Elia Kazan's seminal American classic.
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11/01/07
On the Waterfront (1954)
100
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Reviews Counted:47
Fresh:47
Rotten:0
Average Rating:9/10
Consensus: Considered one of the best American films of all time, Elia Kazan's powerfully sympathetic portrait of working-class Americans boasts a paradigm-shifting performance from Marlon Brando, as well as effectively realistic cinematography and riveting, timeless themes. Hard-hitting, compassionate, and without any significant flaws, On the Waterfront is required viewing.
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Marlon Brando is Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter struggling against union corruption along the New York waterfront, in Elia Kazan's film classic. Malloy's battle takes him all the way to the... [More]
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint
Director: Elia Kazan
Reviews for On the Waterfront
Top CriticIt's pretty electrifying.
01/26/06
Top CriticMuscular, powerful human drama.
06/05/04
Retains the freshness of an original -- exploring the difficulties and corruptions of working stiffs with a realism, sensitivity and intelligence that has seldom been matched since.
05/23/01
Top CriticBrando won the Oscar he did accept (he refused his award for The Godfather), and Cobb makes for a great villain.
04/11/01
Top CriticOn the Waterfront has a script that is a work of love and shows it.
02/18/09
Top CriticNo review available.
05/09/08
No review available.
02/29/08
Under Elia Kazan's direction, Marlon Brando puts on a spectacular show, giving a fascinating, multi-faceted performance as the uneducated dock walloper and former pug, who is basically a softie with a special affection for his rooftop covey of pigeons.
01/30/08
Top CriticIt's hard to deny that Marlon Brando's performance as a dock worker and ex-fighter who finally decides to rat on his gangster brother (Rod Steiger) is pretty terrific.
12/12/06
Marlon Brando is outstanding as a former boxing champ torn between family and duty in the magnificent On the Waterfront
11/08/06
The film is shot on location in black-and-white, semi-docu style, which suits the realistic subject and commonplace characters, particularly Brando's Terry Malloy, the passive dock worker forced to become a crusader-fighter against the union's tyranny
07/15/06
Do the politics make it bad? Not at all. It's a fictional story, not a soapbox.
06/27/05
The difference between pre- and post-1950s cinema - before and after Brando - is as pronounced as moving from black and white to color.
03/11/05
You miss this, you're buyin' a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
03/03/05
No review available.
02/07/05
No review available.
01/31/05
Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished.
12/23/04
Top CriticSo when does it hit you that you're in the presence of movie greatness?
12/17/04
Brando made one of his most indelible impressions in this relentlessly dramatic, ever-controversial tale of loyalty and betrayal in the world of working-class unions, first released in 1954.
11/04/04
Latest News for On the Waterfront
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
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