"Hey, you wanna hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you."

The back-story of On the Waterfront is as interesting as the movie itself. Director Elia Kazan had testified to the House Un-American Activities Committee, ratting out some of his Hollywood acquaintances who happened to be members of the Communist Party (of which he was an ex-member of). This act of so-called betrayal lost Kazan much respect from his peers and it lost him friends. Whether Kazan did the right thing is up for debate, but one thing's for sure: he made a hell of a movie in the process of explaining himself.

On the Waterfront isn't about communism itself, but a similar subject, labor unions. Influenced by the series of Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times articles "Crime on the Waterfront", Budd Schulburg wrote the screenplay, the story of corruption and coerced silence on the waterfront. The corruption in the docks parallels a communist Russia in which things aren't going very well for the average Joe, but if protest leads to death, most mouths stay shut.

There are many factors to On the Waterfront's success, many reasons it worked out the way it did and turned into an essential American film. The biggest reason is Marlon Brando. Brando's acting, especially his acting in the 50s, was incredibly influential to the following generations of actors. The best examples of Brando's acting (hell, acting in general) at its best are all under Kazan's direction, with this, A Streetcar Named Desire and Viva Zapata!

Brando's character is Terry Malloy, and Terry has had better days. His older brother Charley is the right-hand man for Johnny Friendly, the big boss. Although this leaves Terry in a better situation (monetarily) than most of the other dock workers, he's not a ruthless thug at heart, despite his image. After unknowingly contributing to the murder of Joey Doyle, a dock worker on the verge of testifying against Johnny Friendly and his gang, Terry's conscience begins to creep up on him.

Terry used to be a boxer, a good one. Working under Johnny's direction, Terry's brother convinced him to take a dive during an important match, which destroyed his boxing career. Ever since, he's lived with a shadow of regret and it all comes out in his "I coulda been a contenda" speech, which has become one of the most famous in film history.

Charley Malloy: Look, kid, I -- how much you weigh, Slick? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, and that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.

Terry Malloy: It wasn't him, Charley, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden you came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? "This ain't your night"! My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart! So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville! You was my brother, Charley, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.

Charley Malloy: Oh I had some bets down for you. You saw some money.

Terry Malloy:You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley.

This was the film debut for Eva Marie Saint, who played Edie, the sister of the murdered Joey Doyle. Her romance with Terry is one of the reasons he finally decides to make a stand. She won Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards (not a bad way to start an acting career).

That certainly wasn't the only Academy Award for On the Waterfront, as it was nominated for 12 and won 8: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

Three of the four Academy Awards that it was nominated for and didn't win were Best Supporting Actors, (Lee J. Cobb,Karl Malden and Rod Steiger) as the nominations obviously cancelled each other out in the voting phase. The last nomination was Leonard Bernstein's for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, which is notable due to the fact this was Bernstein's only score for a film that wasn't a musical.