On the Waterfront

Released: July 28, 1954

Studio: Columbia

Genre: crime drama/thriller

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 9.60 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 219.90 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Elia Kazan

Screenwriting: Budd Schulberg

Starring: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger

Review:

“Budd Schulberg’s unflinching account of N.Y.C. harbor unions (suggested by articles by Malcolm Johnson)” ^LM is a “powerful, gripping drama” ^VD “that mirrors the political climate of the early 1950s.” ^A07 “The theatrical trailer promised ‘a story that’s as warm and moving as Going My Way (but with brass knuckles!)’ – as good a description as any for this Oscar-winning morality tale. The characters struggling with pier pressure include an ex-boxer with a soft spot for pigeons, a luscious nun-in-training and a priest with a mean punch.” ^TV “Winner of eight Oscars…Leonard Bernstein’s music is another major asset. Film debuts of Saint, Martin Balsam, Fred Gwynne, and Pat Hingle.” ^LM

In one of “his most famous performances” ^VD as a “longshoreman who ‘coulda been a contender,” ^A07 Marlon Brando is “inarticulate ex-boxer champ Terry Malloy.” ^FS He “witnesses the murder of a fellow dock worker, a victim of gangster union boss Cobb’s oppressive hold over the longshoremen – punished for ‘singing’ to an investigation commission. When Terry begins to fall in love with shy and frail Edie (Saint), the dead man’s sister, his allegiances are challenged.” ^FS He rebels against his brother Charlie (Steiger), a corrupt mob lawyer, and his world of “union violence, greed, and deceit.” ^VD “After his brother’s murder, he defiantly stands up against the hoodlums on the waterfront.” ^FS

“Movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck passed on the script for Twentieth Century-Fox, believing no one would ‘care about a bunch of sweaty longshoremen.’ Elia Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg went to Columbia Pictures. Even then the script went through many drafts, including character Terry Malloy as an investigative reporter before becoming the iconic sweaty longshoreman.” ^MSN