It is rare to find a truly serious and intelligent film dominated by tough guys, about tough guys, and set in the world of tough guys, that is, MEN, before the 1960's, that is both intelligent, moving and, in some ways, profound. The Cagney film, "The Roaring Twenties," comes close but not really. But such is the film, "On The Waterfront." Warning: I do not LOVE Marlon Brando in this, so be prepared for some criticism of his work.
First of all, the script is a masterpiece. Budd Schulberg so beautifully captures the style and syntax of these waterfront thugs, and the hard working lower class victims of union corruption, along with their unique brand of male bravura. Spoken from the mouths of such fine actors we do not hesitate to believe that everything we see is real, and we are frightened, at times, for our lives. It is this searing realism that makes "Waterfront," the success that it is, and that realism is born both out of the words, and how they are brought to life. Certainly Kazan must take some credit here. But how much is difficult to say -- perhaps a lot, for the entire cast, save Brando is spot on brilliant. Perhaps less because it's all in the words and these actors know their profession, their craft.
First, Lee J. Cobb, as, Johnny Friendly is so frighteningly real I have been told by grown men that he genuinely frightened them. Good God, but what a performance. Mean, tough, surly, a lout, we see him for what he is, for what he is is on display loudly and clearly and without apology. He a man's man. And we have no doubt as to how he has maintained such tight-fisted control over so many other very tough and dangerous men. They have no chance.
Steiger, supposedly the brains of the operation, also provides a wonderful portrait of a different kind of street tough, a more refined, educated one, but nonetheless straight from the wharves. He straddles the line, beautifully, between the calm controlled accountant and the hood ready to kill for his boss. But he is not ready, as we find out.
The real hero of the film, and its finest performance is provided by the one and only, Karl Malden. As Father Barry Malden is both tough, smart, sensitive, corrupted, and pure. He's the only one in the film I'd give a chance against Johnny Friendly in a street fight. His speech over the body of the recently deceased Dugan is one of the highlights in American cinema history. It is simply a tour-de-force.
Now for Brando. I'm sorry, but in my opinion we see Brando "thinking" throughout the film. I don't mean the character Brando is playing, I mean Brando, the actor. It is distracting and false. There is one moment, when he is in the bar waiting for Friendly to show up at a bar to kill him, where, holding a gun in one hand and bleeding profusely down his arm, he reaches back with that hand to adjust his shirt and jacket collar. It seems completely false. It was the actor concerned about how he looked. That's what it spoke to me, at least. Here's a guy ready to kill, bleeding, fed up with the criminality and who had just witnessed his own brother's murder, taking a moment to powder his nose.
But for intelligent drama, almost melodrama, and reality oozing from the screen, this is among Hollywood's best ever.
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