2024 marks the 70th anniversary of the classic film, On The Waterfront, which Elia Kazan directed,  Budd Schulberg wrote, and starred Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, and Lee J. Cobb.

The film takes place in Hoboken, New Jersey, and follows an ex-prize fighter Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), who works for a corrupt mob boss named Johnny Friendly, who runs the labour union on the waterfront. The film begins with Terry luring Joey Doyle, a fellow worker, onto the roof of his tenement building. Joey is going to testify to the Waterfront Crime Commission about Johnny’s corruption. Friendly convinces Terry that they just want to talk to him, but the truth is they want to kill him, which they do, by throwing him off the roof.

Terry feels guilty that he was involved, and when he later meets Joey’s sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint), and Father Berry (Karl Malden), they try to convince him to tell the crime commission about what happened.

The film explores morals and standing up for what’s right instead of staying silent out of fear. Terry is cynical, and believes that people need to just look out for themselves,butEdie and Father Berry teach him that life is also about caring for others and about acting towards greater good.

After 70 years, the film is still fresh, relevant, powerful and emotional. It is considered one of Marlon Brando’s best performances, and the “I coulda been a contender” scene between him, and Rod Steiger (who plays his brother Charlie) in the back of the taxi cab is largely thought to be one of the best acted scenes in the history of film.

What is less discussed are the powerful performances from the rest of the cast. Eva Marie Saint gives a performance of great depth and vulnerability. Karl Malden brings so much passion to the role of Father Berry, who risks his life to help the dock workers who are being exploited. Rod Steiger, and Lee J. Cobb are also fantastic. They have an incredible scene where Friendly tells Charlie that if Terry is going to talk to the crime commission about Joey’s death, then Charlie has to kill him. Steiger passionately tries to talk Friendly out of killing his brother, and Cobb doesn’t budge on his orders.

Another notable performance that I don’t read or see as part of the discussions about this film is from John F. Hamilton, who played ‘Pop’ Doyle,Edie’s father. He’s been a dock worker for many years, and has been pushed around his whole life by Johnny Friendly. You can see in his eyes how hard his life has been, and in the way he carries himself. His anger is one of someone who is sick to death of his daily struggles.

The director Elia Kazan mixed non-professional and professional actors to make the film more authentic and shot it on location in Hoboken, New Jersey. He also shot the film during cold weather which adds a real despair and desperation to the look and feel of the characters.

In April 1952, Elia Kazan testified as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming several people he knew from the Communist Party, which he was a member of in the 1930s. Budd Schulberg previously testified in 1951.

Since the film was released in 1954, many people have debated whether or not Kazan and Schulberg made On The Waterfront to justify their own testimony to HUAC. Terry Malloy does something similar in the film that Kazan and Schulberg did, but of course, he did it for the right reasons.

Budd Schulberg denied any connection, but Kazan wrote this in 1988, “When Brando, at the end, yells at Lee J. Cobb, the mob boss, “I’m glad what I done-you hear me?-glad what I done!” That was me saying with identical heat, that I was glad I’d testified as I’d had”.

Whatever their reasons were for making the film, On The Waterfront is a masterpiece. In a time where so many people in America and Canada are living pay cheque to pay cheque, On The Waterfront is a reminder that when people come together, they can make a difference by standing up to greed and corruption.

You can watch On The Waterfront on The Criterion Channel.