29
On
the Waterfront
Release date 28th July 1954
Country : USA
Running time : 108 mins
Genre : Drama
Starring Marlon Brando, Lee J Cobb, Rod Steiger Eva Marie Saint
Screenplay by Bud Schulberg
Directed by Elia Kazan
Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union boss.
"An uncommonly powerful, exciting and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals."
From a review in The New York Times
DVD
available from Columbia Tristar Home Video :Release date 28th July 1954
Country : USA
Running time : 108 mins
Genre : Drama
Starring Marlon Brando, Lee J Cobb, Rod Steiger Eva Marie Saint
Screenplay by Bud Schulberg
Directed by Elia Kazan
Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union boss.
This
film gives us Marlon Brando at his acting peak. The scene in the taxi
with his brother in which he says "I could have been a contender"
is so well known (it has been referred to often since, the best tribute came in Raging Bull
(1980)) it is hard to imagine the impact of this beautifully written
and performed scene when it was new back in 1954.The film is about
standing up for what you believe in whatever the consequences,director
Elia Kazan is said by many not to have done this by naming names at the
House of UnAmerican Activities Committee hearings into alleged
communism in the motion picture industry. It is not much of a leap
from this to the story of Terry Malloy talking up to destroy the power
of a mobster at the docks. Though whatever you think of Kazan there is
no getting away from the fact that this is a superb film with a
wonderful score by Leonard Bernstein.
"An uncommonly powerful, exciting and imaginative use of the screen by gifted professionals."
From a review in The New York Times
DVD Movie Guide
DVD Journal
DVD Verdict
30 28
Written content copyright Derek McLellan,2005.
Copyright © The Fedora Chronicles
