On the Waterfront

Since its release in 1954, when it scooped 8 Academy Awards, On the Waterfront has established itself as a classic American film and garnered a strong cult following. Both distinctions are largely attributable to Marlon Brando’s legendary performance as Terry Malloy, the young docker and ex-fighter who, following the murder of his brother Charley, resolves to break the corrupt waterfront dominion of gang boss Johnny Friendly.

Budd Schulberg’s superbly researched, authentically tough-talking screenplay evokes a seamy world of dirty work and organised crime, in which the threat of violence is ever tangible but the possibilities of love and compassion survive. Thus, On the Waterfront is both a striking portrait of a social milieu and a powerful tale of one man’s shot at redemption.