Nine stars. Every once in a while I still realize that there are some stone
classiques that I've never seen. Like this one. Yeah, I saw snippets in a
high school class about film and story-telling that I took in the 1970s. But
never end-to-end until this past friday. I knew about Brando going in, but
when I saw the credits, I just started laughing. Sure Brando. But Cobb,
Steiger, and Malden too? All in big parts. Wow! And, hey, isn't that Martin
Balsam? Yep. The only week note for me was Eva Marie Saint, who's just never
impressed me much. The film looks ugly. The location shots are all honestly
messy. Everyone looks seedy and cheap. In fact, I was struck by how much the
look of this film reminded me of Truffaut's work in the 1960s. I had never
pegged Kazan as a forerunner to the New Wave before. This is a tale of
corruption and the possibility of, if not redemption, then at least a sense of
honor in a corrupt world. Honor is such a strange thing. The dockworkers felt
a sense of honor not to use the courts to take on the people who were
terrorizing and abusing them. And Terry (Brando) had to deal with a culture
that reflexively considered him a villain for telling the truth. Brando's
scene with Steiger is the heart of the film. But my (13-year old) son thought
it wasn't earned. And I have to agree with him. The script really didn't
devote enough time to setting up the relationship between Terry and Charlie.
So I don't think it's perfect. But it is glorious. I'm glad I finally got around to it. 10 October 2022.
So I don't think it's perfect. But it is glorious. I'm glad I finally got around to it. 10 October 2022.