Crime/Thriller ‧ 1h 48m ‧ 1954
The April 17 free Classic Movie Night features the 1954 Academy Award-winning drama On the Waterfront. The film, directed by Elia Kazan, stars Marlon Brando, and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning and Eva Marie Saint in her film debut. The musical score was composed by Leonard Bernstein.
The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won eight, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Brando), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Saint). It is ranked #19 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Greatest American Films of All Time” list and, in 1989, was one of the first 25 films to be deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
In the movie, Brando portrays an ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman who struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses. Dockworker Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) had been an up-and-coming boxer until powerful local mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) persuaded him to throw a fight. When a longshoreman is murdered before he can testify about Friendly's control of the Hoboken waterfront, Terry teams up with the dead man's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and the streetwise priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) to testify himself, against the advice of Friendly's lawyer, Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger).
The Odeon’s Classic Movie Night is the third Wednesday of each month. Admission is always free but we appreciate your donations, which enable us to continue offering these special movie presentations.
If you’re interested in sponsoring your favorite Classic Movie* by underwriting the licensing fee (typically $50 to $250 depending on the film) in part or whole, please email us at notify@theodeontheater.com.
* Movies must appear on the AFI’s “100 Greatest Movies of All Time” list.