"Conscience... that stuff can drive you nuts!"
The line, spoken by Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, a longshoreman who testifies against his corrupt union, is not the most iconic line in Elia Kazan's 1954 classic On the Waterfront. (We'll get to that later.) However, it is a line that resonates throughout the picture and the picture's conception and production. The story, written by Budd Schulberg and based on a series of Pulitzer Prize winning articles called "Crime on the Waterfront" by Malcolm Johnson about the corruption, extortion and racketeering on the waterfronts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, is all about conscience. So too is the story behind the story as On the Waterfront marks the first film directed by Kazan after he agreed to testify before the House of Un-American Activities Committee and named former associates who were involved (either currently or formerly) with the Communist Party. By testifying, Kazan became a social outcast in left-wing circles.
As such, among other things, On the Waterfront acts as Elia Kazan's justification for his decision to testify. In one scene in the film, the waterfront's union boss, Johnny Friendly (Lee Cobb, Jr., 12 Angry Men), screams at Malloy, "You ratted on us, Terry!" and Brando as Malloy shouts back, "I'm standing over here now. I was ratting on myself all those years. I didn't even know it." It's a fantastic character moment, but it also gives voice to Kazan's own belief that Communism was an evil that had temporarily seduced him and that had to be opposed. It's also a line that mirrors one that Kazan writes in his autobiography when he says about On the Waterfront winning 8 of the 12 Academy Awards for which it was nominated (including Best Director), "I was tasting vengeance that night and enjoying it."
In the longer version of that statement (which includes an expletive or two), you can almost feel the fire that was imbued by the HUAC hearings into those that testified, as well as the hostility with which these people were met by those who refused to testify. Even today, many critics and viewers alike still feel that Kazan's hidden agenda taints On the Waterfront. Others critics also believe that with the passage of time, the story no longer feels as fresh, the romantic interest and fight against corruption falling into tritest of conventions. However, no matter what you feel towards Elia Kazan and despite the dated aspects of the film, the central character arc of Terry Malloy, combined with one of the most power and influential performances in the history of cinema given by Marlon Brando, makes On the Waterfront a classic that reshaped the tone of modern movie acting forever.
Today, many people only know the Actors Studio as the place Bravo goes inside of to watch James Lipton talk to Hollywood's elite about their lives and careers. However, since its co-founding in 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow, the Actors Studio has served as the premier organization in the refining and teaching of the Constantin Stanislavski originated "method acting." For those unaware, method acting can be boiled down to a group of techniques that actors use to create within themselves the thoughts and feelings of their characters, so as to develop the most lifelike performances possible. In addition to being a co-founder, Elia Kazan also used the Actors Studio as a sort of casting agency for his films. The most noteworthy of his finds, you may have already guessed, was none other than a young Marlon Brando.
From this relationship grew such classics as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952) and On the Waterfront. In these early films, Brando, under Kazan's direction, would eschew decades of traditional screen idiosyncrasies in favor of a fresh and unorthodox style which saw the actor as alert, ever-observant, giving way to something not wholly realistic but rather a heightened form of realism.
In a particular scene in On the Waterfront, Terry and Edie (Eva Marie Saint), the sister of one of Malloy's friends whom he unwittingly sets up to be knocked off by some of Johnny Friendly's henchmen, are walking and talking through a small park outside a church. While fiddling with her gloves, Eva Marie Saint accidentally drops one of the gloves. Brando as Terry then picks the glove up, but instead of handing it back to her he keeps it. When she tries to take the glove from him, he pulls back picking stray bits of fuzz off of it. As they continue to talk, Terry sits on a nearby swing and slowly puts the glove on. It's a small gesture, one you might even miss if you're not paying attention. It's also a gesture that every other actor at the time would have never thought to do in that situation. But in that one small gesture, Brando is conveying so much about his character and how Terry feels about Edie.
In another scene, the most famous in On the Waterfront and one of the most iconic scenes in film history, we see Terry in the backseat of a taxi cab with his brother Charley (Rod Steiger, another method actor). The "I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender" scene has been parodied and spoofed so many times that the original could have easily lost all meaning. (I mean, they did a Mary Had A Little Lamb spoof for Christ's sake.) However, watching the claustrophobic and incredibly intimate scene today, it is as powerful and moving as it must have been back in 1954. We intensely feel the pain of these two men, Terry betrayed by Charley, Charley forced by desperation to pull a gun on his kid brother.
Equally magnificent are Steiger and Brando. So much so that the scene almost plays like a love scene. One of the most remarkable things about Marlon Brando's acting was the duality he brought to each of his characters. Particularly visible in Terry Malloy is the contrast of a tough-as-nails exterior and the delicacy and gentleness of his behavior. Likewise, when Charley pulls the gun on Terry, Brando doesn't do what every other actor at the time would have done and grab the gun from Charley, screaming and yelling all the while (maybe socking him in the mouth for good measure). No, instead, and not unlike his unusual but perfect choice to put on Eva Marie Saint's glove, he gently pushes the gun away like one might lightly stroke the cheek of a loved one. And with just two words, "Oh, Charley," that are so loving and so saturated with mournful melancholy, Brando is able to convey all of the disappointment and pain of the brothers' entire relationship as Steiger slouches, pushing his hat back on his forehead. Terry doesn't know it yet, but by refusing to do as his brother asks, he has signed Charley's death warrant. It's an electrifying and heartbreakingly emotional scene that both men play to perfection.
In the real-life story that Budd Schulberg based his screenplay on, the longshoreman who tried to topple a corrupt union fails. In the novel version of the screenplay, Terry Malloy is brutually beaten to death for testifying against Johnny Friendly and his cohorts. As such, many consider the film to be too triumphant and pan its ending for feeling sanguine and stagy. And I probably agree with this to an extent. Yet, while many of the actual longshoremen that were hired to play background roles are often too deliberately blocked and while many scenes, like when Karl Malden's Father Berry gives an impassioned speech about how "If you don't think Christ is down here on the waterfront, you've got another guess coming," which would be monumental moments in other films but feel too theatrical against what Brando is doing, On the Waterfront still manages to work beautifully.
Despite all the dated aspects on the film, the central narrative of Terry Malloy's struggle with his conscience and his relationships with his brother Charley and with Edie Doyle are timeless. What Brando, Kazan and company were able to do changed movie acting forever. And while the story may no longer feel as crisp or hit as hard as it once did, the acting and best dialogue still demonstrate beautifully the power of great actors, great directors and great cinema. On the Waterfront coulda had class and does. It coulda been a contender and still is. And it's far from being a bum movie. (Because what's one more spoof between friends, right?)
