Down With... Stool Pigeons

I know I have been talking a lot about the "McCarthy" era and the House Un-American Activities Committee, but the simple truth is that this period of American history had an enormous (devastating, even) impact on Hollywood and the people who worked there.

Careers were destroyed. Lives were ruined. Virtually no one escaped from this period unblemished, so it isn't surprising that many of the films produced at the time bear the scars of that hysteria.

(The Scars of Hysteria. Is it just me, or does that sound like it should be a rock band from the early 90s? Either that or a Doctor Who episode...)

I have already spoken about Edward Dmytryk and Adrian Scott (the director and producer of Crossfire, respectively) who were blacklisted and imprisoned, as well as Arthur Miller (author of The Crucible) whose passport was revoked. In addition, we saw Robert De Niro playing a fictional film director whose career is destroyed by the blacklist when he refuses to name names.

This week's film was directed by someone who was not blacklisted. He was not blacklisted because he appeared before the committee and named names; arguably sacrificing the careers of others so that he could continue working.

The film (which is often cited as one of the greatest American films of all time) tells the story of a dock worker who gets caught up in a criminal investigation into Union corruption on the New Jersey Docks. He eventually has the courage to appear before the committee and name names. (Sorry; spoilers.)

It might feel as if On the Waterfront was Elia Kazan's way of justifying his actions in appearing as a "friendly witness" before HUAC, but that's only because it was Elia Kazan's way of justifying his actions in appearing as a friendly witness before HUAC.

Marlon Brando gives the best performance of his life as Terry Malloy, the dock worker who gets himself mixed up with the mob bosses who run his local Union, and who must decide whether to stay loyal or sell them out to the authorities. 

(Actually, Marlon Brando had given the best performance of his life three years earlier, when he played Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Or perhaps two years after that, when he played Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. But then, many people would vote for his performance in The Godfather, or possibly Apocalypse Now. Let's just say that On the Waterfront is easily Brando's best performance of... 1954. He's a good actor. What else can one say?)

Putting aside the political baggage surrounding Elia Kazan's behaviour (and consequently the parallels in the film) On the Waterfront is a genuine masterpiece. It set a number of standards for "naturalism" in Hollywood films, and popularised  Stanislavski's "Method" style of acting. It's not too much of a stretch to say that without On the Waterfront, there would have been no Martin Scorsese or Robert De Niro.

On the Waterfront is also the only film to have a musical score composed by Leonard Bernstein.

Rapturously received when it was released, On the Waterfront won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actor, plus Best Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint (here making her screen debut). 

Somewhat more controversial was Elia Kazan's "Lifetime Achievement Award" nearly forty-five years later. Many people at that time felt that the industry should not be honouring someone who had saved his own career at the expense of others.

Whatever the ethical considerations of "naming names" might be, On the Waterfront remains one of the great classics of Hollywood cinema, and we will be screening it at 7.30 on Thursday, the 23rd of February at the Victoria Park Baptist Church.