My analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

An analysis of 'On The Waterfront' starring Marlon Brando

On The Waterfront starring Marlon Brando is 1 of the greatest films of all time. Ex-boxer Terry Malloy could've been a contender, but after taking a dive, he winds up on the dock of a Brooklyn waterfront, a pariah for conspiring in the murder of Joey Doyle, a popular dockworker, who was going to testify against Johnny Friendly. Terry is set up in a cushy job, all he has to do is tell Johnny who the rats are. But when Terry falls in love with the sister of the man he helped kill, he is forced to make a decision that pits him against his own brother, Charlie The Gent, in one of the greatest acting scenes ever filmed!

The iconic cab scene involving Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando is enough by itself to consider this as one of the best films ever made. Winner of 8 Oscars and also starring Lee J. Cobb, Fred Gwynne (The Munsters), Karl Malden, and a very young, very sweet Eva Marie Saint in her acting debut, Waterfront is a film for the ages, a prime example of great casting and acting, and extraordinary direction from Elia Kazan who, just 1 year later, put out another iconic film, East of Eden starring the late great James Dean.

A video Analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

This is an analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

In Elia Kazan's film 'On The Waterfront', Ex-boxer Terry Malloy could've been a contender, but after taking a dive, he winds up on the dock of a Brooklyn waterfront, a pariah for conspiring in the murder of Joey Doyle, a popular dockworker, who was going to testify against Johnny Friendly. Terry is set up in a cushy job, all he has to do is tell Johnny who the rats are. But when Terry falls in love with the sister of the man he helped kill, he is forced to make a decision that pits him against his own brother, Charlie The Gent, in one of the greatest acting scenes ever filmed!

Scene Analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

This is a plot analysis of the film 'On The Waterfront'.

On The Waterfront by Elia Kazan

Title 1 (0:00:00-10:46) (10:46)

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. 

'On The Waterfront': plot summary

This is a plot summary of Elia Kazan's film 'On The Waterfront' starring Marlon Brando.

The main theme throughout this film is that we are all threads in one common fabric and what affects one of us affects all of us.

The central story of this film involves a boxer having his career destroyed by his older brother. Terry Malloy was once an up-and-coming fighter on the fast-track to a title shot until his older brother who is mixed up with the mob gets him to throw a fight. Charley the Gent, Terry’s older brother, and his boss, Johnny Friendly, make a lot of money from the fight. Terry got a 1-way ticket to “palookaville,” meaning Johnny gave him a soft job on the shipping docks working as a snitch. In the beginning of the film, Johnny gets Terry to set up a dockworker named Joey Doyle who is scheduled to testify against Johnny before the Crime Commission. Terry has no idea he’s setting Joey up to be killed and afterwards Joey feels betrayed once again, as he’d been betrayed in taking a dive and throwing away his boxing career. 

Johnny’s goons throw Joey Doyle off the roof of a slum tenement on which Joey raises pigeons. The pigeons refer to snitches throughout the film. Spectators surround the body. Among them is Joey’s sister, Edie, and their father, Pops who warns an outspoken woman to keep her mouth shut when the police begin asking questions. The code in the neighborhood and on the docks is D&D—Deaf and Dumb. A clergyman kneels over Joey’s body crossing himself. Father Barry tries to console Joey’s sister, Edie, and she shames him:

“I’m in the church if you need me,” he says.Edie is furious. “In the church? Did you ever hear of a saint hiding in the church?”

Joey isn’t the 1st dockworker Johnny killed to keep from testifying. Even though Joey was well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood, no one will speak on his behalf. Terry Malloy takes over Joey Doyle’s pigeons and is idolized by the Golden Warriors, a gang of young boys. Terry comments that the pigeons have it made: “Eatin’ sleepin’ flying around like crazy. Raising gobs of squat,” which is exactly what he himself is, a pigeon and a snitch for Johnny Friendly down on the shipping docks. The pigeons in the film are referring to Joey and those like him who keep their mouths shut. And the Golden Warriors, like their older counterparts on the dock, don’t believe in snitching. 

