The black and white film “On the Waterfront” directed by Elia Kazan shows the importance of standing up for what you believe in; even if there are consequences. Terry Malloy goes from caring about how he looks to his mob friends to being a man who does not back away from his morals. He tells the court that Mr. Friendly and his friends were the ones who killed Joey Doyle and then does not back down when the mob leader tried to intimidate him. However the coward, Johnny Friendly got the better deal in the fight when he called his ‘henchmen’ to attack Terry, but somehow the hero of the film gets to his feet and leads the longshoremen into the factory.
Tommy is one of the many young adults who grew up in the midst of longshoremen and their ideology. Growing up in the waterfront Tommy has the Deaf and dumb ideology ingrained in him and the thought of anything else frightens him. “ A pigeon for a pigeon” suggests that the Deaf and dumb influences tommy more than how much Terry cares about him. At the start of the movie Tommy obviously cares about Terry and treats hi like family, helping him look after his pigeons. After Terry testifies against Johnny Friendly, Tommy’s ‘deaf and dumb’ ideology kicks in and kills the pigeons.
“I’m with me – Terry”. To what extent is Terry responsible for his own fate. Elia Kazan’s 1954 award winning drama, On the Waterfront, depicts Terry Malloy, an ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman, who is caught up in ties with the corrupt waterfront union, as undergoing a moral and personal transformation. On the Waterfront is a combination of cinema verite, film noir and Italian neo-realism. The elements of film noir, like the use of black and white, ads to the authentic nature of the film, almost touching on the style of a documentary.
‘Terry overcomes the role of a bum that others have marked out for him’ Do you agree? On the Waterfront directed by Elia Kazan explores the corrupted waterfront workers union run by ‘the mob’ and to what means they go to, to keep the workers ‘deaf and dumb’. The hazy, dark setting of The Bronx sets a perfect environment to follow the story of Terry Malloy, a young man with no real path or ambition for his life, who eventually overcomes the role of a bum marked out for him by others. Terry is considered a bum because of his ‘lost in life’ demeanor and his association with the brutal ‘mob’ and the murder of Joey Doyle. Originally we as the audience are positioned to see Terry as a segregated ‘nobody’ mainly through camera angles and different costumes.
Joey is depicted as somewhat powerful at the beginning of the scene evidenced through the use of a low angle shot. While Kazan here highlights that Joey’s choice to talk to the Crime Commission is noble and brave; this idea of Joey’s as powerful is quickly subverted as the camera pans up towards Truck and Tullio on the rooftop. Regardless of Joey’s actions in attempting to reveal the restrictive and oppressive life on the waterfront his death highlights how one individual cannot stop the actions of a large group. The ominous music used during his death along with the joke made by Truck “he could sing but he couldn’t fly” highlights how Johnny Friendly’s gang had no difficulty in ensuring their power over the city by killing Joey. Clearly, Kazan illustrates that no matter how noble an intention may be, a singular person cannot defeat a group of oppressive and greedy
Keran Berj would have killed her instantly if he knew she was one of the People. Chapter 3: As the train travels through the desert Grace starts reflecting over her decision to escape. She realizes that there is no turning back now. There are soldiers watching her every move and she has nowhere to go but forward. Chapter 4: Grace thinks about home, how she was raised to be an Angel and how she never managed to accept her destiny like the other girls at the Angel House did.
In the masterpiece ‘On the Waterfront’ directed by Elia Kazan, shows a wonderful story of a man standing up to a tyrannical rule. For the story of this film is all about the conscience and that is shown throughout the whole movie. And the story about the conscience is based on the past experience of Kazan himself when he had agreed to testify the former associates who were involved with the Communist Party and became a pariah in left-wing circles. Terry Malloy, played by Brando can be considered as the avatar of Kazan in his past. Kazan’s life was a difficult one, full of many difficult decisions.
QUESTION: It is simply love that changes Terry. To what extent do you agree? Elia Kazan’s black and white film ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954) is set in Hoboken, New Jersey. The protagonist Terry Malloy is an inarticulate longshoreman who works on the unionised docks, which is led by Johnny Friendly, the corrupt and powerful union boss. Terry’s relationships with the people in his life such as his brother Charley, Edie and Father Barry, help him to realise that Johnny Friendly’s practices are unjust and that Terry’s conscience was right all along.
There must be twenty thousand of ‘em. They perch on top of the big hotels and swoop down on the pigeons in the park” (Kazan). Johnny Friendly represents the hawk and Terry equates himself to a pigeon, unable to escape the evil that looms above him. The pigeons also symbolize innocence and grace. Terry, reveals that he is not the street tough “bum” that others see him as, he reveals his gentle and caring side while looking after the
How and why does terry change? Set in the Hoboken docks in the 1950's On the Waterfront focuses on the struggle between moral issues. Kazan uses the character of terry Malloy to explore the adversity's of an era. Elia Kazan initially looks at Terry's flawed natured and tarnished image among the longshoremen after the tragedy of joey's suspicious death. Terry's journey reinforces the ideas and conflicts faced in those times and how he sustains to overcome them.