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.
Earlier today, I checked to see what was on at The Showroom cinema. It was a nice surprise to see that at 3.30 there would be a screening of "On The Waterfront" (1954). Over the years, I may have seen snatches of this iconic film but I am sure I had never previously watched it from beginning to end and certainly not from a cinema seat.
"On The Waterfront" first came out seventy years ago to rave reviews. It won oscars aplenty - including "Best Film", "Best Director" and "Best Supporting Actress" for Eva Marie Saint. Marlon Brando's masterful performance earned him the "Best Actor" award.
Film techniques have come a long way in these past seven decades but sitting in the darkness of The Showroom, I was still enthralled by the story that unfolded on the screen. Set in New York and focusing on what we in Britain call dockers, the film explores shady practices amongst the longshoremen. Union leaders control the labour scene and men are advised to be "d & d" - deaf and dumb, even keeping schtum about questionable deaths.
Supported by Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint) and Father Pete Barry (Karl Malden), Terry Malloy (Brando) manages to find the courage to fight back against the thuggish, controlling union bosses and to lead New York's longshoremen towards a happier, less fearful future.
The imaginative musical score was entirely by Leonard Bernstein and it added greatly to the overall atmosphere of "On The Waterfront".
If more great films from the past were screened at The Showroom, I would love to go and see them - including "Rebel Without A Cause", "Citizen Kane" and "Gone With The Wind". Watching them on television sets could never be the same.
I keep a list of movies that I want to watch someday. It is probably at least 30 movies long at this point and seems to just grow instead of shrink. Perhaps someday, I'll finally catch up and go back to watch some of those older films that I missed. However if you compare movies to my bookshelves, there is probably not a chance in hell that I'll ever get caught up.
ReplyDeleteWith all this catching up to do - you are a soul in torment Ed!
DeleteI love seeing these old films playing at a real movie theater. So much better viewing!
ReplyDeleteMaybe cinemas are missing a trick.
DeleteI know the quote but didn't know where it came from. Glad you got to see it on the big screen.
ReplyDeleteOn a TV set it just would not have been the same.
DeleteThey don't make them like that anymore.
ReplyDeleteIt remains fresh after seventy years.
DeleteI remember going to see Gone With the Wind at the movie theater when I was a child. Before dropping me off, my mother warned me about the cuss word I would hear. I still laugh to think about that.
ReplyDeleteWow! That was a long time ago Kelly. I am happy to have jogged that memory today.
DeleteSorry to be a prig but it's "Citizen Kane". And everyone was on top of their game in "On the Waterfront."
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the correction Bruce. Thank you.
DeleteIn my childhood and youth, many of the classic black & white films from the 1950s and 60s were on TV, and we often watched them - sometimes just my Mum and I, sometimes as a family. I remember several, but not "On the Waterfront". Back then, I did not fully grasp the stories but I liked the overall atmosphere of such films, and as a teenager in the 1980s, loved the clothes and hairstyles of the 1950s. Shallow, I know.
ReplyDeleteYou - shallow? I doubt it.
DeleteI have never seen any of those movies, though I have heard of Rebel Without a Cause and Gone With the Wind. If they are ever on TV at a time I can watch I'll make sure to see them.
ReplyDeleteApart from anything else, it is good to see where modern films emerged from.
DeleteSounds a great idea showing those Hollywood classics YP. They could also show classic English films. Maybe a Julie Christie season? Do they still play Pearl and Dean music in the adverts?
ReplyDeleteNo Pearl and Dean I'm afraid. I'd like to see "The Sheep's Head Peninsula" starring Humphrey Bogart as Dave Northsider and Marilyn Monroe as Jean.
DeleteI remember watching this in my childhood on our old black & white TV at home. I don't suppose I appreciated the message behind the storyline back then.
ReplyDeleteYou should have been playing with your dollies JayCee!
DeleteDon't forget Bedtime for Bonzo.
ReplyDeleteWas that your nickname?
DeleteIt is hard to think of classic films, being not much older than we are. The Condo is showing Fantasia this weekend, I have never seen it.
ReplyDeleteYeah - that's another great classic.
DeleteAnd can you believe Eva Marie Saint is STILL ALIVE? She's 99.
ReplyDeleteShe was angelic in "On The Waterfront" - her first feature film.
DeleteI've never seen it either! How does this even happen?
ReplyDeleteWe might think we know all the old ones when we may only have seen fragments.
DeleteNeither of my parents were cinemagoers, but sometime in my early teens my mother took me to a matineé performance of "Gone With The Wind". A trip down Memory Lane for her, she'd seen it with my father when they were "courting" (what a quaint expression that is!). By the intermission I was bored beyond belief and wanted to go home. I think I slept through the second half and was surprised that it was still daylight when we came out of the cinema!
ReplyDeleteI hope your mum gave you a whack: "Naughty Carol! How dare you fall asleep!"
DeleteI can be hard to remember if you've seen some films when they are so well known and you've seen clips of the them, and this is one such film for me.
ReplyDelete