|
| On the Waterfront (Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Martin Balsam, Don Blackman, Rudy Bond, Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy New: $11.77
You Save: $8.17 (41%)
New (46) Used (20) Collectible (3) from $8.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  157 reviews
Sales Rank: 741
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 107
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 78409
ISBN: 0767804279
UPC: 043396784093
EAN: 9780767804271
ASIN: B00003CXBU
Theatrical Release Date: 1954
Release Date: October 23, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New! US Factory Sealed Item! Sorry, No Illinois Sales. Ships via standard media mail. Average delivery time is 7 to 10 business days. However, please allow up to 3 weeks if post office gets busy. 5 star seller! Fast and friendly customer service!
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Marlon Brando gives one of the screen's most electrifying performances as Best Actor in this 1954 Academy Award winner for Best Film. Ex-fighter Terry Malloy (Brando) could have been a contender but now toils for boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) on the gang-ridden waterfront. Terry is guilt-stricken however when he lures a rebellious worker to his death. But it takes the love of Edie Doyle (Eva Marie Saint) the dead man's sister to show Terry how low he has fallen. When his crooked brother Charley the Gent (Rod Steiger) is brutally murdered for refusing to kill him Terry battles to crush Friendly's underworld empire. Directed by Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire) and written by Budd Schulberg (What Makes Sammy Run?) this unforgettable drama about Terry's redemption is among the most acclaimed of all films.System Requirements: Running Time 107 Min Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396784093 Manufacturer No: 78409
Amazon.com essential video
Marlon Brando's famous "I coulda been a contenda" speech is such a warhorse by now that a lot of people probably feel they've seen this picture already, even if they haven't. And many of those who have seen it may have forgotten how flat-out thrilling it is. For all its great dramatic and cinematic qualities, and its fiery social criticism, Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront is also one of the most gripping melodramas of political corruption and individual heroism ever made in the United States, a five-star gut-grabber. Shot on location around the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the mid-1950s, it tells the fact-based story of a longshoreman (Brando's Terry Malloy) who is blackballed and savagely beaten for informing against the mobsters who have taken over his union and sold it out to the bosses. (Karl Malden has a more conventional stalwart-hero role, as an idealistic priest who nurtures Terry's pangs of conscience.) Lee J. Cobb, who created the role of Willy Loman in Death of Salesman under Kazan's direction on Broadway, makes a formidable foe as a greedy union leader. --David Chute
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 152 more reviews...
 Brando at his best May 29, 2008
I hate to admit it, but I never really got the whole Brando thing. Then again, I really only had The Godfather to base that on-and I'm not really a mafia-movie chick. This is film making at its finest. Brando shines-and was clearly a pretty boy in his time. Strong script and great performances by both Brando and Steiger. While I like the "contender" scene, I think it paled to the scene when Terry is trying to connect with Edie in the bar/cafe scene. Overall-great film. If you haven't had a chance to see it-do yourself a favor.
one of the best ever May 27, 2008
This is absolutely a must see film. It has history (created by Kazan to be an answer to Miller's The Crucible), reality (was shot on the docks with many of actual long shoremen as actors), and great acting. There are four acting oscar nominations for this film. (Brando, Saint, Malden, Cobb)It is one of those films that make you stand and cheer. Even my students who are seniors in high school broke into applause when I showed it to them.
 One of the Best of All Time! Too Bad About the DVD! May 8, 2008
This is one of my favourite movies of all time for its very powerful message about doing the right thing despite the consequences and about sins of omission being just as or even more damning then sins of commission. The screenplay was excellent and the acting especially of Brando and Steiger was even better. This was Brando's best ever performance on screen and this film is among the top ten ever made.
The only problem is with the dvd which had few special features worth mentioning and had many picture and sound quality deficiencies. Here's hoping that with the advent of Blu-ray they will take the opportunity to thoroughly remaster and restore the sound and picture quality. For the former a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound option would be much appreciated.
This film belongs in every film fan's dvd library but give this dvd version a miss until a much better restored version surfaces. Here's me waiting with bated breath.
excellent movie but DVD only in FS January 24, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of the greatest movies of all time... it is unfortunate that the movie is only found on DVD in Full Screen format. It can only be seen in Wide Screen on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).
A Richly Deserved Reputation January 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is truly one of the American cinema's greatest films. A splendid cast, anchored by the breathtaking performance of Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, gives it their passionate best with results that deserve accolades all around. A word about the political context of the film, which is often not known by younger generations of viewers - Elia Kazan, who directed and wrote the original story, informed on people in Hollywood to the House Unamerican Activities Committee during the McCarthy Communist witchhunt era. Therefore, this film is seen by many as Kazan justifying his actions as an informant. When Kazan received a Lifetime Achievement award at the Oscars some years ago, many in the audience refused to stand to applaud him.
While this may be the true motivation behind the film, the film still deserves to be judged on its own merits. It is simply suberb, with a powerful script by Budd Schulberg, evocative photography of New York's waterfront and environs, a gripping story, and some of the finest performances ever given onscreen. These include Rod Steiger as Charlie Malloy, Eva Marie Saint as Edie, Lee J. Cobb as the waterfront mob boss, Karl Malden as the neighborhood priest, and a group of exceptional character actors as the oppressed longshoremen. The story centers on Brando's character, Terry Malloy, the younger brother of the waterfront mob boss's personal accountant, as Terry evolves from being one of the mob's beneficiaries to standing up to it, through his growing love for Edie, the sister of a longshoreman murdered by the mob for talking to investigators.
Brando's passionate, mesmerizing performance is one of two or three that his early reputation in Hollywood rested upon, and with good reason. It is astonishing that, with all the imitation and comical use of some of Brando's lines ("I could'a been SOMEBODY - I could'a been a CONTENDA"), when confronted with the actual performance, it is impossible to smile. The performance retains all its sorrowful beauty and its authenticity, and demands your respect. Brando may have been crazy, he may have made incomprehensible choices about his career later on, he may have appeared in absurd roles in absurd films, but that he was extraordinarily gifted is beyond doubt.
No review of this film is complete without reference to the haunting score by Leonard Bernstein, with its melancholy opening notes on brass, menacing percussion sections, and soaring love theme. Bernstein turned the score into an orchestral suite that often appears on recordings with the suite he created with the themes from "West Side Story". Both suites are of a quality worth listenting to on their own (and, indeed, they occasionally show up in the concert hall), and both are imbued with the uncanny power to evoke the streets of New York City, unmistakable to those of us who grew up there.
This film is a must-have for those who seek for and revere true artistic achievement - especially the variety where the effort to produce it is hidden, and all that shines through is the art itself.
|
|
|
 Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
