Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.39

One of the great American Classics that somehow managed to elude me all this time.

I now fully understand what people mean when they say that acting has a pre-Brando and a post-Brando era. Brando delivers a seminal performance here that shook things up mainly because he showed a natural quality to his acting that wasn't common in those days. He wasn't articulate, was very physical and clearly improvised a lot.

As an adept of the Actors Studio he was a practitioner of Method Acting and if ever there was a definitive example of what that can do to a performance, it is shown in Brando's portrayal of Terry Malloy. In a story…

Can one simultaneously love and detest a work of art?

I was surrounded by both of these feelings when watching Elia Kazan's 1954 film On the Waterfront. It often is put on lists of top films of all time, and I do think it is fantastically done, but the message of this movie deeply troubled me.

To expand on this, let me explain the history of this film a bit. Elia Kazan was at one time close friends with the playwright Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman et al) in the late forties. They often came to each other for advice and even collaborated on occasion.

Cut to the early 1950s in America. The Red Scare was in full swing…

It's hard to avoid Kazan's testimony to the HUAC in regards to discussing this film. Kazan paints this as his rebuttal to the public reaction he faced in his decision to name names in the McCarthy era 50's. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg begs to differ and offers that there is no connection between his script and the events surrounding Kazan and his trial. Whether or no this is true, it is still difficult to see On The Waterfront without thinking of this dark blemish on Elia Kazan's career.

Still this piece of art he created is more than strong enough to stand on its own two feet like Terry Malloy stumbling up towards that dock full of perseverance in the end.…

**Part of the Best Picture Project**

On the Waterfront is a masterpiece. That much anyone can be sure of as it concludes. But just why is it a masterpiece?

As I talked about in my review of Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, that film dealt with the conflict between the old Hollywood romanticism and the incoming age of realism, where stories weren't overplayed, merely depicted. In many ways, On the Waterfront is a spiritual successor to that film, arriving after that conflict is over.

Seeing On the Waterfront in historical relevance with the other Best Picture nominees only seems to make it stand out more. Here, Italian Neo-Realism arrives to Hollywood. On the Waterfront may have aspects of it that…

Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront's huge impact on the medium of film and the ways stories have been told ever since can be felt even today. Back then, Hollywood's output consisted of sparkly, unrealistic depictions of the world that were more concerned with wit and fun than genuine drama. As fine as that is (I really like classic Hollywood), American cinema simply lacked something that at the time could be found in both European and Asian cinema in abundance. Specifically the Italian neo-realism and groundbreaking films such as Bicycle Thieves dealt with proper issues surrounding low class citizens. Sometimes depressing, but always honest and mirroring the real world, these films are extremely powerful even today. Kazan was one of if…

It's years since I saw On the Waterfront and while I did remember it was great I had forgotten just how bloody brilliant it is. Talk about a next to perfect script! It is so tight that you feel like you can't blink in fear of missing something.

And Marlon Brando is just a God in this film. He does not act, he lives the part.

It also just looks so great, with this huge contrast between black and white. Take one scene. The opening scene when Brando talks to the guy who the mafia wants to kill and tells him that he found his dove. When the guy runs up to the roof Brando lets the dove loose, almost…

It's hard to avoid Kazan's testimony to the HUAC in regards to discussing this film. Kazan paints this as his rebuttal to the public reaction he faced in his decision to name names in the McCarthy era 50's. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg begs to differ and offers that there is no connection between his script and the events surrounding Kazan and his trial. Whether or no this is true, it is still difficult to see On The Waterfront without thinking of this dark blemish on Elia Kazan's career.

Still this piece of art he created is more than strong enough to stand on its own two feet like Terry Malloy stumbling up towards that dock full of perseverance in the end.…

It's years since I saw On the Waterfront and while I did remember it was great I had forgotten just how bloody brilliant it is. Talk about a next to perfect script! It is so tight that you feel like you can't blink in fear of missing something.

And Marlon Brando is just a God in this film. He does not act, he lives the part.

It also just looks so great, with this huge contrast between black and white. Take one scene. The opening scene when Brando talks to the guy who the mafia wants to kill and tells him that he found his dove. When the guy runs up to the roof Brando lets the dove loose, almost…

Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront's huge impact on the medium of film and the ways stories have been told ever since can be felt even today. Back then, Hollywood's output consisted of sparkly, unrealistic depictions of the world that were more concerned with wit and fun than genuine drama. As fine as that is (I really like classic Hollywood), American cinema simply lacked something that at the time could be found in both European and Asian cinema in abundance. Specifically the Italian neo-realism and groundbreaking films such as Bicycle Thieves dealt with proper issues surrounding low class citizens. Sometimes depressing, but always honest and mirroring the real world, these films are extremely powerful even today. Kazan was one of if…