This is a plot analysis of the film 'On The Waterfront'.
On The Waterfront by Elia Kazan
The opening titles of 'On The Waterfront' are on a background of woven cloth which embodies the entire theme of the film, which is that we are all threads in the common fabric of society and that what affects 1 fiber affects the entire cloth. The movie opens on the pier of a dock in Hoboken, New Jersey. Union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) and his thugs come out of a small office shack with former prize-fighter turned snitch, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who Johnny sends to set up an outspoken dockworker named Joey Doyle. Joey Doyle is supposed to testify to the Crime Commission about corruption by local 374, which Johnny controls.
Terry Malloy goes to Joey’s tenement and calls out Joey’s name. He asks Joey to meet him on the roof where Joey raises pigeons and Joey agrees and minutes later comes falling off the roof to the ground, dead instantly. Terry sees the whole thing but is upset because only thought Johnny would talk some sense into Joey, not kill the man. Charley, Terry’s older brother, blames Joey’s death on his big mouth. At the scene, people gather around Joey’s dead body including Joey’s father, Pops, his sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and others. Joey is the 2nd man who died after vowing to testify against Johnny Friendly. The police ask questions but get nothing. Everyone in the neighborhood follows the D & D code, which is Deaf and Dumb! A local clergyman named Father Barry (Karl Malden) kneels over Doyle’s body and tells Edie to come see him at the church to which she replies that she never heard of a saint hiding in the church.
Back at the union office at the docks, Johnny Friendly gives Terry Malloy some money for his part in killing Joey Doyle. But Terry is visibly upset at not being told that they were setting Joey up to get killed. Johnny tells Big Mac, the dock foreman, to set Terry up with a cushy job in a loft to make him feel better and sends Terry on his way.
My viewpoint
All of the main characters of the film and their conflicts are introduced in this scene and also the central theme of the film is summed up in a question put by Joey Doyle’s sister: “Who killed my brother?” Lets begin with Terry Malloy. He is an ex-prize fighter with very little education. He is a snitch for Johnny Friendly but this does not sit well with him, especially helping to set up Joey Doyle. Charley, Terry’s older brother ( in real life, Rod Steiger who plays Charley, is a year younger than Brando who plays the younger brother), is Johnny’s accountant and right-hand man. He is college educated and is loyal to Johnny (Johnny represents money in this film), even at the expense of his brother by allowing Johnny to use Terry to set up Joey. But you can see that there is something wrong between Terry and Charley’s relationship. There is a connection between Johnny Friendly killing Joey Doyle and others to keep them from testifying to the Crime Commission and Charley “The Gent” unwilling to face up to his role in ruining Terry’s boxing career. More on this later. As for Terry, the fact that he used to be a fighter means that he is now emasculated as a man and unable to resist the influence of Johnny Friendly. Taking the dive for the “short money” means that he sold out his pride and integrity and in a sense, allowed himself to be pimped by his brother and Johnny Friendly for short term gratification. He allowed himself to be used by his brother out of love, because, as he points out in the famous cab scene, he trusted his brother. More on this later. The main point of this scene is that it establishes that everyone is looking out for him or herself starting with Johnny Friendly who orders the hit on Joey Doyle; to those in the community and their code of silence; to Charley “the Gent,” Johnny’s right hand man; to Father Barry who addresses society’s ills from the safety of the church, and finally, the main character Terry Malloy who snitches on his fellow dockworkers for special privileges.
Title 4 (12:17—13:15) (00:58)
Workers show up at the loading docks hoping to be recruited for work. Pops, Joey’s father, gives Joeys windbreaker to a fellow dockworker named Kayo Dugan. Kayo takes off his old jacket and gives it to a fellow worker and puts on Joey’s jacket.
My viewpoint
The jacket is symbolic. Joey Doyle had the guts to testify against Johnny Friendly and now that torch, representing the windbreaker, is being handed down to Kayo Dugan and it’s no coincidence that he has a fighter’s name, Kayo. Pay close attention to this windbreaker because later when Kayo is murdered this jacket will be handed down to Terry who will testify against Johnny; symbolically, this suggests that even if you fail over and over, that you will eventually win if you stay in the fight. Also to note is the attitude of the workers towards snitchers, which is negative despite the fact that Joey was one of their own and was testifying against their corrupt union boss who treated them like animals. Again, the general populace, like the story’s main characters, have the attitude of every man for himself.
Title 5 (15:15-20:01) (4:46)
Father Barry goes down to the docks to see the longshoremen fight each other like animals over work-tokens the foreman tosses at them like bird seed. Pops is too old and is kicked from the pile of younger workers. Terry teases Edie with one of the work-tokens but gives it to her when one of the workers tells him that she’s Joey Doyle’s sister. Edie gives the token to her father who berates Father Barry for bringing her to the docks to see things “not fit for a lady to see.” Father Barry is angry about what he saw, about how the men are made to fight each other for work when there is plenty to go around. He invites the longshoremen to talk in the basement of the church.
