On the Waterfront - The Oscar Project Part XXVII

Another year another classic movie. Released in 1954 “On the Waterfront” is another one of those movies that is best known for lines delivered by Marlon Brando. Going into it I was interested to finally see Brando playing someone that isn’t an old guy. This is the movie that really kicked off his acting career and helped make him a legend. The funny thing is that I knew nothing else about this movie, I just knew that I was about to see some Brando action.

“On the Waterfront” is about a dock that is run by the mob. Specifically it follows Brando’s character of Terry Malloy, a former boxer that has a good place in the mob thanks to his brother. However, he eventually begins to doubt his role when he helps the mob murder an informant. While this is going on Father Berry tries to bring order to the dock and get rid of the mob, but no one will talk against the mob leader, Friendly. As Terry falls in love with Father Berry’s sister Edie, the two work to convince him to turn on the mob. Eventually Terry’s brother, Charlie, tries to persuade him not to become an informant and when he fails Charlie is murdered. This all culminates in a fight on the dock between Friendly and Terry. Terry is winning until Friendly calls on help and has Terry beaten to near death. This all happens in front of the dock workers who finally unite and stand up to the mob.

While watching this movie I couldn’t help but notice some of the similarities to another great movie, “Rocky.” To me it seems that “Rocky” is simply what would have happened if Terry hadn’t thrown that fight that he was forced to throw. While the movie is very good most of that is because of the performance Brando puts in. Watching this movie it is easy to understand why he is a legend. This is the role of a lifetime and he nails it. The movie belongs to him as it is he that I remember throughout the movie. Everything else was perfectly fine, the rest of the actors are good and the direction from Elia Kazan is great, but it is Brando that really delivers in this movie.

Overall this is just a great movie thanks to the performance by Brando. If it were released today with the same level of acting the movie would be a definite nominee for an Academy Award. And whoever played the part of Terry would be nominated as well. It’s certainly one of the best characters created for the American cinema. It gets 4.5 out of 5 stars.