Brando was the space between the notes. He almost single-handedly altered the paradigm for acting by making those spaces just as important as the words on the page.
Eva Marie Saint will turn 100 this July 4th. She gave birth 2 days after winning her Oscar in 1955 for this performance. I think Brando looks older because of makeup and he gained weight.
Your video left out the best part! -- when Terry is staggering toward the factory door, hook in hand, barely staying awake and on his feet as the men look on. The acting, directing, editing, and score form an otherworldly combination in this sequence.
This along with A Streetcar Named Desire solidified Brando as the great actor who was influenced Hackman, Duvall, Hoffman and DeNiro et al. Brando’s character development and physical abilities made him a cut above his contemporaries.
I think the romance added another element of pressure on Terry in he’s decision to testify. Also, it seems that Lee J. Cobb’s performance in this film is often overlooked. Possibly because of the focus on Brando, but I think it was the powerful, almost untouchable persona of Friendly that makes Terry’s defiance all the more heroic. Thanks for another delightful insightful review. For another stellar performance by Lee J. Cobb and nearly a dozen equally talented actors, see 12 Angry Men -1957 if you haven’t already.
Earlier in his journalism career, Malcolm Johnson worked for a newspaper in Macon, Ga. and was exposing the criminal activity of the Klan. He definitely got death threats for his labor stories but he lived until 1976. His son, Haynes also won a Pulitzer for his coverage of the Selma civil rights march in the mid 60s. I believe they're still the only father and son to both with Pulitzers.
I always thought Rod Steiger stole the taxi scene by not saying a word..the look in his eyes as he hears what Terry says, like someone hearing something that’s hard to hear because it’s true.
Mia: You don't understand, I coulda been a reactor! One of the best movies ever! I love Karl Malden as an actor. I enjoy watching The Streets of San Francisco. Marlon Brando completely altered acting. Thanks for doing this movie. Would love your reaction to the 1956 George Stevens film Giant with Rock Hudson, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Mercedes McCambridge (The Exorcist).
You nailed the allegory of this movie. Kazan uses this storyline to have you see how he felt and why he felt pressured to testify. High Noon with Gary Cooper is the other side of the coin. Criticizing McCarthyism and showing the fortitude to stand opposed to it.
This was Eva Marie Saint's first movie. Kazan's testimony against his former fellow Communists came after he had a falling-out with them, which however preceded his disillusionment with Communism as practiced in the Soviet Union; that testimony cost him his close friendship with Arthur Miller. Miller's play The Crucible, though set during the Salem witch trials, was obviously an allegory for the pressure to publicly reveal the names of one's Communist associates, and of the need for a principled refusal to do so; On the Waterfront has been widely seen as Kazan's answer to Miller, defending the decision to come forward with information. (How close an analogy either the Salem witch trials or inquiry into mob control of the waterfront is to official investigations of Communist influence is of course debatable.) When Kazan won his lifetime achievement award at the 1998 Oscars, it was very clear that a great many people in the film industry had still not forgiven him, and were making their objections to the award known.
Excellent Reaction. Brando is so iconic as Terry Malloy. This film can be complicated to figure. But also fascinating. This Brando rabbit hole is great. Apocalypse Now 1979 (Redux version highly recommended) is one to consider next. But I very highly suggest grab a Toga and React to Julius Caesar 1953. When you mix Marlon Brando, James Mason, and John Gielgud with Shakespeare, it becomes an absolute must. And to quote Brando's most iconic character, It's an offer you can't refuse.
I think this is one of the most convincing romances in movie history and IMO the chemistry between Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint is OFF THE CHART! I’m pretty much an iceman, so that takes some doing. Furthermore, this film is known for the relationship between Terry and Edie, so I’m dumbfounded by your reaction. Also the romance is absolutely essential to the arc of Brando’s character and leads to some of the movie’s most dramatic scenes (one being when he confesses to Edie about Joey, but the ambient noise from the port drowns him out). Btw Brando did his own makeup to make himself look like a beat up prizefighter and not as pretty as he was in real life.
I sort of felt that way early in the film about the romance. But as the movie progressed, it ends up being very essential to the overall story and plays a big part in the character arc of Terry Malloy. I will probably get stoned for saying this, but the chemistry of Brando and Eva Marie Saint didn't impress me. This is a great movie and that classic scene, "I coulda been a contender. The big scene where Brando says, "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I could have been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it", was so brilliantly done by Brando. His delivery is what sealed it as a famous movie quote. Brando gets to show his emotional range as an actor, and he did it superbly, I loved it.
The role of his that really impressed me was as Mark Antony in “Julius Caesar”. I was not really sure that he could pull off doing Shakespeare, but he was brilliant, as usual.
You are absolutely correct that this movie reflects Elia Kazan's own experience during the anti-Communist hearings. A lot of critics and film historians have argued that this movie is Kazan's response to his critics after he "named names."
