In On the Waterfront Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) once dreamt of being a great prizefighter, but now works at the docks for Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), the corrupt boss of the dockers union. After befriending both the sister Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint) of a murdered man and the local priest Father Barry (Karle Malden), Terry gradually becomes a man of deeper morality, and starts to speak of acts against Friendly, who will soon go on trial. Terry finds his breaking point when his brother is murdered by Friendly's thugs, and causes him to entertain thoughts of testifying against Friendly. Still, he struggles to find the courage to do so, until the priest persuades him to. Once he betrays Friendly, Terry is without the work.
He does not reveal and or admit to anyone that he knew and involvment in Joey’s murder until later on the film. Terry confesses to Father Barry about his involvement in Joey’s death and Father Barry convinces Terry to tell Edie. With the help of Father Barry and Joey’s sister, Edie Doyle, Terry decides to try and expose the mobsters corrupt union leaders plans to employ and to extort money and labor, but it may be too late. Terry ends up testifying to the commission in court against Friendly’s mob, and sends him and every mob member to prison. The film then moves to a scene in which Terry delivers a speech announcing a new goal which was to break away from mob rule.
Terry has family ties with the mob; Charlie (member of the mob) is his brother and Johnny (leader of mob) treated Terry like he was his own son from a young age. Because of this, Terry feels like he has to be loyal to the mob and that he must do what they ask him to do. In the bar scene after Joey’s death, Johnny is treating him as if he’s family; Kazan demonstrates this by having Johnny leaning on Terry and ‘play fighting’ with him. However in this scene, Kazan also shows the power Johnny has over Terry by using low angle shots, which make Johnny seem bigger than Terry. In this scene, Johnny also puts some money into Terry’s shirt, Johnny does this in such a way which shows that he has power over Terry and that Terry needs to remember that.
This scene is a turning point because Terry makes up his mind to confront the mob at that moment. Although Terry complains that he “coulda been somebody”, he finally does become someone worthy of our admiration. He does this by confronting his problems, but also through the great acting of Brando which allows the audience to connect with the character. As Charley and Terry are in a cab rolling towards Terry’s death, Charley tries to convince him to take a good job and not say anything about Joey’s murder to stay alive and help the mob. In the past, Terry lost a boxing match that he could have easily won because his brother asked him to.
Much of the corruption in the film is the fault of Johnny Friendly because he is the leader of the longshoremen, meanwhile Father Barry tries to take control by supporting those who wish to gain power. Terry Malloy’s gain of power at the end of the film becomes his redemption, as we see a power switch at the end of the film and the end to the ensuing corruption. The opening scene finds Johnny Friendly presented as a powerful character. Parallel to Leonard Bernstein’s intrusive score, the men of the union march from their diminutive floating shack, a subtle reminder of the limits of their power, framed by the immense ocean liner in the establishing shot. The hierarchy is clearly defined with Terry’s rough workman’s jacket marking him as less powerful than Johnny friendly and his well dressed henchmen in their “hundred and fifty dollar suites”.
In this thriller, the executioner did not lack responsibility for his murders. He took full responsibilty for his merciless actions, and also attempted to fool the police with his confidence. An illustration of this was when he arrive at the police station, dripping in blood, a crooked smile attached to his face, and turning himself in to his rivals. The last significant attribute to being a sociopath is deceitfulness, also known as the practice of misleading or lying. However the serial killer portrayed in the movie did not
The reason why he has these trust issues is probably because he was taken advantage of in the past, and does not want it to happen again. Sonny probably feels like if he lets anyone get too close to him and he confides too much in someone than he will lose control, and the other members of his gang will no longer listen and respect him. In the course of the movie Sonny only looks out for himself and sometimes Cologero. For example, after Sonny accused Cologero of putting something dangerous on his car, he told him to get out of his reckless friends car and get in his car. Even though it did not seem like it, this was Sonny’s way of apologizing to Cologero for flipping out earlier in the film.
What could have been a good life for him and his family spiraled out of control and he was evidently caught by the Feds and arrested. He was offered a deal to serve a short amount of prison time if he turned on his lifelong friends and cohorts. He agreed to this deal and was also put into protective custody after all the trials of all the mobsters he turned in and “ratted” on were over. Henry Hill’s loyalty to the Mob was gone and he claimed he made this decision to save his family but as most people surmised, his disloyalty to the people who he had known all his life, was for his own self interest. “Philosophers typically use self-interest in the generic sense to refer to happiness, well being, flourishing or as I shall say; what one’s life goes best for one” (Philosophy,
Chris’ religious aunt slapped the man on his way out the store which showed that she thought the man was a disgrace. During this time Chris has been reading about mob crimes. In the 70s mob lynching were becoming normal and those accused of crimes and killed for their crimes were most likely to be innocent. This “thief” was surrounded by civilians and was guilty of this crime without any real proof or trial. As the crowd grew more fueled
Force of Evil It seems difficult enough for Joe Morse to defend a client whom is a powerful gangster but it’s even more surprising when the lawyer joins hands and becomes partners with him. When a lawyer who is familiar with law crosses that ethical line with his gangster client, Ben Tucker then trouble is ahead. The two got a scheme to shut down all the illegal banks in the city, and buy up the ones they want. Joe has an older brother, Leo, a man with heart trouble; Knowing that Leo, an essentially honest man in a dishonest business, will resist joining the syndicate, Joe goes to visit his brother but Leo denounces the proposed alliance with Tucker, then excoriates his brother's lack of principles and reminds him of the sacrifices that he has made to put him through law school. The trouble is, Leo is happy with his small, if not quite ethical, business.