Down on the docks, it’s dog-eat-dog as dozens of workers fight each other to get work tokens, without which you can’t get recruited for a day’s work.  A dockworker named Timothy “Kayo” Dugan makes a nasty remark about Johnny Friendly and is overheard by 2 of Friendly’s thugs who are much bigger than Kayo but Kayo answers their threats with a smirk. The thugs call Kayo a “big mouth” and walk away. Joey Doyle’s father, Pops, gives Kayo Joey’s windbreaker and Kayo pulls off his holey windbreaker and hands it to another dockworker. This gesture of giving Kayo Joey’s old windbreaker is symbolically handing down the torch to Kayo who seems destined to pick up where Joey Doyle left off. By the end of the film, when Terry Malloy confronts Johnny Friendly on the docks, Terry has on Joey Doyle’s coat meaning that he’s picked up the cause from Kayo Dugan. 

But not yet, the catalyst for getting everyone involved is Father Barry who is shamed by Edie into coming out of the church and making a public stand against Johnny Friendly. Father Barry visits the docks to see things for himself. A supervisor selects who will work from a mob of anxious men, anxious as there are so many work tokens to get passed out; everyone left goes home. Finally, the supervisor tosses a handful of tokens up in the air and the dockworkers scramble for them on the ground, screaming, punching and tearing at each other as the supervisor and Johnny Friendly’s men laugh from the sidelines. 

Joey’s father can’t fight with the younger dockworkers and is kicked out of the pile. When the dust finally settles, the only thing Kayo and other dockworkers are holding are sandwiches, or the lunch they would have eaten later if they’d gotten a token. Pops scolds Father Barry for bringing Edie to the docks to see the dockworkers degrade themselves so. Father Barry asks about the dockworker’s union but even the union’s owned by Johnny Friendly. Father Barry agrees to let the dockworkers meet in the basement of the church. 

At this point, Father Barry is halfway in by letting the workers meet secretly in the basement of the church. He isn’t fully-involved yet and is regarded by both sides as neutral. When Johnny’s men break up the dockworkers, shoving them away from the dock, a thug inadvertently shoves Father Barry and respectfully pardons himself. Father Barry hasn’t taken a stand yet but he’s taken the 1st step by letting the workers use the church. 

Johnny Friendly gets word of the church meeting and sends Terry to get information on whether anyone plans on testifying against him to the Crime Commission. Before this scene, there’s a scene showing Terry Malloy in a loft in one of the piers. Everyone else is working but he’s relaxing and reading a book. This scene is a parallel to the scene of the pigeon coop, where Terry makes the remark about the pigeons having it made. In that scene he is describing himself as he is here in a pen that is similar to the pigeon coop. Like the pigeons, Terry is well-fed and comfortable, looking out for number 1. The comparison is obvious. 

Back to the church meeting. Father Barry urges the dockworkers to tell him who killed Joey Doyle, however, everyone is D & D, Deaf and Dumb especially when Terry, Johnny’s ears, walks in, sitting by himself smirking all the way in the back where he can see everything. Terry is like the citizen who gives up and joins the other side. Black people would call him the sellout or the Uncle Tom being that he receives privileges and gets to live close to the master instead of working out on the docks and in the cold weather with the other workers. He’s a snitch but he’s on the right side. Later, once he comes to grips with his own pain and betrayal at the hands of his brother, Terry rebels against those responsible for depriving him of his promising boxing career, testifying against Johnny Friendly. 

As the church meeting comes to an end a brick crashes through a church window. Johnny Friendly’s thugs lure the dockworkers outside and beat them. Father Barry chases them away and promises to stand with Kayo who decides to assume Joey Doyle’s place by testifying against Johnny Doyle.

Afterwards, Terry walks Edie home. Along the way, a tramp begs Edie for a dime. When he recognizes her as Joey Doyle’s kid sister, the tramp’s eyes light up and he showers praise on Joey Doyle who once stood up for him. Terry shoves the tramp away from Edie. Terry tosses some change at the tramp in the same manner that the supervisor tossed the work tokens at the dockworkers. But unlike the dockworkers who scrambled to get the tokens off the ground, the tramp leaves Terry’s change where it is, calling Terry a bum and walking away. Terry laughs but later in the cab scene with his brother Charley the Gent, Terry calls himself a bum in the famous “I coulda been a contender” scene. 

Edie is attending college in a school ran by nuns and her father, Pops, doesn’t want her being around Terry Malloy who’s the brother of Charley the Gent, Johnny Friendly’s right hand man on the shipping docks. Edie’s weakness is taking in crippled strays like the stray cat she took in that is cockeyed with 6 toes. Edie is the film’s humanity or concern for fellow man. Her tenderness begins the melt the rough exterior Terry puts on for the world, which is really just insecurity. As their relationship deepens, her question as to who killed her brother arouses conflict within Terry’s conscience, torn between the neighborhood code of D & D and falling in love with Joey Doyle’s kid sister.  

