On the Waterfront

"The man lived by the jungle law of the docks!"

1954 1h 48m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

★7.8TMDB · 1,857

CrimeDramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.

“The man lived by the jungle law of the docks!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Marlon Brando
Terry Malloy
Eva Marie Saint
Edie Doyle
Karl Malden
Father Barry
Lee J. Cobb
Johnny Friendly
Rod Steiger
Charley Malloy
Pat Henning
Kayo Dugan
Leif Erickson
Glover
James Westerfield
Big Mac

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Elia Kazan
Writers: Budd Schulberg, Budd Schulberg, Malcolm Johnson
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $10M — a 10.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

72 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Elia Kazan, shot by Boris Kaufman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Leonard Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gene Milford shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint and Karl Malden carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The man lived by the jungle law of the docks!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Elia Kazan directs. Boris Kaufman behind the camera. Leonard Bernstein scores. Gene Milford cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $10M — a 10.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
372 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Elia Kazan, shot by Boris Kaufman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Leonard Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Gene Milford shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint and Karl Malden carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The man lived by the jungle law of the docks!".
9IMDB entry: tt0047296 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "corruption", "new jersey", "murder", "mafia".

The technical file

Cinematography: Boris Kaufman
Original score: Leonard Bernstein
Editing: Gene Milford
Makeup / hair: Mary Roche
Sound: Jim Shields
Runtime: 108 min · 1h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $910,000
Box office: $9,600,631
Return: 1055% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: On the Waterfront (1954)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White
Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Director
Academy Award for Best Actor

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Elia Kazan

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-09-06
★ 10/10
You think you're God Almighty, but you know what you are? You're a cheap, lousy, dirty, stinkin' mug! And I'm glad what I done to you, ya hear that? I'm glad what I done! On the Waterfront is directed by Elia Kazan and adapted to screenplay by Budd Schulberg from a series of Malcolm Johnson articles. It stars Marlon Brando, lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, Rod Steiger and Pat Henning. Music is by Leonard Bernstein and cinematography by Boris Kaufman. Terry Malloy (Brando) was once a boxer with potential and big dreams. Now working as a longshoreman on the docks for mob boss Johnny Friendly (Cobb), Terry witnesses the murder of a fellow dock worker and finds himself conflicted about if he should inform to the crime commission about what he knows, more so as he gets in tight with the dead man's sister. As good as anything Kazan, Brando and Kaufman ever did, On the Waterfront strips it down to a stench filled corrupt part of New York as honest hard working men battle to make ends meet under the rule of corrupt mob led union bosses. The dialogue is almost lyrical in its simplicity, deftly at odds with the dull pallor of the environment involving barely livable housing and misty docks holding awful secrets. Although a defence for squealing, with the finger pointed at those in the high chairs here, it's a seminal classic that deserved every Oscar win and nomination that it got. From the electric "contender" speech (watch Steiger's facial acting here), to Brando's heart aching discovery of his beloved bids being killed, and onto the unforgettable punch the air finale, thisis a s good as classic cinema gets. 10/10
James2023-10-20
★ 7/10
This coulda’ been a contender in a lot of greatest movie polls if people just took a second to fully appreciate it.
CinemaSerf2024-04-06
★ 7/10
Although it's Marlon Brando who takes top billing here, I found it was Karl Malden's "Father Barry" who stole the story as the priest who is determined to galvanises the New York dockers to step out from under the oppressive shadow of their boss "Johnny Friendly" (Lee J. Cobb). He's standing over a corpse, that of "Doyle". The deceased had been reputedly chatting with the crime commissioner and so took an unexpected dive off his building. He was a pigeon fancier, and it was this hobby that we know "Malloy" (Brando) used to lure the man to his pen on the roof. We know, but the late man's sister "Edie" (Eva Marie Saint) doesn't. As she determines to get to the bottom of the crime, she and "Malloy" start to become closer. He even begins to fall in love - but the priest tells him that can come to nothing unless he is honest. "Malloy" knows full well that any honesty will set him on a collision course with "Johnny" and with his own, cashmere coat clad brother "Charlie" (Rod Steiger) who acts as the number two around here. A meeting at the church does motivate "Dugan" (Pat Henning) to try to do something about this increasingly unfair scenario, but when he has a little too much whisky, it falls to "Barry" to render up his soliloquy and the dial starts to shift. If you've seen Charles Frend's "The Cruel Sea" (1953) you might recall a scene where, their ship torpedoed, the men float around in the water - water covered in debris and oil. It's dark and menacing looking. The photography here is almost that dark. It's black and white with the emphasis very much not the former. The photography almost seems to magnetise the darker elements of the buildings, the water and bring them to the fore. They become claustrophobic. Cobb is impressive as the boss as is Eve Marie Saint who avoids many of the usual pitfalls for the female lead. Her character is strong and her courage palpable in the face of an increasingly dangerous and desperate scenario. The denouement is gripping, touching and entirely fitting snd if you can get a chance to see this on a big screen, then do - it is a roller-coaster of a film that imbues it's flawed characters with personality and us with a sense of having some skin in it's game.