Summary/Review for On the Water Front.
On the Waterfront is a story of a dockworker that tried to overthrow a corrupt union. Marlon Brando, who plays the character of Terry Malloy, is a young ex-prize fighter. Terry is now a dockworker given easy jobs because his brother is the right-hand man of the corrupt union boss, Johnny Friendly. Terry unintentionally allows himself to be used in setting up a man's death. Joey, the dockworker who was murdered, caused Terry to start to question the basic idea of his life. This includes his loyalty to his brother, Charley, and Johnny Friendly. Edie Doyle, the sister of Joey, influences Terry because the victim was her brother; therefore, she wanted some answers on why he died. But when Terry meets Edie, he starts to fall for her. She influences him to tell her the truth about her brother's death and the corrupt union boss. With the influence of Father Barry, Terry decides to testify against Johnny Friendly. After the killing of Terry's brother, he finally decides to go up and take a stand to Johnny Friendly for himself and the rest of the union. After getting a brash beating from Johnny's men, he gets the strength to stand up and walk away from Johnny Friendly with the support of the fellow dock workers. His demonstration shows how it is fundamentally right to break group silence in a tough situation even if a person appears to "rat" on his friends. .
The cult classic of 1954, On the Waterfront, is such a great movie because of Marlon Brando's excellent performance. He was able to express the emotions of the character through his facial expression, arm and hand movement, and through the character itself. The specifics of this story of corruption in the dockworkers union, is a basic story of human struggle between right and wrong, which we can all relate to. The scenes between Brando and Eva are very touching and realistic (even though their kissing could improve), but the famous "I coulda been a contender" scene is deserving of all it's praise.