On the Waterfront

On the Waterfront
1954

My birthday is coming up in three weeks. There are three things that if I received them, I would be the happiest girl in the world.

1. Lotso, the bear from Toy Story 3. He’s evil, pink, smells like strawberries, and sold at the Disney store. What is not to love about something that is that combination of things, especially being sold at the Disney store. It is the most fabulous place on the planet.
2. A pigeon.
3. A time machine, specifically for the use of going back in time to become best friends with Marlon Brando. I don’t care if he was a bit of a diva, he seemed somewhat wonderful in On the Waterfront.

Okay. So here is the story, as I think it went. It was slightly confusing and I watched it over three days of time, so forgive me if I get a detail wrong.

We open with a guy named Johnny being thrown out a window to his death. He was going to testify against the mob, and that unfortunately for him was a poor life decision. Terry, played by the fabulous Marlon Brando, knows that it was the mobs fault. He has some connections to this mob. His brother Charlie is the lawyer for the head boss guy. After having a personal talk with Head Boss Guy, Terry is sure that he was the one behind the killing. But he decides to testify, as he would like to live.

But it’s all good! Some other man decides to testify to bring Head Boss Guy in to jail! However when he makes this decision, he is soon crushed by a million tons of Irish whiskey. This further ensues that Terry will not testify.

But he falls in love with Johnny’s, the first dead guy, sister, and she changes his mind on the subject. It also helps that the mob kills his brother. Off he goes to testify! He breaks the case and everyone in the legal system loves him.

Of course the mob hates him a lot know. But they don’t try to kill him because they already have been caught. Because Terry is stupid he goes down and fights Head Boss Guy until he can barely walk, the stumbles off to work. The end.

Now, if this is indeed what happened, I rather liked this movie. I really love Marlon Brando. He had an amazing accent, interesting eyebrows, and he walked around in a red plaid jacket for most of the movie. How cool is that? Since this movie was in black and white, I am not entirely sure that the jacket was red, but come on. All cool jackets are red, so this one must be. How is my logic for you?

One thing that this movie in particular succeeded in was epic speeches. The priest, whose name I do not know, had many inspiring speeches about justice and not letting the mob win. Terry had a few good lines too, including the third best movie line of all time, “…I coulda had class…” according to the American Film Institute’s list.

The acting was great, Marlon Brando of course being absolutely awesome in his role. Edie, the girl, was played with just the right amounts of emotion by Eva Marie Saint, who won an Oscar for her efforts in this film.

But you want to know the best thing about this movie? It had pigeons. Carrier pigeons to be exact. They were so cute and fat and fluffy, you couldn’t help but fall in love with them, and at the same time, this movie.