Iconography related to Christ, particularly the cross, which represents goodness and sacrifice for others is planted here and there throughout the film. In Chapter 11 at the 34:24 mark on the DVD version, there is a cross over Edie’s right shoulder among the porcupine-like antennas sticking up on the tenement rooftops. This may seem insignificant but it’s important to remember that the cinematographer’s job is to capture the themes in the script visually and nothing is shot that does not add to the story’s texture, be it overt or subliminal. This is why films like these never get old; you find something you missed every time you watch them. A couple of minutes later, as Terry and Edie are by the chicken coop, there’s an over-the-shoulder shot at Edie and, again, there’s a crucifix over her right shoulder. Another more obvious reference to the crucifix is Terry’s and Edie’s implied love scene following the legendary taxicab scene. The crucifix is a recurring symbol that foreshadows the personal sacrifice Terry makes in going up against Johnny Friendly and violating the neighborhood’s snitching code. 

Terry begins to soften when he takes Edie to a bar for a beer and the bartender makes an offhand remark about Terry’s once-promising boxing career. Terry begins to share his past with Edie and how he became involved, through his brother, with Johnny Friendly. Then, as if coming out of a trance, Terry stops just short of telling Edie how his brother got him to take a dive in a fight that would have gotten him a shot at the world title. The film is summed up when he asks her the question: 

“Why should you care?” 
And she replies “I mean, isn’t everybody a part of everybody else?” 

‘Isn’t everybody a part of everybody else’ is the idea behind the woven cloth in the film's opening titles. Father Barry later rephrases this same idea in the Calvary speech he delivers following Kayo Dugan’s murder. Terry’s had to fight all his life, from the abuse he took at boarding school, to coming up in a poor neighborhood. He’s always had to keep his guards up. But Edie’s understanding, love, and tenderness are getting him to led down his guards and release some of the pain he has had to suppress throughout his life. 

Kayo Dugan agrees to testify against Johnny Friendly who’s steamed at the fact that Terry 1) didn’t tip him off to Dugan snitching and 2) that Terry is mixed up with Joey Doyle’s sister. Johnny Friendly arranges the murder of Kayo Dugan and punishes Terry by busting him down to the docks with the other workers. Terry is now forced to take a stand or else watch Kayo get killed. Remember, Kayo is wearing Joey’s windbreaker. 

Kayo and other dockworkers are in the hold of a ship unloading boxes of Irish whiskey, stacking them on slings that are raised out of the ship's hold by a crane. Terry tries to warn the Kayo not to stand under the slings but Kayo pushes Terry aside. No one trusts Terry because of his older brother, Charley the Gent, who’s the right hand of Johnny Friendly. A load of whiskey (and not just any whiskey, Irish whiskey as Dugan is Irish) accidentally tips and crashes down on Kayo, killing him instantly. Johnny and his goons on the deck above look down into the hold as Father Barry drags Kayo from underneath the pile of whiskey. Father Barry gives a speech comparing Dugan’s death to a crucifixion. Barry’s words hit home with Terry’s conscience when he says, 

“You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. it’s making the love of a buck, the cushy job more important that the love of man.”

Terry punches one of Johnny's goons to keep him from throwing something at  Father Barry. Terry gets the attention of Johnny's other goons. Again, like previous instances in the film, the crucifix is referenced here. Also referenced is the film’s theme that we are all threads in a common cloth and that what affects one of us affects all of us. Father Barry summarizes this theme when he says: 

“And what they did to Joey, they’re doing to you. And you, and you—all of you!” 

Symbolically, Father Barry is lifted out of the hold of the ship by crane and into the light representing Kayo’s ascension to Heaven. 

Terry visits Father Barry at the church and confesses to setting up Joey. Father Barry persuades Terry to clear his conscience by telling Joey’s sister Edie. Terry realizes that he risks losing Edie by doing so but he goes through with it, in a powerfully designed scene where Terry’s confession is so powerful and devastating that the actual confession itself is drowned out by a nearby ship discharging steam. We never hear exactly what he tells Edie but we see how devastating it is by her facial reactions and the deafening roar of the ship’s smoke stack. After Terry confesses, Edie leaves him and the camera perspective is a wide-shot in such a way that he appears to be standing on a pile of rubble that’s actually in the foreground. Again, great cinematography designed to coincide with the fact that Terry’s confession has destroyed his relationship with Edie and also her idea of who he is. 

