On the Waterfront
1954
Dockworker Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) had been an up-and-coming boxer until powerful local mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) persuaded him to throw a fight. When a longshoreman is murdered before he can testify about Friendly's control of the Hoboken waterfront, Terry teams up with the dead man's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and the streetwise priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) to testify himself, against the advice of Friendly's lawyer, Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger).
Nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won eight Academy Awards: Best Actor – Marlon Brando; Best Director - Elia Kazan; and Best Picture. Three actors were nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The only movie the famous conductor, Leonard Bernstein, wrote the music.
Ranked #8 on initial AFI Top 100 Films in 1997
In 1989, On the Waterfront was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
“One of the most decidedly Christian films…”
· Right and Wrong
· What is the Truth?
· The church’s role
· Karl Maldin’s famous speech about the church and the crucifixion (around the 52 minute mark in the movie)
· Symbolism of the pigeons
· Johnny’s philosophy of life
· The brother’s conversation in the back of the car- “I could’ve been a contender.”
· Look for Christian symbolisms in the movie:
➢ Brando’s character as a Christ figure
➢ Fences
➢ TV antennas
➢ Moral change - led by the early Christians
➢ Crucifixion symbolisms
➢ Angel Gabriel’s instrument announcing judgment
➢ Jackets passed along as martyr relics (Stephen)
➢ Bleeding hand
➢ Placement of the balls on the pool table. What could the image of the pool balls’ formation represent from a Christian faith?
➢ Christ carrying the cross in the streets to Calvary
· How does Edie’s hidden power come to light to help destroy evil? Read Luke 1:52.
· How much is a soul worth?
· WHO OWNS YOU?
No rating: Some gangster violence in 1950s America style