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On the Waterfront (1954)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 9/10
Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 50 | Rotten: 0

With his electrifying performance in Elia Kazan's thought-provoking, expertly constructed melodrama, Marlon Brando redefined the possibilities of acting for film and helped permanently alter the cinematic landscape.

100

Average Rating: 8.9/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 0

With his electrifying performance in Elia Kazan's thought-provoking, expertly constructed melodrama, Marlon Brando redefined the possibilities of acting for film and helped permanently alter the cinematic landscape.

audience

94

liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 46,012

My Rating

Movie Info

This classic story of Mob informers was based on a number of true stories and filmed on location in and around the docks of New York and New Jersey. Mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) rules the waterfront with an iron fist. The police know that he's been responsible for a number of murders, but witnesses play deaf and dumb ("plead D & D"). Washed-up boxer Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) has had an errand-boy job because of the influence of his brother Charley, a crooked union

Unrated, 1 hr. 48 min.

Drama, Romance, Classics

Budd Schulberg

Oct 23, 2001

Sony Pictures

Cast

All Critics (50) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (51) | Rotten (0) | DVD (15)

On the Waterfront has a script that is a work of love and shows it.

February 18, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Under Elia Kazan's direction, Marlon Brando puts on a spectacular show, giving a fascinating, multi-faceted performance as the uneducated dock walloper and former pug, who is basically a softie with a special affection for his rooftop covey of pigeons.

January 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's hard to deny that Marlon Brando's performance as a dock worker and ex-fighter who finally decides to rat on his gangster brother (Rod Steiger) is pretty terrific.

December 12, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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You miss this, you're buyin' a one-way ticket to Palookaville.

March 3, 2005 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Indisputably one of the great American films, its power undiminished.

December 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

So when does it hit you that you're in the presence of movie greatness?

December 17, 2004 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Raises important issues about the nature of power.

December 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Elia Kazan's seminal American classic.

November 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Marlon Brando is outstanding as a former boxing champ torn between family and duty in the magnificent On the Waterfront

November 8, 2006 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

The film is shot on location in black-and-white, semi-docu style, which suits the realistic subject and commonplace characters, particularly Terry Malloy, the passive dock worker forced to become a crusader-fighter, splendidly played by Brando.

July 15, 2006 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

It's pretty electrifying.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

This movie has to be considered one of the very best of all time.

July 5, 2005 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com | Comment
Bullz-Eye.com

Do the politics make it bad? Not at all. It's a fictional story, not a soapbox.

June 27, 2005 Full Review Source: LYTRules.com | Comment

The difference between pre- and post-1950s cinema - before and after Brando - is as pronounced as moving from black and white to color.

March 11, 2005 Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | Comment
Arizona Daily Star

Brando made one of his most indelible impressions in this relentlessly dramatic, ever-controversial tale of loyalty and betrayal in the world of working-class unions, first released in 1954.

November 4, 2004 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for On the Waterfront

Long ago, the first time I saw this movie, I promised that I would have more to say after a second watching. That came and went, and still, II don't know what to say that hasn't been said. It's good on so many levels, in fact, that I might just not know what to say at all. A singular, compelling film that everyone

June 3, 2007
danperry17

Super Reviewer

A huge early Marlon Brando Movie, at least I think its huge. Lots of stars in this one. Lee Cobb, Rod Steiger, Martin Balsam, James Westerfield, and Karl Malden. All the guys needed from the fifties to make a good mob story. Brando plays Terry Malloy who sets up a guy to be killed by the union mob before he testifies

September 29, 2011
bbcfloridabound
Bruce Bruce

Super Reviewer

    1. Terry Malloy: You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.
    – Submitted by Achoo S (7 months ago)
    1. Johnny Friendly: Stop breathin' that clam juice on me.
    – Submitted by Debbie V (9 months ago)
    1. Father Barry: You want to know what's wrong with our waterfront? It's the love of a lousy buck. It's making love of a buck - -the cushy job - -more important than the love of man!
    – Submitted by rob g (9 months ago)
    1. Terry Malloy: You don't understand! I could'a had class. I could'a been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.
    – Submitted by Tyler C (10 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • On the Waterfront (1954) (DE)
  • On the Waterfront (1954) (UK)
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