On the Waterfront (1954) USA
On the Waterfront Image Cover
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Director:Elia Kazan
Studio:Sony Pictures
Producer:Sam Spiegel
Writer:Malcolm Johnson, Budd Schulberg
Rating:4.5
Rated:NR
Date Added:2007-03-05
Purchased On:2007-05-03
ASIN:B00003CXBU
UPC:0043396784093
Price:$24.95
Awards:Won 8 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 7 nominations
Genre:Crime & Criminals
Release:2001-10-22
IMDb:0047296
Duration:108
Picture Format:Pan & Scan
Aspect Ratio:1.33:1
Sound:Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Languages:English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, Commentary by Film Critic/Writer Richard Schickel and Elia Kazan Biographer Jeff Young, Unknown
Subtitles:English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai
Features:Black & White
Elia Kazan  ...  (Director)
Malcolm Johnson, Budd Schulberg  ...  (Writer)
 
Marlon Brando  ...  Terry Malloy
Karl Malden  ...  Father Barry
Lee J. Cobb  ...  Johnny Friendly
Rod Steiger  ...  Charley 'the Gent' Malloy
Pat Henning  ...  Timothy J. 'Kayo' Dugan
Leif Erickson  ...  Glover
James Westerfield  ...  Big Mac
Tony Galento  ...  Truck
Tami Mauriello  ...  Tullio
John F. Hamilton  ...  'Pop' Doyle (as John Hamilton)
Boris Kaufman  ...  Cinematographer
John Heldabrand  ...  Mutt
Gene Milford  ...  Editor
Rudy Bond  ...  Moose
Don Blackman  ...  Luke
Arthur Keegan  ...  Jimmy
Abe Simon  ...  Barney
Comments: A story as warm and moving as GOING MY WAY...but with brass knuckles!

Summary: Marlon Brando's famous "I coulda been a contenda" speech is such a warhorse by now that a lot of people probably feel they've seen this picture already, even if they haven't. And many of those who have seen it may have forgotten how flat-out thrilling it is. For all its great dramatic and cinematic qualities, and its fiery social criticism, Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront is also one of the most gripping melodramas of political corruption and individual heroism ever made in the United States, a five-star gut-grabber. Shot on location around the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the mid-1950s, it tells the fact-based story of a longshoreman (Brando's Terry Malloy) who is blackballed and savagely beaten for informing against the mobsters who have taken over his union and sold it out to the bosses. (Karl Malden has a more conventional stalwart-hero role, as an idealistic priest who nurtures Terry's pangs of conscience.) Lee J. Cobb, who created the role of Willy Loman in Death of Salesman under Kazan's direction on Broadway, makes a formidable foe as a greedy union leader. --David Chute