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A Movie A Year | 1954 - On the Waterfront

  • amisha
  • 7 days ago
  • 3 min read

I'm continuing my quest to watch more classic movies by selecting a new film to watch for every year since 1940! You can see my previous picks below. For 1954, I watched the American classic, On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando.

My classic movie diary picks so far (click to expand):

On the Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan, follows the story of an ex-prize fighter, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), turned New Jersey longshoreman who struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister (Eva Marie Saint) of one of the syndicate's victims.


I started watching the film at around 11pm at night, with half a mind to finish the second half the next day if I got too sleepy. However, I was locked in within the first ten minutes; I found On the Waterfront to be a consistently compelling movie with strong themes and a fantastic lead performance by Brando. The film's exploration of truth and morality feels timeless, but also very specific to an era of McCarthyism (see more on that later). I also found the central romance between Terry and Edie far more compelling than others of the same era, both in terms of the burgeoning affection and vulnerability between the two, but also because of the conflict that arises as a result of their differing philosophies.


Some further reading on the film highlighted the fact that director Kazan made it not long after controversially testifying before the House of Un-American Activities Committee, having to renounce his prior affiliation with a Communist group and give up eight of his friend's names. The emotional burden of such a decision is the driving conflict of the story, and clearly stems from Kazan's real life experience. This Criterion essay by Michael Almereyda, covers the fascinating historical context of the film.


Another notable fact is that On the Waterfront is sometimes considered to be a very early example of "method acting". Kazan himself founded the Actors Studio, which was known for its work in method acting. Though this term has come to mean something slightly different in pop culture today (mainly male actors doing extreme things, see Robert Pattinson's quote: "I always say about people who do method acting, you only ever see people do the method when they’re playing an assholes. You never see someone being lovely to everyone while they’re really deep in character"), it was actually started by Konstantin Stanislavski in the 1890s to teach actors to access their own emotions, to actually “feel” what their character was feeling, rather than pretend they were feeling it. It is debated whether Brando actually embodied 'the Method', however what is certain is that his naturalistic performance in On the Waterfront stood in contrast to the more theatrical acting style of the time.


And, though this more naturalistic style of acting was divisive at the time, it's gone on to influence generations of actors who often cite the performance as one of the best of all time. From a personal point of view, I went into the film familiar with the hype surrounding Brando, and was not disappointed. My favourite scenes are actually those between Terry and Edie- and I think Eva Saint Marie also deserves flowers for being able to match Brando- she embodies a spirit of 'goodness' while still feeling like a real woman. In fact, my only gripe is that the strong romantic throughline is left slightly hanging by the end of the film, with Edie not having much to do in the finale.


Overall, On the Waterfront is one of the best classic movies I've seen so far.

What else have I watched from 1954?: A Star is Born, Sabrina, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and two of my all time favourite classic movies: Rear Window and Dial M for Murder.


More writing by me:

  • Do you like movie music? I've started a series of articles on Substack, counting down 100 of my favourite soundtracks.

  • If you're a fantasy fan, check out my book Beyond the Ocean Door!

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