On the Waterfront

Brando sears the screen as Terry Malloy in Elia Kazan’s dark tale of toxic corruption on the ports of New York. In this noir drama of overtly Biblical weightiness, duty, faith, and fear compete to control a longshoreman’s mind when he’s called to rat on his gangster union overlords, notably big boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Further complications arise when Malloy falls for Edie (Eva Marie Saint), the sister of a dock worker whose murder loosely involved Malloy. Gritty rooftops, dingy bars, and hellish warehouses accentuate the raw emotions of characters inhabited by one of the greatest casts in all of film: aside from Cobb and Saint, Rod Steiger is excellent as Terry’s morally compromised brother, and the great Karl Malden plays Father Pete Barry, Malloy’s friend and mentor who makes it his mission to deliver God’s grace not only to Malloy but to all the sinners remaining silent on the stinking dock. Too often boiled down to its “I coulda been a contender” scene in the back of a taxi, the Oscar-winning On the Waterfront is the ultimate noir morality tale: tortured, confused, and brutal.