amazing and the movie will definetly stand the test of time. Kazan is an amazing director and the job that he does in this movie is comendable. Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Only one word. Great.
Review: In a nutshell, this is the greatest actor in American history, possibly in the history of the English language in one of his greatest preformances. The movie would be a gem based on the script and supporting performances alone, but Brando elevates it to being one of the greatest films in the history of the medium.
Rating:
Summary: Can You Remember?
Review: I've been watching movies for over fifty years. I truly believe that movies are like great events (the JFK assassination: you can remember what you were doing;or where you lived;or who your best friend was when you saw an unforgettable film. In 1954 I was 10 years old and living in a small New Jersey town, a few miles from where On The Waterfront was filmed.
This movie made an indelible impression on me. It was so powerful, so real - it went straight to my heart. The emotions it evoked then have never left me. Reading the other reviews was helpful as far as how others enjoy this film today. But my feelings about movies, especially On The Waterfront, are more visceral, less technical, than what I've read. A timeless movie lives with you forever.
Rating:
Summary: Brando! Brando! Brando!-where is the DVD?!
Review: It is only my opinion but it is the only one that counts...at least to me...but...this film is certainly one of the greatest ever produced and Marlon Brando gives the best performance by an actor that I've ever seen! He is without peers in this film and his performance is ELECTRIC!!! Now, just one question...where is the DVD?!?!?!
Rating:
Summary: Smashing
Review: What a brilliant film! With fantastic, qoutable lines such as, "I could a bin a contenda" and ," It was you Charlie, it was you" there's never a dull moment in this timeless classic. Amazing performances from Marlon Brando and Lee .J. Cobb make this the ultimate "hero against the gangsters" movie. Apart from the black and white, and a slightly dated soundtrack this film is as crisp and polished as any movie made today!
Rating:
Summary: You ratted on us Elia ! ... er, Terry.
Review: In the early Fifties, Elia Kazan was a friendly witness before HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) which was investigating the activity of communists in the motion picture industry. Kazan named names. To this day, people have not forgiven him --- hence the protests in 1999 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences elected to give him a Lifetime Achievement Award. People were still accusing him, literally, of being a 'rat'. In the Fifties he took a lot of heat as well and 'On the Waterfront' was his apologia. What does Terry Malloy do -- stay loyal to Johnny Friendly who had the saintly Joey Doyle murdered? Or does he follow his conscience and tell the Crime Commission of what he knows about Friendly and his mob? Does he remain 'deaf and dumb' or does he 'rat'? Even when Terry turns government witness against the bad guys, he is spurned by the stevedores for being a 'rat'. Marlon Brando gives the best performance of his storied career as Terry Malloy, the washed up boxer who could have been 'another Billy Conn'. Lee J. Cobb also tuns in his best film performance as the (in Bosley Crowther's phrase) 'brassy' Johnny Friendly. The music score by Leonard Bernstein is absolutely beautiful. I've seen the film dozens of times; individual scenes are still dazzling to watch. A superior film in every way!
Rating:
Summary: It was you Charlie....it was you.
Review: If you want to know why Marlon Brando inspired and influenced an entire generation of actors, see On the Waterfront. His Terry Malloy is real down to his fingernails. Brando in his prime took and held the screen like no one else, absolutely magnetic, whether as a seeming uncaring pug with unawakened nobility in his heart (Terry) or a Mexican revolutionary (see Viva Zapata) or a racist jet ace (Sayonara) or whatever. Matching Brando is a perfect cast. Karl Malden, Eve Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, there isn't a missed note or lesser performance from any of them, not to mention the thugs and real-life dockworkers surrounding them. Elia Kazan was an actor's director, and his skill at eliciting superior performance is nowhere more evident than here. He also knew how to make a movie, and his work with the camera and pacing is first rate. The B&W photography is gritty, beautiful and serves to locate the film in time and place while eliminating distraction from the performances. You must know the story by now, culled from the real dockside union problems of the day, Budd Schulberg & Kazan fashioned a story that is about courage, loyalty (misplaced and otherwise), responsibilty and the willingness to stand up for something, stand alone if need be, and in that stance to risk the mistrust and misunderstanding and ostracism of your friends, your society, and the loss of your place in the world and even your life. They created a powerful melodrama of greed & corruption, of the struggle with compromise and conscience, of loss and redemption. Frankly, this is just great movie making. It isn't done any better than this, and if for some reason you have never seen this film, treat yourself to excellence. This is one of the best, don't miss it, and don't miss one of our greatest actors in his prime.
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