Brando had makeup to make him look like a beaten old fighter. Especially around his eyes. Rod Steiger was one of the greatest actors of his generation!
Keep doing what your doing Mia your top tier. I always loved these old movie's but as im 32 years old i cant find many who relate to it. Your the best. Your channel really is my haven❤
2011's The Artist is now available on RU-vid, and this is one film you need to see. It is a black and white almost totally silent film that tells a fictional story about the advent of sound coming to the silent film industry and it's effect on two actors. It would receive Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin.
It's not just other birds that are in danger from predator birds. Birds like that are why you keep your house cats in the house. One of the saddest things I've seen was a neighbor's beautiful orange cat gutted in front of my house, they were always bad about letting their cats loose, even kittens. It was probably partially eaten then dropped from a tree. Hawks and owls of sufficient size will even snatch puppies, small dogs. I saw a giant owl try to snatch my mom's poodle right in front of us, in the desert. One eagle (another predator bird) has been caught on film carrying a fully-grown adult deer. Cats born outside are at risk, but are probably more careful about the danger signs. A cat which spends most of its time indoors doesn't know, and is easy prey. I'm always warning people about that.
A film similar to On The Waterfront is the 1957 Edge of The City starring Sidney Poitier and John Cassavetes. It's a gritty film-noir story of the West Side Manhattan waterfront. You'll love it.
This film is easily one of the greatest films of all time. the film overall has everything that is needed to be a great film which is timeless. and Marlon Brando gives one of his best performances ever, but I also have to give credit to the other actors in here including Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger. And btw how about that quote everybody knows and still quote till this day "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". what a quote ladies and gentlemen, and you can't but help feel for the main character because there is so much emotion in this and great acting as well. and one last thing I have this film listed number four all time which am glad to have it there on the list.
13:48. I could be wrong, but I read a long time ago that she dropped her glove on accident and Brando went with it. She went with it and continued with the scene.
Waterfront is in the top echelon of films. Kazan was called the best American writer/ director of his generation for good reason, as a writer he was in the big leagues.There's a level of psychology to these characters that's more sophisticated than you get in standard Hollywood dramas. I think Kazan's only equal was Joseph Mankiewicz, (All About Eve, A Letter to Three Wives)
If you like Brando you should watch "The young Lions", it is a movie about WWll, Brando plays a german soldier, Montgomery Clift is in it as is Dean Martin. Dean Martin is quite good as a dramatic actor.
Dear Mia, [probably] since you take suggestions for things to watch, I have some, some of which you may have never heard of: Abel Gance's Napoleon, one-Eyed Jacks, Andrei Bolkonsky's War and Peace, The Roaring Twenties, One, Two, Three, Sherlock Jr., Steamboat Bill Jr., Little Annie Ronney, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Hold That Ghost!, The Bank Dick, Safety Last!, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, The Kid, A Countess From Hong Kong, The Kid Brother, The Freshman, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, Battleship Potemkin, Alexander the Great, A Hrad Day's Night, The Princess Bride, Police Story parts 1 and 2, Drunken Master, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Rat Race, Around The World In 80 Days [David Niven], A Matter Of Life And Death, The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, Sanjuro, Monkey Business [Howard Hawks and Marx bros.' versions], An American In Paris, Yasujiro Ozu's Good Mourning and a host of others
Eva Marie Saint accidently dropped her glove but Brando kept the scene moving using the glove as a prop. Until Brando came along, very few actors were "method" actors except for the great Paul Muni. This was one of the first movies that starred an actor who actually became the role. Brando revolutionized acting in Hollywood and changed motion pictures forever.
You MUST watch "Guys and Dolls", since you are on a Marlon Brando kick. That's Brando at his most charming, he even sings. Yes, pigeons mate for life. Swans do as well. Also, my husband was an extra on a movie with Karl Malden. He says Karl was a very friendly and approachable man who ate lunch with the extras and the rest of the crew. They had several long conversations about this and that.
Another a great performance by Rod Steiger, he was a great actor. Dr. Zhivago and In the heat of the night, he was great in both. Especially "In the heat of the night, with Sidney Poitier, the acting of those 2 heavy weigth is off the wall.
Brando's performance is considered one of the greatest of all time. It may not seem that way to modern eyes but at the time his acting style in this film was considered groundbreaking. He and James Dean (in "East of Eden," also directed by Kazan, a year later) brought a whole new realistic edge to their acting. Some considered their "method" to be self-indulgent but most were blown away by their fresh, more authentic approach. Meanwhile, in contrast, veteran actors Steiger, Malden, and Cobb chewed the scenery in more traditional, dramatic ways. All three were Oscar-nominated in support. (BTW, be sure to check out Rod Steiger, and his somewhat more subtle iconic performance, in the tense, socially-conscious, multi-Oscar-winning drama "In the Heat of the Night" from 1967).
