Analysis of On the Waterfront Essay -- Eliza Kazan, Budd Schulberg

On the Waterfront is a classic, award-winning and controversial film. It received eight academy-awards in 1954, including best-picture and director. The director, Eliza Kazan, in collaboration with Budd Schulberg wrote the film’s screenplay. Based on actual dockside events in Hoboken, New Jersey, On the Waterfront is a story of a dock worker who tried to overthrow a corrupt union. Marlon Brando superbly portrays the character of Terry Malloy. He is a young ex-prize fighter, now a dock worker given easy jobs because his brother is the right-hand man of the corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly. After Terry unwittingly allows himself to be used in setting up a man’s death, he starts to question the basic assumptions if his life. This includes his loyalty to his brother and Johnny, who after all ordered him to take a dive in his big fight at Madison Square Garden. The film’s controversy exists in the fact that Terry decides to testify against Johnny Friendly. His testimony attempts to show how it is fundamentally right to break group silence in a tough situation, even if a person appears to â€Å"rat† on his friends. To be at peace with oneself, Kazan seems to say, one must tell the truth, despite the fact that one will face ostracism, and, as in the film, probably be murdered. Kazan makes the hardships of testifying painfully clear. Thus, Brando’s character is a hero. However, a dark agenda exists behind the film’s plot. On the Waterfront was made in 1954, two years after Kazan willingly testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1952, Kazan named the names of eight friends and colleges allegedly affiliated with the communist party. Kazan was an active member of the communist party in the 1930s, until he went through a violent break with the party prior to the hearings. He said that communism could override a person’s intellect and beliefs. He also stated that Hollywood and Broadway heavily financed the party. Recounting his decision to testify, Kazan said, â€Å"Communists were in a lot of organizations--unseen, unrecognized, unbeknownst to anybody. I thought if I don’t talk, nobody will know about it.† On the Waterfront is Kazan’s justification for his decision to testify. In the film, when a union boss shouts, â€Å"You ratted on us Terry,† Brando shouts back: â€Å"Maybe from where your standing, but I’m standing over here no... ...â€Å"You’re a cheap, lousy, dirty stinkin’ mug. And I’m glad what I’ve done to you,† disturbed some people. Critics interpreted this to mean that Kazan was not sorry for his severely damaging testimony. It appeared that he had no remorse for his actions. For other viewers, the buried agenda of On the Waterfront tarnishes the picture. The critic John Rosenbaum told Roger Ebert that he could â€Å"Never forgive Kazan for using the film to justify himself.† In later years, Kazan did eventually have remorse for the people whose lives he ruined and the blemish his testimony left on the whole film industry. In his 1988 autobiography he says, â€Å"I have some regrets about the human cost of it. One guy I told on I really like a lot.† Twenty years later, unlike On the Waterfront’s victorious ending, in Kazan’s picture The Visitor, a man also testifies against former friends; however, that movie ends on a note of despair. Perhaps the words of a legendary character he helped to create, haunted Kazan. As Terry Malloy said, â€Å"Conscience. That stuff can drive you nuts.† Bibliography: References 1. Dirks, Tim. On the Waterfront: Greatest Films. 2. Cannon, Damian. On the Waterfront.