Movie Discussion: On The Waterfront (1954) by Elia Kazan
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With his unparalleled sensitivity to actors, Elia Kazan, America’s leading theater director at the time, brought a new level of realism to American film in this study of working-class life. A raggedly emotional tale of individual failure and social corruption, Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy. The film follows his deepening moral crisis as he must decide whether to remain loyal to the mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly and Johnny’s right-hand man, Terry’s brother Charley, as the authorities close in on them. Driven by the vivid, naturalistic direction of Kazan and savory, streetwise dialogue by Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront was an instant sensation, winning eight Oscars, including for best picture, director, actor, supporting actress, and screenplay.
"Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished. Even more today than half a century ago, it demands to be seen." (Los Angeles Times)
"A masterpiece of urban poetry." (Criterion)
"Everything that we know about the power of great screen acting relates back to [Brando]: when you watch his work in On the Waterfront, you're watching the purest poetry imaginable, in dynamic motion." (Martin Scorcese)
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Join the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss the American classic On the Waterfront (1954) directed by the great theater director Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando in a famed groundbreaking performance. The film was recently voted the 290th greatest movie of all time in Sight & Sound's international survey of filmmakers and ranked the 204th greatest movie of all time according to a meta-analysis by TheyShootPictures.
Please watch the movie in advance (108 minutes) and bring your thoughts, reactions, and queries to share with us at the meeting. You can stream it with a viewing link to be posted on the main event listing here.
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We'll be joined by many other participants from the Toronto Philosophy Meetup at this meeting — https://www.meetup.com/the-toronto-philosophy-meetup/events/314468755/
Check out other movie discussions in the group, currently happening about 2 or 3 times a month.
This link here is a spreadsheet of the 150+ movies we've watched in this group and my ratings for each. You're invited to share your ratings too if you've watched a bunch of these movies with us. (I can add your list here if you send me a link. You can make your own list on sites like Letterboxd or by copying my spreadsheet and filling in your own values. Note that my list doesn't include every movie that Yorgo hosted on cause I didn't watch all of them.)