Elia Kazan's seminal American classic.
Comment
11/01/07
On the Waterfront (1954)
100 %
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
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 witness stand, where he finds himself testifying against union leaders. The film was Kazan's... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb
Reviews
Top Critic Top Critic
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 Critic
Brando won the Oscar he did accept (he refused his award for The Godfather), and Cobb makes for a great villain.
04/11/01
Top Critic
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 Critic
It'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
Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished.
12/23/04
Top Critic
So 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
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