Rating : 5/5
Reviewed by Webmaster
On the waterfront was made in 1954 by Elia Kazan after he agreed to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, named former associates who were involved with the Communist Party and became a pariah in left-wing circles.
This film, like Blue Collar, shows what happens when unions run by brutes monopolise labor by force. the film is essentially a journey of Terry Malloy's self discovery set against the plot of a union orchestrated murder of a man who intended to speak out on them. Malloy's self discovery is highlighted near the end of the film when a union boss shouts, ``You ratted on us, Terry,'' the Brando character shouts back: ``I'm standing over here now. I was rattin' on myself all those years. I didn't even know it.'' That was in line Kazan's belief that communism was an evil that temporarily seduced him, and had to be opposed.
It is Malloys, questioning his premises and having the courage to change that is of interest to objectivists.
