Talk:On the Waterfront

Summary

Needs a section summarizing the plot

Someone needs to expand on Terry's "trechery". I believe he was already against the mob by the time his brother was killed. MC Dupree 16:36, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I don’t know what happened to the plot summary but it was a bloated mess, this is not the place to inject personal interpretations. I removed all the redundant and distracting cast links, and reordered the summary to reflect the scenes in order as they unfold in the film, using plain language that reflects key dialogue to describe the action. Beadmatrix (talk) 07:00, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

FWIW you responded to a comment from 2007 and the editor in question hasn't edited since 2015. That said, I've made further edits to bring the summary into compliance with WP:FILMPLOT. Cheers. DonIago (talk) 16:39, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

The Miller Connection

The article states that Miller's crucible is a response to "On the Waterfront". The play was written in 1953 and the movie was made in 54. Is it the other way around ? - Vatsa, June 9, 2005

Perhaps the article is talking about A View From The Bridge Aioth 03:28, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

Factual inaccuracies

There are two significant unsubstantiated and unsourced statements in this article. The first is the "Crucible" issue above. That is contradicted by the description of the origins of the movie on filmsite.org, which I have linked.

The second is the reference to a Hoboken informant named Arthur DiVincenzo being the basis of this movie. I could find no reference to DiVincenzo on Google, except for pickups of this article. He is also not mentioned in the book "Waterfront Priest" in either the index or in the introduction by screenwriter Budd Schulberg.

note* articles can be found regarding di vincenzo's case against
      columbia & his settlement. ref: the jersey journal archieves
      about mid 1970's & current archieves of the hoboken reporter
      as seen in Hoboken History Issue No. 18, published by the  
      Hoboken Historical Museum. article author  Nicholas Acocella 
      editor of the respected insider newsletter New Jersey     
      Politfax.
       *other - columbia pictures, out of  court lawsuits &        
        settlements 1970's.
       *an awarded 25 thousand  to di  vincenzo proving a
        obvious negation of schulbergs denial of anthony 
        di vincenzo's claims.              
       
       
        
       

According to Schulberg, the book was based on the Malcolm Johnson stories and his discussions with Father Corridan. So I am going to remove the references to the Crucible and to DiVincenzo unless someone can produce some verifiable sourcing of that.--Mantanmoreland 17:08, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:On the waterfront423.jpg

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BetacommandBot 03:31, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

References to the film?

Worth including allusions to this film? For example, Lloyd Cole's Rattlesnakes has the lines "She looks like Eve Marie Saint in On The Waterfront / As she reads Simone de Beauvoir in her American circumstance" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.30.146.90 (talk) 15:51, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Referred to by one of the worlds leading intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, during his lecture at the University Of Tennesse on 25th January 2011 when talking about Unions (search for 'Noam Chomsky lecture part 5/6' in youtube or use link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stTwxxVJtQs at 13minutes:46seconds into the video. However, I would suggest watching the complete video for context) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.233.52.178 (talk) 13:59, 30 January 2011 (UTC)

Season 2 of the HBO TV show 'The Wire' has many similarities to this film, seems worth including some mention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.221.200.61 (talk) 20:09, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

File:Kazan-Brando-MarieSaint-Waterfront.jpg Nominated for Deletion

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Factual Background

The politcal context seems to miss the point. The movie is based on the pulitzer prize winning articles "crime on the waterfront" published in the New York Sun in 1949 and the waterfront crime commission hearings that followed. The characters are all based on actual indiviuals Joseph Ryan, Father John Corridon, William McCormack. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Smarticvs (talk • contribs) 20:09, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

'Arthur DiVincenzo' controversy

His full name is Anthony "Tony Mike" de Vincenzo (note the 'de' instead if 'di'). Elia Kazan refers to him only as Tony Mike in his autobiography Elia Kazan: A Life, pages 499-500. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.235.146.238 (talk) 21:13, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Hah, pulled the source! Hoboken History, Number 18, 1997. The Magazine of the Hoboken Historical Museum.

A "Tony Mike" DiVincenzo is mentioned at the end of the article on page 15. (Who can tell, is it a DiVincenzo or DeVincenzo?) http://hoboken.pastperfect-online.com/32340cgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=19EC8740-769F-4379-8253-834112715360;type=201 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.235.146.238 (talk) 22:08, 23 February 2014 (UTC)

Name

I note that in the cast list "Fred Gwynne as Mladen "Slim" Sekulovich"; Mladen Sekulovich was Karl Malden's name before he changed it. Surely not a coincidence, but I don't know where that might figure into the article. Mannanan51 (talk) 21:20, 30 April 2019 (UTC)

I just noticed that myself and came here to see if anyone else had. You got there first. A joke by Kazan? Hanoi Road (talk) 22:52, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Unsourced material

Below information was tagged for needing sources long-term. Feel free to reinsert the below material with appropriate references. DonIago (talk) 14:13, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

Real-life basis for characters

===Real-life basis for characters=== Terry Malloy's fight against corruption was in part modeled after whistle-blowing longshoreman Anthony DeVincenzo, who testified before a real-life Waterfront Commission about activities on the Hoboken Docks and suffered a degree of ostracism for his deed. DeVincenzo sued and settled, many years after, with Columbia Pictures over the appropriation of what he considered his story. DeVincenzo claimed to have recounted his story to screenwriter Budd Schulberg during a month-long session of waterfront barroom meetings. Schulberg attended DeVincenzo's waterfront commission testimony every day during the hearing. The character of Father Barry was based on the real-life "waterfront priest" Father John M. Corridan, a Jesuit priest and graduate of Regis High School who operated a Roman Catholic labor school on the west side of Manhattan. Father Corridan was interviewed extensively by Schulberg, who also wrote the foreword to a biography of Father Corridan, Waterfront Priest by Allen Raymond. The character of Johnny Friendly was partially based on International Longshoremen's Association East River dock boss Michael Clemente. Friendly also had aspects of former Murder, Inc. head Albert Anastasia, who was underboss and later the boss for the Mangano crime family that ran the Brooklyn docks, later renamed the Gambino crime family. In 1979, Clemente and other members of the Genovese family were indicted for corruption and racketeering on the New York waterfront.

Casting

The part of Edie Doyle was offered to Grace Kelly, who turned it down, preferring to make Rear Window instead. Kazan said in his autobiography A Life that the choice of an actress to play Edie Doyle was narrowed to Elizabeth Montgomery and Eva Marie Saint. There was something well-bred about Montgomery that Kazan thought would not be becoming for Edie, who was raised on the waterfront in Hoboken, New Jersey. He gave the part to Saint. The role of Terry's older brother Charley was originally offered to Lawrence Tierney, who asked for too much money, so the role went to Rod Steiger. Despite playing Terry's older brother, Steiger was one year younger than Brando. Several of the labor boss's men in the film, including Abe Simon as Barney, Tony Galento as Truck, and Tami Mauriello as Tillio, were former professional heavyweight boxers in real life.