FILM: On The Waterfront

DIRECTOR: Elia Kazan

YEAR: 1954

WATCHED ON: BBC iPlayer

DATE WATCHED: 11-April-2024

FIRST VIEWING: Yes

SPOILERS AHEAD: No

Much like the first time I sat down to watch The Godfather, I mentally said to myself ‘Ok, go on, impress me.’ Please don’t think I’m obnoxious towards films. I’ll watch anything. Its just sometimes I’ll watch a film that I’ve never seen before, but know of it, and know quotes from it, and my expectation is that when I do watch it, it’s not going to possibly be as good as the hype has brought it up to be. On The Waterfront was one of those films too. I was engrossed with this film. It isn’t the most exciting of plots (the struggles of being working class on a shipyard with the control of ‘business men’ - gangsters- and trying to better oneself) but Marlon Brandon shines in it.

Some people don’t like black and white films simply because they’re black and white, which I find to be an absurd reason for not watching a film, but each to their own. This film is in black and white, and it doesn’t need to be in colour, to be honest. The black and white gives is a harsher, earthier (if thats the word to use?) tone.

This may be interpreted as me being nasty, and maybe it is, but I think some of the films strength comes from how ordinary the cast look. Its set in an area populated by ordinary working people, and its been cast with ordinary looking people. Granted, yes, there is one beauty in the picture - Eva Marie Saint - but in my defence, her character is meant to be a stand out beauty among the others there.

When I do these tiny little write ups (hardly reviews, just my brief thoughts on a film) I try to avoid giving too much of the plot away, so I can only advise a person to seek this film out and watch it. It’s a harsh, black and white, grounded in reality, classic film that deserves to be seen. It only took me 30 years to getting round to it.