Don't know if this was either a coincidence or intentional but this was posted on Brando and Malden's death anniversary whom both passed on July 1st, five years separately between 2004 to 2009. 20 years since Brando's death and 15 years since Malden's death. Rod Steiger was in another one you should view, The Pawnbroker by Sidney Lumet which came out ten years after. It is severely overlooked which also has depth due to the character's background.
Hi Mia! I have a suggestion for the next reaction, Another Academy Award winning movie, John Ford's "HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY" (1941) the movie that beat "CITIZEN KANE".
"I coulda been a contender!" became an iconic tag line for the next four decades. Your "I wanted them to kick some ass" desire surprised me. I wonder if that reaction reflects a changed attitude in present generations and whether these days the supposed catharsis of revenge trumps justice. Elia Kazan directed many excellent films during his career including East of Eden (1955), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), America America (1963), Pinky (1949), Baby Doll (1956), and A Face in the Crowd (1957). Marlon Brando and Karl Malden teamed up again a few years later in One-Eyed Jacks (1961). And Eva Marie Saint does such a great job in this film that she's hardly recognizable as the same woman in North by Northwest (1959).
Growing up on movies like Batman, Superman, and the Marvel movies, I personally like to see the bad guys have it… sometimes a good butt whooping is just the thing to set things right 😂
Elia Kazan was a great director that doesn't get the fame he deserved. Two other great films he made were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Panic in the Streets.
@@randywhite3947 Most of my family are pretty major film fans, and I doubt any of them have ever heard of him. He may be well-known among filmmakers and historians but I doubt many of the general public would recognise his name.
He wasn’t paying them. It was their ticket (for lack of a better word) for them to work that day. It all depended on the amount of men needed to unload those ships.
Sinatra was born and raised in Hoboken so it must have really stung when he lost the part to Brando (but let's be real, Brando's the far better actor). He obviously got over it though since he co-starred with Brando in GUYS AND DOLLS the next year.
Marlon Brando is awesome in the movie 🎥 with Eva Marie Saint That was her first film 🎥 with Brando. They were excellent marvelous as Karl Reiner playing priest. That character that Marlon played was very tough, masculine and caring to her that he falls in love with her. That story is about working at the Dock working around shipyards And I love ❤️ that movie. 🎥
I have to correct you on a commonly repeated historical fallacy. There were public hearings about communists in Hollywood, but they were not HUAC, and actually were taking place before HUAC was formed. Roy Brewer, a union representative concerned about communist ideology displacing union member concerns, organized the Hollywood hearings which were paid for by the studios. The hearings did some good - for example they revealed union votes being rigged by communists, most famously the Disney artist's union. No one was ever blacklisted by these hearings. The blacklist claim is completely unsupported. HUAC was about communists in the US Federal Government, mainly the State Department, and the Armed Services. Had nothing to do with Hollywood. Yes, they even made a movie about HUAC Hollywood hearings, but it's pure fiction.
Unlike the Hollywood hearings HUAC never discovered a single communist, and we know they were there. We learned from post- Soviet declassified KGB documents that nuclear secrets had been funneled to the Soviets through the US State Department as soon as the Manhattan Project started. The Rosenbergs were framed.
Fiction eh? Correction eh? Fallacy eh? HUAC was formed in 1938 from the ashes of earlier anti-communist congressional committees dating back to the 1920's. HUAC was used to suss out Nazis during WWII and was almost used to take on the KKK before reverting to form. "In 1947, the committee held nine days of hearings into alleged communist propaganda and influence in the Hollywood motion picture industry. After conviction on contempt of Congress charges for refusal to answer some questions posed by committee members, "The Hollywood Ten" were blacklisted by the industry." Kazan's involvement took place four years later in 1951. And the communists in the Disney artists union was a ruse Walt spun up himself in 1941. "According to historians Larry Ceplair and Steven Englund, 'In actuality, the strike had resulted from Disney's overbearing paternalism, high-handedness, and insensitivity.'"
Kazan definitely was making a statement with this film justifying his naming names to HUAC. Cohn wanted the antagonists to be communists because the movie industry had a lot of union members working for them. The unions could have caused a lot of trouble for Columbia Pictures if he pissed them off. Communists in the U.S. were pretty much powerless, so he didn't care about upsetting them. I agree that the sort-of love story felt forced, but it did serve a purpose in the story. It's one of the things that helped wake up Terry's conscience. The movie that I think has a completely superfluous love story is The Caine Mutiny. In that case, you can almost hear the studio executives saying, "There's gotta be a love interest or women won't see this picture!"
I never thought ever that the relationship between Terry and Edie was a romance but more of a veiled tug of war that exemplifies innate difficulties with any relationships when "the mob" attempts to control everything and everyone. For example, that kiss they share is desparate for understanding rather than a convenient story romance moment.
