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Movie Critique of "On the Waterfront"

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On the Waterfront I. Background/ History: On the Waterfront is a classic, award-winning, controversial film directed by Elia Kazan. This movie is part drama and part gangster film. The film is full of the problems of trade unions, corruption, and racketeering. It is set on New York's waterfront docks, where the workers try to keep their low wage jobs, while being bossed around by the mob. To make matters worse, the mob is in charge of the labor unions. The movie has a very realistic feel, due to where they shot the film. It was shot in Hoboken, New Jersey, at the actual loading docks. They filmed inside the ships, in the bars, and on the rooftops of actual buildings. Abe Simon as Barney, Tony Galento as Truck, and Tami Mauriello …show more content…

Brando is in this struggle for most of the movie. “Over the years, many critics have praised On the Waterfront for having what has been called a nearly perfect screenplay. Written by Budd Schulberg (based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles by Malcolm Johnson that originally appeared in The New York Sun), the script has the unmistakable ring of truth (despite the altered, upbeat ending). For the most part, it neither proselytizes nor preaches, and deals with its central subject with a candor that many movies of the era lacked.” (Beradinelli, reelviews.com). He also says that Kazan was trying to show how the unions were run during that time period. Beradinelli states that America was built on the back of the working class, and that unions greatly affected the working conditions of those workers. It was the changing of an era, one that was run by the workers instead of the owners of the business. This movie shows how much power the workers held and how they should stand up for their rights if those rights were being mistreated. “I suspect that, had On the Waterfront been made two decades later, the ending would have been darker and more cynical than the one we are presented with. (Indeed, the real-life situation upon which Schulberg based the screenplay did not end in such an upbeat fashion.) Here, right prevails over wrong as the bloody-yet-unbowed Terry struggles to his feet and completes the quest for

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