On the Waterfront Film as Literature Review

“I could’ve been a contender.” Those famous words are spoken by Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront. Terry could have become a boxing champion. Instead, his family and friends in the mob influence him to lose a critical fight in order to benefit the mob; a mob that all of Terry’s family and friends are closely tied to. A similar decision is made in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, where Joe Keller makes a decision that will benefit his family and put others in danger, all for the prosperity of the family business. The purpose of our watching this film in class was to have a basis for comparison between All My Sons and another literary work, and being that there are multiple similarities, I feel that this film was effective. In addition, On the Waterfront has a good moral message about standing up for your rights, which we discussed in class, making the film even more effective.
Literature shares certain aspects with film, including setting, point-of-view, and theme. In On the Waterfront, the setting is on the docks of the waterfront in a time and place where workers had very few rights to getting a job. This sets the scene for the main conflict, the little guys standing up to the big men for their rights to work. The heavy machinery and crashing waves on the docks add to the feeling that employment is hard to get and unsafe when it is available. A man who does not have to fight for a steady pay is Terry Malloy, who has friends fighting on both sides of the struggle. By seeing the story from Terry’s relationships with the mob and with Edie Doyle, the plot unfolds from Terry’s broad point-of-view and the conflict is set. As in all novels, films have themes. In On the Waterfront, the theme of standing up for what you believe in is portrayed through the various characters of Dugan, Father Barry, and Edie.
The dramatic aspects of film are what make a film a film; including the actors and the way that they act, and the set’s design and lighting. The casting of Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, Eva Marie Saint as Edie Doyle, and Rod Steiger as Charley Malloy are all smart casting decisions because each actor has a quality about him or her that contributes to the personality of their character in the movie. Marlon Brando plays the role of a dim-witted boxer perfectly, with his slurred speech and indecisive tone of voice that he uses. When Edie asks him why he continues to hang around with Johnny, all that Brando does is shrug his shoulders, mutter “I dunno,” and play dumb. Despite his lack of brains he is loveable, and that is what makes the movie work. The audience will always be on the side of Terry because of Brando’s cute, “I don’t know any better” demeanor. Another actor that makes this film’s message so powerful is Eva Marie Saint’s innocent portrayal of Edie Doyle. It is important for Edie to act tough and stubborn to convey the message that all people can stand up for what they believe in, and Saint shows this by jumping into the scuffle for a work ticket. Her body language is true to character when Eva pounces for a ticket and wrestles it out of the other men’s fingers. However, at the same time Edie needs to be sensitive and naïve to the dangers around her. Saint shows Edie’s adolescence through her quiet and upset tone of voice when Terry gets mad at her for questioning his involvement with the mob. The final smart casting decision by Elia Kazan is casting Rod Steiger as Charley Malloy. Rod portrays Charley as a big shot who was cool around his buddies, good with numbers, and a man who everybody liked. But what made the character work was the fact that he was helpless when it came to the mob’s affairs, and like Terry, his hands are tied behind his back. Steiger shows this in the back of the cab when he gives Terry the ultimatum. Steiger, who had been acting very cool, is now at the mercy of Johnny Friendly; the look on his face and solemn tone of voice convey the fact that he, Charley, is a pigeon as well, being told when to fly and when to stay.
The other dramatic aspect that really shows the different moods of this film are the various lighting effects. Edie Doyle has bright blonde hair that seems to catch the light in each scene. Her hair is light while the rest of the characters’ is dark, making her stand out in every shot. It is perfect for her character that she stand out, because it shows the audience even more how out of place she is at the docks, making her struggle to validate Joey’s death seem greater and more of a challenge. Another way that Edie’s light hair is significant to her character is that it makes her seem more innocent like an angel, and not a woman who should spend her time with dock workers and mobsters. The second lighting effect is the lightness and darkness of each shot. In the beginning, it is night-time when Terry yells to Joey on the roof, and the set’s lighting is dark. It creates a mystery so that it is hard to see what is going on. Again at night-time, towards the end of the film, Terry and Edie find Charlie dead in the alleyway. The set is much more lit up because the criminals are about to be exposed, and the energy level is higher.
The third aspect of films has to do with cinematics, namely photography and duration of shots. There is a variety of shot photography throughout On the Waterfront, notably with the camera angles. An example of a high angle shot is when Edie is on the roof with Terry, looking down at him with all of his pigeons. This type of shot is foreshadowing for the future. It portrays Edie as being bigger and greater than Terry, with more sense of self. It also shows that she has power over Terry, which she later uses on him to get him to testify against Johnny Friendly. An example of the opposite shot, a low angle, is the shot from in the hatch, when Father Barry is with Dugan’s dead body, and preaching that he will testify along with Dugan against all the unfairness happening to all of the dock workers. Something is seen flying in the foreground and the camera looks up to find that many men are throwing beer bottles and food into the hatch at Father. From the perspective of being in the hatch, the audience feels helpless, and as if the battle they are about to fight will be difficult and endless, with nobody to turn to for help. These feelings of despair and helplessness are drowned by the next shot, one of Father Barry being raised up. Suddenly, the camera is looking up at him in a high angled shot, and he looks in control and standing strong; ready for the combat ahead. The duration of shots also adds to the feelings being shown in each scene. When Terry and Edie are fighting in the bar, the camera moves quickly, it has already cut to the next person, filming their response before the first person is finished with their sentence, building up feelings of fury. The camera cuts much slower and hardly at all when Terry is in the bar after finding Charley dead, and Father Barry is trying to gently ease him into not shooting Johnny and his mob. Any sudden movements would make the mood suspenseful, where Elia Kazan wants the audience beginning to calm down after the climax of the film.
Both in On the Waterfront and All My Sons, the protagonist is faced with a choice that will potentially benefit or jeopardize their family. The choice that Terry Malloy, of On the Waterfront, faces is whether or not to testify against Johnny Friendly and his mob monopolizing the work pool; a mob that Charley Malloy, Terry’s brother, is a member of. If Terry withholds testimony, everyone will be happy and his brother will live, but the workers will continue to be treated unfairly. If Terry does testify, he will be helping the rightless dock men, but Friendly and his men will kill Charley. Joe Keller faces a similar dilemma when it comes to the decision of issuing faulty cylinder heads to the army, cylinder heads that will likely fail and cause problems for the planes they are to be installed in. If Joe acts as if he does not notice the problem and issues the parts with the hope that the will be fixed, his business will not lose money or halt production. If Joe does speak up, his business and reputation will be shattered to pieces. It is important to Joe that the business succeeds so that he can pass it along to his sons, providing them with a steady source of income in their adult lives. Joe puts his family first and issues the pieces, while Terry does not and testifies against Johnny Friendly, which is what makes these two men different. Although the decision of community versus family presents itself in both situations, family is not always chosen and neither is community.
On the Waterfront is a film that I recommend watching for the message it conveys and the way the actors contribute to the message. The message is seen through the theme of standing up for your rights, as many of the characters did. The characters were able to strongly portray this theme because of the thoughtful and meaningful performances the actors gave, all down to the smallest body movements. The look in the eyes of these actors were so passionate, making the audience feel passionate for the worthy cause of standing up for what is rightfully yours.