On the Waterfront

Marlon Brando shines in Elia Kazan's gritty street drama as Terry Malloy, a naive former boxer, whose brother Charley (Rod Steiger) works for union gangster Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). A rooftop pigeon fancier, Terry's odd jobs for Friendly expand until one day he's asked to lure a troublemaker up to his pigeon perch, where--to Terry's horror--Friendly's goons push the man over the ledge. When he gets involved with the dead man's sister (Eva Marie Saint), and a local priest (Karl Malden), Terry's guilt begins to gnaw at him, and he starts to look beyond the money he's making to the corruption he's indirectly supporting. Winner of eight Oscars, including statues for Best Picture, Kazan, Brando, and Saint, this 1954 classic remains a powerful study in human dynamics nearly 50 years after its initial release. Disappointingly fuzzy in spots, the less-than-sterling image quality is somewhat offset by the DVD's extras, which include an audio commentary with Kazan biographer Jeff Young and Time film critic Richard Schickel, a half-hour deconstruction of the famous "I coulda been a contender" scene between Steiger and Brando (featuring Steiger but, unfortunately, not Brando), and an interview with Kazan. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—Feb. 26, 2013—Criterion, 108 min., not rated, DVD: 3 discs, $39.95; Blu-ray: 2 discs, $49.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD, and debut on Blu-ray, 1954's On the Waterfront sports an excellent transfer and a mono soundtrack. Extras include three versions of the film (with various aspect ratios), audio commentary by authors Richard Schickel and Jeff Young, the 1982 documentary “Elia Kazan: An Outsider” (54 min.), the new “making-of” featurette “I'm Standin' Over Here Now” (45 min.), a “Who is Mr. Big?” interview with author James T. Fisher (26 min.), the production featurette “Contender: Mastering the Method” from 2001 (25 min.), a video essay on Leonard Bernstein's score (20 min.), a conversation between Martin Scorsese and critic Kent Jones (18 min.), a 2011 interview with Kazan (12 min.), new interviews with longshoreman and costar Thomas Hanley (12 min.) and costar Eva Marie Saint (11 min.), a visual essay on the aspect ratio (5 min.), a trailer, and a booklet. Bottom line: an American classic make a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]