On the Waterfront

Ah, let me dive into Elia Kazan’s gritty masterpiece about corruption, conscience, and questionable career choices in the longshoremen industry!

The story follows Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), an ex-boxer turned dockworker who spends his days doing the bidding of union boss Johnny Friendly – when he’s not tending to his rooftop pigeon coop, that is. (Nothing says “sensitive tough guy” quite like racing pigeons.) Terry’s brother Charley works as Friendly’s lawyer, making corruption a real family business.

The trouble starts when Terry unknowingly helps set up the murder of Joey Doyle, a dockworker who was planning to testify against Friendly’s corrupt union. Terry thought they were just going to “talk” to Joey, but instead, Joey takes an unscheduled flying lesson off a roof. Oops.

Enter Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint), Joey’s sister, who’s determined to find out who killed her brother. She’s also apparently the only person in this waterfront neighborhood who owns clothes that aren’t covered in grime. Terry starts falling for her, which really complicates his whole “pretend-nothing-happened” strategy. Meanwhile, the persistent Father Barry (Karl Malden) keeps popping up like a clerical whack-a-mole, giving waterfront sermons about standing up to corruption and making Terry feel guilty.

As Terry gets closer to Edie and more conflicted about his role in Joey’s death, Friendly starts getting nervous. More dock workers end up dead, including Kayo Dugan, who’s crushed by a “mysteriously” dropped load of whiskey cases. (OSHA would have had a field day with these working conditions.)

The turning point comes when Friendly orders Charley to make sure Terry doesn’t testify to the Crime Commission. In the famous taxi scene, Charley pulls a gun on his own brother, leading to Terry’s heartbreaking “I coulda been a contender” speech about how Charley ruined his boxing career by making him throw fights. Instead of killing Terry, Charley lets him go – and ends up dead himself, hung from a hook in an alley. (Friendly isn’t big on subtlety.)

This finally pushes Terry over the edge. He testifies against Friendly, which makes him about as popular on the docks as a punctured life vest. In the final showdown, Terry gets beaten to a pulp by Friendly and his goons, but refuses to stay down. He staggers to his feet and leads the other workers into the warehouse, breaking Friendly’s control over the dock.

The movie ends with Terry bloody but unbowed, having finally stood up for what’s right – though you have to wonder if maybe he should have considered a career change to something less dangerous, like professional alligator wrestling.

The whole thing serves as a powerful reminder that sometimes doing the right thing means getting punched in the face repeatedly, and that keeping pigeons is apparently the universal signal for “complicated character with a hidden soft side.”

5 punch drunk stars. I loved this movie – it’s got everything – romance! mobsters! Brando chewing the scenery! Brando quietly brooding! The famous ‘I could have been a contender!’ speech – just oozing 50’s cool guy vibes. The plot was a bit thin as a morality tale but it was overall well acted and engaging and worth the watch.