Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Marlon Brando's brilliant performance alone would be enough reason to recommend this film. But there are plenty of other reasons: Eva Marie Saint (an excellent actress and a beautiful woman!), Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb at his most riveting; the powerful story and superbly-written screenplay; the masterful direction of Elia Kazan; and the stirring score composed by Leonard Bernstein that adds so much to the film's atmosphere and mood. ON THE WATERFRONT is a brilliant classic that must be seen.
Rating:
Summary: Best Ever - Not PC
Review: This is my favorite American Movie - outstanding. Great story, great acting and the struggle are real - because it was and is real.The story of the American worker standing up and testifying against his mob run union and violating the standard of not squealing or being a "stool pigeon' is real. But, this story had other meanings during the 1950s - it was about American Communists who learned that their party, their movement was corrupt, rotten like the mob run unions had to decide whether to testifying, name names and go against the Reds in Hollywood. The Director here Ellie Kazan did turn against the Communists and he did cooperate with the House Committee on Un American Activities because he was a good American and he learned how corrupt and evil Communism was in Russia and here in Hollywood. For squealing and naming names, Kazan was the one who was Blacklisted, not the Communists who the PC Left always moans about. Look at this great American movie and decide who was right and who was wrong. I love this movie and hope someday great pro American movies can be made again in Hollywood. Until then I will support New Zealand movies like Lord of the Rings.
Rating:
Summary: "I could'a been a contenda"
Review: I'm a 13-year-old happy jumping-off-the-ceiling sort of music fan, so when my best friend told me I just HAD to see this movie, On the Waterfront, I thought she had to be joking. After 2 months of evading her, I was finally forced to sit down and watch this movie. Boy, am I ever glad she was persistant. This isn't my normal type of movie, but it is so masterful and the story is so well written and the acting is so absolutely astounding, that there was no way I couldn't like it. A week after seeing it, I bought the movie. Marlon Brando does a superb job as Terry Malloy, Eva Marie Saint delivers an excellent performance as Edie Doyle, and Karl Malden (a preacher once again, like in Pollyanna) becomes a major reminder of the docks about human rights. if you haven't seen this movie, I'd advise you to SEE IT. I've seen it on both DVD and video, and both versions are excellent. Everyone who knows me knows On the Waterfront because I'm quoting and acting it out all the time.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Greatest Dramas Ever Filmed!
Review: Devotees of classic film usually agree this gritty black and white exploration into the struggle to free the Big Apple's dockworkers' union from the castrating clutches of the mob is one of the best dramas ever films. What is even more amazing is that it was made in the midst of the aftermath of the McCarthy era in 1954. With a stellar cast including a young and muscular Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, and Eva Marie Saint bring Elia Kazan's vision of a single individual's efforts to liberate himself from his past and rise above the seamier aspects of his rough-house existence to life in all its native smells, sounds, and emotions. The script is seamless and electric, as is the stark use of black and white to accentuate the dreary and drastic circumstances surrounding the workers on the docks. This is muckraking film-making at its very best, an exciting and heart-pounding examination of how frustrating and fulsome the corrupting influences of the mob were concerning the way the workers acted out their daily lives, from the parsing out of work to the consistently over-supplied availability of union workers to the thinly -veiled threats they cast to keep workers in line. Central to the plot is Brando's character Terry Malloy, an intellectually challenged ex-prize fighter who is employed marginally as both a daily worker and a sometimes enforcer for the corrupt union leaders. When he begins to experience a crisis of conscience, he decides to right things with the victim's sister (Eva Marie Saint) and with himself, as well. Of course, doing so sucks Malloy involuntarily into the vortex of the violence, and with his brother, one of the corrupt union leaders (who is played flawlessly by the late Lee J. Cobb) quickly propels the plot into overdrive, and the progress of the situation to its inevitable conclusion showcases both the marvelous storyline and the marvelous acting of the cast. Lending credibility to the film is the use of the actual urban locations of the fact-based drama, along the docks, dives, and shoreline of economically depressed Hoboken, New Jersey. Although the movie is dated in the sense that it is obviously something filmed in another era, it is as topical as anything could be regarding its frank and provocative presentation of the issues of how organized corruption impedes and frustrates the struggle of individuals trying to live their lives in dignity and with a modicum of success. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: More Than a "Contender"