One of Johnny’s goons sees Terry talking to one of the crime investigators. Johnny is not happy about this and wants Terry killed to keep him from "eating cheese" and talking to the Crime Commission. Johnny gives Charley and ultimatum to shut Terry’s mouth or kill him. Johnny Friendly’s trial is tied to the facts that come out in the taxicab scene involving Terry and his older brother. In both cases, the truth is suppressed to hide a murder: in Johnny’s case, the murder of Joey Doyle and Kayo Dugan; in Charley’s case, the murder (in a sense) of his brother’s boxing career. But in facing the truth, Charley must atone for murdering his brother’s career as a boxer by sacrificing his own life. This has to happen within the religious context of the film. In other words, a life for a life. 

Next, we have the famous cab scene. Terry got a subpoena to testify against Johnny Friendly and Charley’s trying to talk him out of it before they reach 437 River Street. He draws a gun on Terry but Terry gently pushes the pistol away. Then, the scab over the past is peeled away and all the pain comes to the present as Terry blames Charley for destroying his boxing career. Charley gives his gun to Terry and tells the cab to let him out. Johnny took out insurance in case Charley backed out of killing Terry and the cab drives Charley to  a nearby garage where Charley is murdered. 

I want to look at the acting side of this scene 1st. In the documentary on the DVD edition, Rod Steiger, who plays Charley the Gent, describes the 4 minute scene as a heavyweight boxing match between 2 actors at the top of their craft. There are many things that make this scene work, 1 being that the director allowed the actors to improvise some of their lines. Another thing that makes this scene really click is the way that Brando brings out the “feminine” side of his character according to James Lipton, host of ‘Inside The Actor’s Studio’. When Charley draws his gun on Terry, Terry is neither intimidated or angered but pushes the gun away, almost tenderly. I want to add to James Lipton’s assessment by pointing out that Terry disarms his brother the same way that Edie disarms Terry, and that is by being submissive or, keeping this in a Biblical context, by being meek. This scene wouldn’t have worked if Terry tried to wrestle the gun away from Charley. 

Reportedly, the film’s producer, Bud Siegel, was too cheap to shoot in an actual cab or use rear-projection and got them to shoot the scene in a mock-up taxicab and had blinds installed in the rear window, using lights to look like the cab was moving through traffic. But without the blinds darkening the cab and closing off the outside world, this scene would not have the same intimate feeling. 

When the truth comes out, Charley has to take responsibility for his brother and he pays the ultimate price. In giving his gun to Terry, Charley sacrifices his own life for the life--so to speak--that he took from his brother by destroying his boxing career. Charley realizes that Johnny will kill him and he has given up the only means of defending himself. Immediately after his meeting with his older brother in the taxicab, Terry rushes over to see Edie. She resists him at first but finally gives in and they make love. On the wall and to Edie’s right is a crucifix, which is an omen and a symbol of Terry’s brother who has sacrificed his life so that Terry can live. The Biblical metaphor in this symbolism cannot be denied and is later supported when Charley’s body is discovered hanging on a wall to look like a crucifixion.

And when Terry testifies to the Crime Commission, he loses all respect among his former friends who label him a snitch. Johnny loses the backing of the owner of the dock who distances himself from Johnny’s illegal activities. Johnny announces that Terry won’t find any kind of job anywhere on the docks and when Terry appears at the docks looking for work, Big Mac recruits around him. Terry calls Johnny out of his office, telling him in front of everybody that he is glad that he snitched and would do it again. Terry is also wearing Joey Doyle’s windbreaker in this scene meaning that he is now carrying the torch. His personal transformation is complete as he goes from being self-centered to standing up for all dockworkers. Johnny calls him out and Terry rushes him. Johnny is no match for Terry and calls for his henchmen who beat Terry and leave him lying face down on the pier. The dockworkers rally behind Terry. Father Barry promised to stand behind Kayo if he stood up to Johnny. Now, it is Terry who must stand up against Johnny and when he does stand, Father Barry, Edie and the workers are behind him. Terry stumbles up the pier and into the warehouse leading all of the workers inside and Johnny Friendly, angry, bloody, and raging, outside as the overhead door comes down and the film ends.