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On The Waterfront |  | Director: Elia Kazan
Actors: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Category: Movie
Buy New: $9.99
as of 9/8/2010 05:35 CDT details
Seller: Amazon Video On Demand
Rating:  175 reviews
Sales Rank: 14301
Genre: Classics
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 109 Minutes
ASIN: B000I9VXSQ
Theatrical Release Date: January 14, 1954
Release Date: September 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
Terry Malloy dreams about being a prize fighter, while tending his pigeons and running errands at the docks for Johnny Friendly, the corrupt boss of the dockers union. Terry witnesses a murder by two of Johnny's thugs, and later meets the dead man's sister and feels responsible for his death. She introduces him to Father Barry, who tries to force him to provide information for the courts that will smash the dock racketeers.The Waterfront Crime Commission is about to hold public hearings on union crime and underworld infiltration. As workers are turned against each other, Terry Malloy inadvertently participates in the murder of fellow longshoreman Joey Doyle. Union boss Johnny Friendly orchestrates the murder along with other illegal dockside activities, aided by Terry's brother Charley. Terry begins to feel pangs of conscience. When Joey's sister Edie sees more in Terry than he sees in himself and Father Barry urges him on, Terry reassesses his past and begins to regain responsibility for his actions. |
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| Customer Reviews:
 Such a good thing such devilish practices disappear June 7, 2010
Jacques COULARDEAU (OLLIERGUES France)
Not so much of a great film as a great young actor. Marlon Brando is quite convincing in this early role. But the plot of the film is both true to the core and false to the bone. We are in New York, on the harbor, on the side of the dockworkers and the very strange atmosphere that existed in not so long ago a time and that may still exist in some harbors in Europe and the USA. To get a job, a daily job quite too often, short time anyway, you had to come in the morning to be selected in order to answer the numbers required by the bosses, in that case the authority of the harbor. These names were selected and called by the union itself. Such a power and the very comfortable income you can get out of it is of course captivated by some union leaders who look more like gang leaders than union leaders. And they accepted no dissent in the rank and file. Killing was even a game that brought some entertainment to those bored Mafiosi. Till one murder too many was done and performed on someone who had the heart of the dockworkers and a daughter who wanted him to be eulogized. That was enough to trigger an explosive situation, in which the local catholic priest is playing the "good devil" for these gangsters and the "guardian angel" for the dockworkers. Apart from that the film is rather trite. The end though is a marvelous piece of work. The defeated union leaders are rejected by a unanimous vote of all dockworkers in support of Terry Malloy who was the stake of the fight and thus vote with their feet against the already forgotten union leaders. But one detail may not be as visible as it should be. The dockworkers are able to walk to the ships when, and only when, the representative of the harbor authorities let them go through. In other words the gangsterized union leaders are only defeated because the harbor authorities say so. It is not class struggle but it is gang war and company within the union with the support that can change from one moment to the next from the bosses in the harbor. Do not think these practices are finished. Far from it. They are an everyday reality in some professions where the unions, or rather some groups of unionized people, have taken the control of the workforce. It is true in harbors, but also in airports and in train-transport companies, at least in Europe. And even if that is waning away little by little.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID
 Great Stars in a Dated Film February 25, 2010
Cary B. Barad (Baltimore, MD)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Presents many great stars in the prime of their careers--Brando, Karl Malden and Eva Marie Saint (in her first starring role.) Yet, in the context of contemporary standards. the plotline is clearly dated, and the acting somewhat histrionic and stereotypical. As a result, the viewing experience is just not as good as one might expect given this film's classic status.
The best of Marlo Brando January 24, 2010
Jacqueline (Washington DC)
On the Waterfront is a real classic film. The interwoven story between the shipyards workers and the Union held by a group of exploiting mafioso bosses is at the heart of the movie. It deals with questions of conscience, of right and wrong, of retribution and seeks to get the viewer involved actively. It represents an era of great difficulty for the masses and the impossibility to extricate oneself from the mafia's stranglehold on workers. It takes an accident to start unrolling the entanglement in which all were.
 Walk like a man October 18, 2009
bernie (Arlington, Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a movie about pidgins, both literally and figuratively. Local priest (Karl Malden) goes up against cabal.
This might be entertainment for some and was a type of movie art that came and passed. This presentation is a good variant of the genre. People that enjoy "Citizen Kane" will enjoy this film. The acting is touted as great, however everyone acted the same as it is a 1954 style; if it is so good out of its time and place there would be movies like this today. I suggest that a better variant is "Funeral in Berlin".
For people that look at other film dimensions the music is over the top heavy handed. The one plus is that the music (Leonard Bernstein) usually does not compete with the dialog. Unfortunately the one exception is the "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender." statement where all the violins break out next the rush of horns and whatnot.
I will not go into detail on the movie as there is just the chance you have only heard about this movie and haven't seen it yet, but be prepared for stool pigeons and dead pigeons.
After 50 plus years the film is sort of out of place. So to gain a good perspective on why it is so popular you will need to watch the commentaries and other DVD extras. Then re-watch the movie.
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Being A Contender October 3, 2009
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
Marlon Brando starred in one of his least pretentious roles in this film about a dock worker in NYC who decides to fight the corrupt officials who run the docks. Eva Marie Saint plays the young woman whose brother is murdered by them. Of course, Marlon who had something to do with the brother's murder, and Eva Marie fall in love but Karl Malden as the priest keeps it on a higher plane. The moral struggle against corrupt gangs who intimidate and murder to influence the community and the struggle to live a moral life is a classic tale which carries a powerful whop!
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