Review: Most of the various lists of all-time greatest films include this one because it offers a rare combination of superior talent in all areas of production: directed by Elia Kazan...edited by Gene Milford...starring Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, and Lee J. Cobb...art direction by Richard Day...a screenplay written by Budd Schulberg based on Malcolm Johnson's novel...musical score composed by Leonard Bernstein...with cinematography provided by Boris Kaufman. Producer San Spiegel accepted the Academy Away for best picture. Brando, Day, Kaufman, Kazan, Milford, Schulberg, and Saint also received Academy Awards; Bernstein, Cobb, Malden, and Steiger were nominated. As I viewed it again recently, I was curious to learn how well it has held up since it was released in 1954. It holds up very well indeed. My favorite scenes still have the same impact, most of them involving a conversation: when Malloy teases Edie in the mini-park, when Glover and Gillette engage him on the roof as he tends to his pigeons, the scene in the cab with his brother Charley...also when finds he finds his brother hoisted up on a wall, the scene in the barroom as he awaits Johnny Friendly's arrival, and of course as the film concludes when he somehow gets up and drags himself into the warehouse, followed by the other longshoremen. The integration of dialogue, action, and setting with music in these and other scenes is exquisite. All of the acting is outstanding. In fact, I cannot think of a single weakness throughout the entire production. Yes, that was Pat Hingle playing a bartender, Nehemiah Persoff driving the cab, and Martin Balsam as Gillette. And yes, that was Tony ("Two Ton") Galento playing Truck, one of Friendly's several thugs. There are so many other character actors with familiar faces who never achieved any celebrity but without whom this film could not have achieved its greatness. They include Pat Henning ("Kayo" Dugan), John Hamilton ("Pop" Doyle), and Barry Macollum ("J.P."). They deserve to have their names mentioned. We know now that there was serious and substantial opposition to making On the Waterfront because of the film industry's close ties with organized crime. We also know that the House Un-American Activities Committee was initially much more interested in Communist infiltration of labor unions than it was in any corruption by various mob "families" in the metropolitan New York York area. Nonetheless, the film was finally made. It has lost nothing during the past 50 years and I expect that also to be true for decades to come.
Rating:
Summary: I coulda been a contender
Review: Chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top 10 greatest films of all time (#8), this is truly a film of heart and excellents. It won 8 academy awards and made itself a long lasting spot in film history.
A+
Rating:
Summary: 10 out of 10
Review: Absolutely beautiful, timeless classic movie. This film ranks number 2 all time best film on my list. No matter what happens, this film will stand out to be a most important piece of work. Virtually almost all movies are incomparable with this one. Why? Marlon Brando. What he did, Marlon gave so much magic to the film. Marlon Brando defined acting. Acting defined Marlon Brando. Marlon Brando is simply the king. When I finished the film, I couldn't help myself being at awe of the whole movie and lastly of Marlon Brando's acting. Eva Marie Saint, nabbing an Oscar on her film debut is a remarkable feat. She earned it. I wish to spend hours and hours, discussing how unbelievably fantastic Marlon Brando was. The fact remains: no words can describe it. His involvement every second in the film speaks of thousand words.
Rating:
Summary: More Than Just A Famous Scene
Review: Marlon Brando gives a stunning performance as a former boxer who finds himself in the middle of a battle involving a mob boss who has overtaken a dockworkers' union and the law that wants to take that boss down. The film is most famous for the scene in the back of a cab where Brando tells his corrupt brother Rod Steiger that Steiger guided him wrong, telling him to take falls instead of letting him become the boxer he could have been. He could have been a contender, but instead is just a "bum". But there is more going on than just that famous scene. This film is compelling in tbe way it presents one man's internal conflict over his own actions and whether he should inform, as well as his conflict with the mob he has grown to hate, but also fears. Brando plays all sides of these conflicts with such charisma and depth. He is well supported by strong performances from Eva Marie Saint, Steiger, Karl Malden, and especially Lee J. Cobb in an explosive role. Director Elia Kazan packs a number of scenes with a real dramatic punch, building to an unforgettable climax. There is a toughness and strong urban feeling created by the stark black-and-white photography and location shooting. On The Waterfront is both a social drama and character study, and in all respects, a great film.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: This is such an amazing movie. When it was made, it had more of a social statement attached to it. Now, nearly 50 years later, it is still a striking film. The acting is brilliant, especially Brando and Malden. Brando's "Contender" scene has so much emotion and is so realistic that it is truly one of the greatest moments in acting history.
Rating: 
Summary: Great film, poor transfer
Review: The movie is among the best ever made; it is beyond reproof. Period. But the transfer is an embarassment. Good grief! There's a moth fluttering about in one scene on the screen they used for the transfer. A moth! Didn't anyone actually watch this before it was released?
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