On the Waterfront (1954): Shira’s Take

I just love everything about this movie. It was my second time seeing it, and, though I didn’t think it possible, I actually liked it more this time. The signature cinematography is fantastic. I love the edgy angles looking upwards at Terry Malloy’s (Marlon Brando’s) face. Brando’s performance is my favorite of his and possibly in my top five favorite performances of all time. And it’s not just him. Everyone is good in this movie. The first time I saw it, I thought I would end up hating Eva Marie Saint (playing Edie Doyle), but something about her kindhearted demeanor and desire to help those in need is so earnest and endearing.

The screenplay is great. The characters are so incredibly consistent. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Terry has just gone up to the roof after ratting out Johnny Friendly (played by Lee J. Cobb) and sees that Tommy (played by Thomas Handley), the kid who has been looking up to Terry since he founded the Golden Warriors (a gang of sorts), has killed all of Joey’s pigeons that Terry had been caring for. Terry says, “What did he have to do that for?” It’s incredible, because at that point, the viewer knows Terry so well that he/she can almost predict that he will react that way. It is as though when he sees that his brother, Charley (played by a young, not-scary-looking Rod Steiger) has been killed, he understands why it happened and is therefore sad, but kind of resigned to it. But when the pigeons die, it’s in a way more tragic–the pigeons did nothing wrong, so why did they have to die?

And the ending is just so perfect. I love Johnny Friendly’s pathetic last attempts to yell at everyone going in to work, “I’ll remember every one of you!” For a movie about the three things I care about the least in life (boxing, longshoremen, and pigeon racing), this film is completely relevant to me and to everyone. Perfect, perfect movie. 10/10