On the Waterfront

Dir: Elia Kazan, 1954, bw (9.2*)
Best Picture (AA, GG)

AFI and Time Mag Top 100

This sometimes brutal yet heroic waterfront story put Marlon Brando’s acting at the top, and he won an Oscar. He’s a former boxer and dock worker, who accepts the organized crime situation as "just the way things are", but is slowly moved to action by several personal events. One is the murder of a friend, but "a rat", whose sister, Eve Marie Saint (an Oscar for her first part), wants to know what happened, and befriends Brando along the way. Lee J. Cobb is terrific as a waterfront mob boss. This is often considered Kazan’s (Directing Oscar) best film, and Brando’s as well, and is certainly an American classic film. 8 Oscars