My viewpoint
When Big Mac hands out the token, pay close attention to how he deliberately passes over Kayo. It’s obvious that Kayo is fingered as a troublemaker and is destined to go against Johnny Friendly at some point. Also, when Big Mac chooses his workers and throws the few remaining tokens at the workers like chickenfeed, the workers fight each other—this illustrates why no one looks out for the other guy and only himself. In order to survive, you have to look out for number 1, yourself. This also illustrates how desperate situations can degrade the individual as Pops embarrassment in being seen by his daughter points out. Father Barry becomes involved but only halfway as he has asks the workers to come to the church, the same thing he asks Edie to do in the 1st scene. Also, when he does get involved Kayo is all in with him because he’s risking his own neck by doing so, something the dockworkers are unaccustomed to.
Title 7 (20:08—26:06) (5:58)
Terry Malloy enjoys the privileges of being Johnny Friendly’s stool pigeon, kicked back on a bag of coffee reading a book while everyone else is working. Charley “the Gent” delivers a message from Johnny who heard through the grapevine about the workers meeting at the church. Johnny wants Terry to go there to see what they’re talking about. Terry doesn’t want to be a stool pigeon but he doesn’t want to lose his privileges either. He goes to the church. There, Father Barry asks the workers who killed Joey Doyle but no one’s talking, especially when they notice Terry Malloy behind them alone on one the benches. As the meeting ends, someone throws a brick through one of the windows. As the workers run out of the church they are beaten by Johnny’s men. Father Barry pulls a couple of thugs off of Kayo who’s face is bruised and bloody. Kayo asks Father Barry if he’s all-in and Father Barry promises to stand behind Kayo and the workers no matter what.
My viewpoint
Father Barry is religion coming out of the church and becoming active in the community and why Black churches during the Civil Rights movement in the 60s (and even now) were targets of hostility. Even now, Father Barry has some respect as Johnny’s thugs did not attack him personally yet because he has not taken a personal stand outside the church. Kayo is the citizen who has had enough and is willing to put his neck out if Father Barry is committed to going all the way.
Title 9 (29:18—33:16) (4:02)
After Johnny’s goons attack the dockworkers at Father Barry’s church, Terry catches up with Edie who isn’t aware that he is the one who set her brother Joey up for Johnny Friendly. Terry walks her home.
My viewpoint
This is Terry and Edie’s 1st real scene together. They went to school together as kids. She remembered how the nuns beat him all the time and he laughs at how he defied them, asking Edie how she would have handled him. “I would have used a little more patience and kindness,” she says catching him off guard. He’s been beat up his whole life and is not used to her kindness. This, she says, is “What makes people mean and difficult, people don’t care enough about them.” Her kindness affects Terry the same way that Father Barry’s kindness affects Kayo who is not used to others sacrificing themselves for the sake of others. Again, the theme of this film is that we are all part of the same cloth.
When Edie gets home, Pops, her father, scolds her for being seen with Terry Malloy, the brother of Charlie “the Gent.” Pops had been looking out the window and saw them together. He gives her a bus ticket back to college. Edie tells Pops essentially what she told Father Barry earlier about him hiding in the church instead of being in the streets where people needed him. Edie believes that she is responsibility for others and she won’t go back to school until she finds out who killed her brother Joey. Again, the theme is that everyone is a part of each other and that we are responsible for each other. So, Edie and Father Barry are the lynchpins that are vital to the philosophical transformations in Terry Malloy and Kayo Dugan. One more thing about this clip to take note of is the crucifix hanging on the wall inside Edie’s apartment. As Edie explains her moral obligation to help others, the crucifix is in plain view. The crucifix is also the symbol for personal sacrifice and this symbol pops up frequently throughout the film as I will point out.
Title 12 (37:35—41:11) (3:46)
Terry takes Edie out for her 1st beer and he shares a bit of his past with her, particularly, that he used to be a prize fighter. He stops short of telling her how his brother helped to ruin his career. He lays out his philosophy on like, which is “Look out for yourself.”
My viewpoint
Joey’s callous outlook comes from being mistreated his entire life and sold out by his older brother Charlie. Terry is a metaphor for a lot of young men today who get in trouble and wind up dead or in jail. Edie and Father Barry in this film are the antithesis to the idea of more punishment for the bad apples of society. It is also important to note that Edie’s compassion is starting to get Terry to open up about his hurt at being betrayed by Charlie.
Title 16 (51:19-57:21) (6:02)
Johnny Friendly arranges for Kayo to be killed so he won’t testify to the Crime Commission and Father Barry keeps his promise to Kayo by standing up for the dockworkers and finding out who killed Joey Doyle. As Father Barry is delivering his Calvary speech to the dockworkers, Terry knocks out one of Johnny’s men as the man prepares to throw something at Father Barry. Father Barry completes his sermon in the hold of the ship.
