Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Written Review: On The Waterfront


The film On The Waterfront is one I have been wanting to watch for a long time. I had heard a lot about it since I was very young but somehow I hadn’t ended up seeing it till now. This film was of course the birthplace of such great lines such as “I could have been a contender!” and “I could have had class!” This film had some of the most impressive creative and technical aspects of any film I have seen. The acting, especially from Marlon Brando, was impressive as was the cinematography and lighting on the film was good.
One of the best parts of On The Waterfront is of course the acting by the great actor Marlon Brando. This was one of Brando’s early great roles and it earned him the Oscar for best actor in 1955. Brando’s subtle simplicity was one of the things I enjoyed most about this film. Most actors would simply dramatize everything. Brando decided to instead make his character of Terry Malloy a very real person. Also, the entire cast does some amazing things with the material they’re given such as Lee J. Cobb of 12 Angry Men fame.
Also, there is some absolutely beautiful black and white cinematography in this film. I am absolutely in love with B&W photography and this film has some of the best I’ve seen in years. Also the lighting for this film, as is par for the course on good black and white films, was absolutely fantastic. The director of photography really knew how to use shadows and had some very obvious influence from German expressionistic films.
All-in-all On The Waterfront was a great film that painted a vivid picture of America during the depression. It was well made and well acted, to just name a few of the areas of achievement.

2 comments:

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  2. Good review. It's amazing how much the outcomes of our lives can be traced back two just a couple decisions.

    "I could have been somebody..."

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