On The Waterfront, 1954, as Terry Malloy
Cast: Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb
Director: Elia Kazan
Rating
Factoid
– One of the greatest movies ever made and undeniably one of the greatest performance ever – my favorite! Brando plays Terry Malloy, the slow-witted ex-boxer who rises to heroism in On The Waterfront.
– The film was inspired by “Crime on the Waterfront”, a series of articles in the New York Sun that won Johnson, Malcolm the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Reporting.
– Arthur Miller (I) was approached by Elia Kazan to write the screenplay, but he turned it down because he felt that Kazan might have named him as a Communist during his secret appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
– At the hearing, Slim gives his name as “Malden Skulovich”, which is co-star Karl Malden’s real name.
– Film debut of Eva Marie Saint – a debut performance that won her the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.
– The only film that wasn’t a musical for which Leonard Bernstein wrote the incidental music.
– Based on a series of Pulitzer Prize winning articles, traces Malloy’s struggle against the insidious corruption of the New York dockworker’s union, for which he has been used as an innocent pawn in a murder.
– Elia Kazan agreed to direct the picture fo Columbia and immediately suggested Brando for the Malloy role. There was some discussion at the time about Frank Sinatra being cast but, although Sinatra begged Columbia head Harry Cohn for the part, Brando was chosen. Sinatra never forgave Brando for the winning the role and his resentment towards Brando resurfaced 2 years later when Guys and Dolls went into production
– Brando’s Terry Malloy is recognized as one of the greatest American screen charecterizations.
– Waterfront’s most famous scene takes place in the backseat of a taxi (see the picture below). Terry is being warned by his unloyal brother Charlie to stop his crusade against the union boss. Terry bitterly reminds Charlie that even when they were in the fight game togetherhe worked against Terry’s interest by forcing Terry to purposely lose fights to win quick small time bets. Charlie responds that they made good money. “Oh Charlie,” Terry tells him. “You don’t understand. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum – which is what I am.” Even after years of abuse at the hands of Brando impersonators, this scene is hearbreaking to watch.
– Eva Marie Saint (heroine) said about Brando – “…Actors start acting. But Marlon never did. He was Terry Malloy”.
– When Academy Award nominations were announced in February 1955, the film received eleven nominations in ten categories. Brando received his fourth straight Oscar nomination .
– Apart from winning the Oscar for “Best Actor“, for his role as Terry Malloy, Brando also won the “Best Foreign Actor” British Academy Award and the “Best Actor” New-York Film Critics Circle Award.
Quotes from the movie
Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando): You know, I seen you a lot of times before. Remember parochial school out on Paluski Street? Seven, eight years ago. Your hair, you had your hair uh…
Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint): Braids.
Terry Malloy: Looked like a hunk of rope. And you had wires on your teeth and glasses and everything. You was really a mess.
Father Barry (Karl Malden): Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary.
Father Barry: You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. It’s making love of a buck—the cushy job—more important than the love of man!
Edie: Shouldn’t everybody care about everybody else?
Terry Malloy: Boy, what a fruitcake you are!
Edie: Which side are you with?
Terry Malloy: Me? I’m with me, Terry.
Edie Doyle: But Pop, I’ve seen things that I know are so wrong. Now how can I go back to school and keep my mind on… on things that are just in books, that-that-that aren’t people living?
Terry Malloy: If I spill, my life ain’t worth a nickel.
Father Barry: And how much is your soul worth if you don’t?
Father Barry: Isn’t it simple as one, two, three? One. The working conditions are bad. Two. They’re bad because the mob does the hiring. And three. The only way we can break the mob is to stop letting them get away with murder.
Big Mac (James Westerfield): The only arithmetic he ever got was hearing the referee count up to ten.
Terry Malloy: Hey, you wanna hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you.
Charley Malloy (Rod Steiger): Look, kid, I — how much you weigh, Slick? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry Malloy: It wasn’t him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, “Kid, this ain’t your night. We’re going for the price on Wilson.” You remember that? “This ain’t your night”! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charley Malloy: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.
Terry Malloy: You don’t understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it. It was you, Charley.
Terry Malloy: You think you’re God Almighty, but you know what you are? You’re a cheap, lousy, dirty, stinkin’ mug! And I’m glad what I done to you, ya hear that? I’m glad what I done!
Fan Review
[Thanks to LeighAnn Myhre aka “the Lamb” for this wonderful review!]
“I think there are places in Brando’s psyche where there has been a depth, and nature of feelings he had not even realized existed, until he opened his own Pandora’s box to serve in the characters he portrayed. I think his talent (and his great humanitarianism) lie in his empathy, sensitivity, and courage, which I think his pained upbringing contributed to, and, of course, his high creativity and intelligence.
I believe Marlon was already an exceptionally sensitive and caring person, but that the pain he was raised with has also enhanced this. It may have given him a greater appreciation of people, but also a distrust of them. Karl Malden said of his early days, that he was a “terribly shy, sensitive boy”, Eva Marie Saint said “He goes around like an open wound”, and Stella Adler said he “may be the most empathetical person I’ve ever met”, and that “acting may be his undoing”.
In his early thirties, Marlon said “The more sensitive you are, the more likely you are to be brutalised, develop scabs and never evolve. Never allow yourself to feel anything because you always feel too much”. I think he has gone through many periods of “feeling too much”. He writes and talks about roles that were very painful and draining for him…to the point where he doesn’t want to discuss, or even be reminded of them.
This is why Marlon Brando is, without hesitation, my favorite actor (I can think of no one else greater), and why my favorite film, “On the Waterfront” is so powerful. Marlon may have done a lot of research into people he thought similar to Terry Malloy, but ultimately he went into himself to call upon the wide realm of emotions that Terry went through during the course of this great story, and, with Elia Kazan’s help, how he became Terry so convincingly in speech, action, gesture, and posture.
Terry Malloy is an incredible study in humanity. Were it a work of Shakespeare it could not have moved me any more deeply…and every time I see it, I see and feel more.”
…thanks again LeighAnn for such a nice review!!
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