I always think of Joe McCarthy and the House committee as being thugs and the people who would NOT testify as heroes. So I never saw Terry at the end as representing Kazan. For me, Kazan is represented in Terry throwing the fight and in his luring the guy to the roof, the Terry that sought to appease the Mob. I'm sure Kazan would disagree. LOL.
I lived in NYC for 4 years. They actually have those descriptive names. Like in "Carlito's Way" Benny Blanco from Da Bronx. You're right, Mia. The romance is unnecessary. It reminds me of "Pearl Harbor" (2001). A love triangle interrupted by the Japanese December 7th 1941attack.
the guy didn't throw money - those were work chits, you had to have one to get a days work and the mob controlled who did and didn't get a chit each day.
My favorite Brando...young reactors keep doing 12 Angry Men, a good movie but not in the same league as this IMO. I wish more reactors would do Kazan films, especially this, A Face in the Crowd and Splendor in the Grass.
Tsk tsk… why comment this?? What did was the goal here? I am still going to do what I do, how I do, so I am not sure what the point of the comment was 🤔🤔
@@MoviesWithMia I am sorry am supposed to love everything you do ? I didn't get the memo you were beyond criticism. I thought it was a free country and I can give my opinions freely. How you are going to attack your viewers for stating their opinions. It's just my opinion I felt annoyed by your story so I was compelled to write my comment. Whether you take in consideration or disregard it that's up to you. I didn't write it for you to do anything with it. I did it because I felt it was not even meant to be mean. Don't take it personally.
Please feel free to give opinions freely, but know that I don’t have to agree with them. Not sure how I “attacked my viewers” here as I simply posed a question… what point was this comment meant to serve? Clearly there was a motive for commenting it, and I would assume it was posted with the intention of others, including me, seeing it. If it was a legitimate criticism, I would have posed it more like this “you know, I would really prefer if you left the story times for after the reaction because it breaks up the flow of the story”. That would have been a better way to phrase that. All is forgiven… no hate here, just be more mindful in how a comment that’s posted might affect others, or if there is an inclination to intentionally post frustrated comments (and this might be a bit controversial, so bare with me) just keep those thoughts aside. No harm in disliking parts of my content, but some opinions are better kept offline 🤷🏽♀️.
@@MoviesWithMia personally I don't agree for me it's a transfer of energy. If it was malicious I wouldn't have posted it. Even if you don't want to see it. I follow, read and watch movie reviews some reviews not a minority came from the same place. My criticism came from I am allowed to lament my frustration as a viewer because it's a part of my criticism. I don't expect to be agreed with to be honest but I don't want to distripute the peace in your community if that's what you are trying to protect. If that is the case I take in heavy consideration and respect it only for that reason.
@@MoviesWithMia O-mega!! 😏 There's that brain again! 👍😏👌 Also, wise to educate yourself on cinema history WHILE doing a reaction channel in tandem. 👍🤙 Lesser minds blindly follow the 1975ish+ channel model. Yawn. 🙄 Excellent work. 💯💃🎉🌎🎥
Yes, Prohibition empowered organized crime and like a good business they diversified their money making ventures, but they never changed their methods. I always have to wonder when I hear about a corporation doing something shady if that corporation was owned by organized crime.
Your reaction edit of this masterpiece, one of the greatest films of the 1950s, is too short and choppy. It’s also weird that you omitted mention of the Oscars to Kazan and Schulberg, as well as to Eva Marie Saint for Best Supporting Actress in her debut film. Malden, Cobb, and Steiger were all nominated for their supporting roles. As others have already detailed, the romance provided crucial motivation and heightened the dramatic conflict, as it usually does.
From Europe, this American idea of associating unionism with mafias has always seemed strange and absurd. I am no expert but I believe that the American system of unions for specific activities is more conducive to corruption (existing in all countries). The lack, correct me if this is not the case, large unions covering all kinds of activities and unions seems to be something typical of American society, but I believe that workers would be in a better situation with this modality, of course without it it is easier to avoid a strike general...
He said himself that he was, so who are you arguing with? Lots of Americans were attracted to Communism in the first half of the 20th century, including Paul Robeson and Theodore Dreiser. They didn't believe equality for working-class people was possible under capitalism, and who can blame them?
The movie's not about "kicking ass", though. It's an inner drama about finding the strength to do the right thing, even at great risk to your own well-being, and his love for Eva Marie Saint helps him attain that strength. Of course, Kazan was comparing standing up to a criminal gang to snitching on people who were (briefly) curious about different political philosophies 20 years earlier, after capitalism collapsed. This laughable excuse for his own behavior in front of HUAC takes the blush off the rose of this movie, and is why I've never liked it all that much. Snitching on people's constitutionally-protected political beliefs is not the same thing as letting Johnny Friendly do whatever he wants.