My viewpoint
Kayo is another casualty in the war for truth. After he is killed, Joey’s windbreaker is taken off his body and returned to Edie by one of the dockworkers. Again, the significance of the crucifix in Edie’s apartment is emphasized in Father Barry’s Calvary speech where he describes Dugan’s murder as a crucifixion. Now Father Barry has officially left the protection and neutrality of the church and is subjected to abuse as Johnny’s men pelt him from the deck above, a beer or soda can opens a cut and blood runs down Father Barry’s face. His words inspire Terry Malloy to betray Johnny Friendly by punching one of the hecklers about to throw something at Father Barry. Symbolically, Father Barry is lifted out of the hold of the ship by crane and into the light representing Kayo’s ascension to Heaven.
Title 18 (59:05-1:03:36) (4:31)
Terry goes by the church to tell Father Barry that he set up Joey Doyle to be killed. Father Barry persuades Terry to tell Edie. Terry tells Edie everything. She leaves him.
My viewpoint
Terry clears his conscience by confessing his part in the death of Joey Doyle to Father Barry and to Joey’s sister Edie. Terry is now ready to complete his transformation from looking out for himself to looking out for others by betraying his brother and testifying against Johnny Friendly.
Edie’s emotional state is represented by loud steam discharges from a ship’s smoke stack and
Title 19 (1:10:15-1:17:58) (7:34)
Charley and Terry take a taxicab to talk. Earlier, one of Johnny’s men spotted Terry talking to one of the investigators on the Crime Commission and Johnny wants Charley to make sure Terry’s not a rat and to straighten him out, or else! Charley offers Terry a new job on the pier making more money, an easy job where he wouldn’t even have to work. He and Terry get into an argument and the past comes up and the truth about Charley’s betrayal comes out. Later, Terry goes to Edie apartment and after putting up resistance, she gives in and they make love.
My viewpoint
This is in my mind, the greatest acting performance ever filmed. When Charley pulls his gun on Terry and Terry, without anger and without putting up any resistance, gently moves it away, Charley realizes how far he’s fallen. In this sequence, Terry becomes Edie as she had used tenderness to disarm him, he uses tenderness to disarm and shame his brother to his senses. Now there’s nothing left but the truth, the truth of a betrayed love and a lost dream. Charley faces up to the fact that he is responsible for his brother, which sums up the theme of the movie. Now, the only way Charley can make up for ruining his brother’s boxing career is to sacrifice his own life, the common thread running through the entire movie from Joey getting killed to Father Barry coming out of the church to Kayo Dugan getting killed to Edie leaving college to find out who killed Joey and to Charley “the Gent” giving his gun to his brother. The theme of sacrifice is further stressed by the crucifix on Edie’s wall in her apartment and this theme is stressed again in the scene showing Charley dead and hanging on a wall to look like the crucifix, dying so that his brother can continue living.
Title 22 (1:20:05—1:21:27) (1:22)
Johnny’s men execute Charley for not going through with killing his brother.
My viewpoint
Note the way Charley is hanging on the wall and the crucifix in Edie’s apartment. Again, Charley sacrificed himself for his brother, which sums up what the film is about.
Title 24 (1:28:15-1:30:25) (2:10)
Terry betrays Johnny Friendly and testifies against him. Johnny announces that Terry will never find work anywhere on the waterfront.
My viewpoint
The truth finally comes out about Johnny Friendly murdering Joey Doyle and other illegal activities. Terry has won his dignity back but at the price of being completely isolated as he has violated the village code of D & D, Deaf and Dumb, by snitching to the law. In the following scene, Terry returns to his pigeon coop. The kids that looked up to him had broken the necks of all the birds to show their anger and betrayal for him snitching to the law. Terry, like Joey Doyle, Kayo Dugan, and Charlie “the Gent,” realizes that there are consequences for doing the right thing like there are consequences for doing the wrong thing. But he is no more content to be pacified with privileges, to sit by idly as others are mistreated. Terry is, once again, a fighter.
Title 26 (1:38:16-1:47:24) (9:08)
Terry goes down to the dock for work but Big Mac passes him over making good on Johnny Friendly’s order to not give Terry any kind of work. Terry confronts Johnny and they fight on the pier with Terry getting the best of Johnny until Johnny calls in his men who beat Terry within an inch of his life. Terry, with the help of Edie and Father Barry, gets to his feet. The dockworkers refuse to work unless Terry also works. Father Barry whispers in Terry’s ear that Johnny’s got odds on him not getting off the pier and into the warehouse. Terry stumbles to the warehouse followed by all his co workers.
My viewpoint
The 1st thing to notice in this clip is the jacket Terry’s wearing. This is Joey Doyle’s windbreaker, which was passed down to Kayo Dugan, and now Terry’s wearing it, meaning that he is carrying the torch and fighting for the workers on the docks. initially, he is completely alone as neither side has any love for a snitch. But as Terry fights Johnny and is actually beating Johnny the dockworkers come over to his side and support him. Once again, he’s in the ring and this time he’s not taking a dive. And when he goes down this time he beats the count, bruised and battered, but nevertheless the champion.
