"On the Waterfront" was the big winner at the 1955 Academy Awards with no less than eight trophies. The film got Best Picture honors and director Elia Kazan won his second Oscar. Brando got his first nomination for another Kazan film three years earlier and this time he won. That film back then was "A Streetcar Named Desire" and brought Karl Malden the win. Here he got another nomination. Lee J. Cobb shines as the main villain and manages his first Academy Award nomination just like Rod Steiger, who has only a very small part and was a complete newcomer to movies at that point. The latter could also be said about Eva Marie Saint with the difference that she did win the prestigious Supporting Actress award for her breakthrough movie. Saint is stunning and gives a truly mesmerizing performance. So does Brando. This is maybe my favorite turn from him. Both were in their late 20s in this film and Brando was actually older than Steiger, who played his older brother.
Really everybody nails their part here and I am always surprised what a likable presence Karl Malden has. Guess I need to watch "Streets of San Francisco" at some point. This film is packed with excellent metaphors about all kinds of stuff, including pigeons for example. It deals with (false) loyalty, love, parental disapproval of boyfriends, missed chances and careers and finally having the balls to do the right thing. I am actually glad that the film has a (sort of) happy ending. Occasionally I felt it could end badly for Brando's character. It's really difficult to find something negative about this film, but maybe if you don't know a lot about unions and the mob in America back during that era, you may have a hard time tin understanding crucial moments of the movie, including the ending. That's just a minor criticism though. It's an excellent film and I highly recommend it.
Really everybody nails their part here and I am always surprised what a likable presence Karl Malden has. Guess I need to watch "Streets of San Francisco" at some point. This film is packed with excellent metaphors about all kinds of stuff, including pigeons for example. It deals with (false) loyalty, love, parental disapproval of boyfriends, missed chances and careers and finally having the balls to do the right thing. I am actually glad that the film has a (sort of) happy ending. Occasionally I felt it could end badly for Brando's character. It's really difficult to find something negative about this film, but maybe if you don't know a lot about unions and the mob in America back during that era, you may have a hard time tin understanding crucial moments of the movie, including the ending. That's just a minor criticism though. It's an excellent film and I highly recommend it.