On the Waterfront. The Making of a Great American Film

Editorial Reviews. From the Author. Thank you for buying my book. About the Author. You read The Making of a Great American Film by [Tuohy, John.
Table of contents

Until the day he died, he claimed that this one small act, in a long and glorious career, had brought him peace of mind but the truth is, that 48 minutes before a ancient government microphone in a dimly lit room, would torment him for the rest of his days. Kazan would remain a man haunted by the ghosts and conflicts of his past that were as real as they imagined, a man who used those images to create his greatest work, On The Waterfront, a masterpiece film based in an iconoclastic political essay whose artistic message is still being heard, still being debated, still evoking emotions and passions.

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about On the Waterfront , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jan 19, Ugotz rated it it was amazing. Great book, makes the film that much more interesting!!

On the Waterfront

Amy Quigley marked it as to-read Jan 04, Ian Hollowood marked it as to-read Dec 15, Roulette marked it as to-read May 18, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. About John William Tuohy.

Over the next ten years, John would live in more than ten foster homes, group homes and state schools, from his native Waterbury to Ansonia, New Haven, West Haven, Deep River and Hartford. In the end, a decade later, the state returned him to the same home and the same parents they had taken him from.

Navigation menu

As tragic as is funny compelling story will make you cry and laugh as you journey with this child to overcome the obstacles of the foster care system and find his dreams. He is the author of numerous non-fiction on the history of organized crime including the ground break biography of bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and "Guns and Glamour: A History of Organized Crime in Chicago. Com, was chosen for a public performance at the Actors Chapel in Manhattan in February of as part of the groups Reading Series for New York project.

COM From Professor William Anthony Connolly This incredible memoir, No Time to Say Goodbye, tells of entertaining angels, dancing with devils, and of the abandoned children many viewed simply as raining manna from some lesser god.

The memoir will have you falling to your knees thanking that benevolent Irish cop in the sky, your lucky stars, or hugging the oxygen out of your own kids the fate foisted upon Johnny and his siblings does not and did not befall your own brood. John William Tuohy, a nationally-recognized authority on organized crime and Irish levity, is your trusted guide through the weeds the decades of neglect ensnared he and his brothers and sisters, all suffering for the impersonal and often mercenary taint of the foster care system.

I wanted to scream. Terry assumed that Friendly's enforcers were only going to "lean" on Joey to pressure him into silence, and is surprised when Joey is killed. Joey's sister Edie Eva Marie Saint , angry about her brother's death, shames "waterfront priest" Father Barry Karl Malden into fomenting action against the mob-controlled union. Friendly sends Terry to attend and inform on a dockworkers' meeting Father Barry holds in the church, which is broken up by Friendly's men.

Terry helps Edie escape the violence, and is smitten with her. Another dockworker, Timothy J. Although Terry resents being used as a tool in Joey's death, and despite Father Barry's impassioned "sermon on the docks" reminding the longshoremen that Christ walks among them and that every murder is a Calvary , Terry is at first willing to remain "D and D", even when subpoenaed to testify.

However, when Edie, unaware of Terry's role in her brother's death, begins to return Terry's feelings, Terry is tormented by his awakening conscience and confesses the circumstances of Joey's death to Father Barry and Edie. Horrified, Edie breaks up with him. As Terry increasingly leans toward testifying, Friendly decides that Terry must be killed unless Charley can coerce him into keeping quiet.

Charley tries bribing Terry with a good job and finally threatens Terry by holding a gun against him, but recognizes that he has failed to sway Terry, who blames his own downward spiral on his well-off brother.


  1. Electromagnetic Noise and Quantum Optical Measurements (Advanced Texts in Physics);
  2. Switchcraft!
  3. Screams and Bleeds, a Vanek Mystery (North Shore Mysteries Book 2).
  4. Market Analysis Isnt Brain Surgery.
  5. See a Problem?!
  6. Verliebt, verlobt, verbissen: Roman (Die Sarah-Dearly-Romane 5) (German Edition).

In what has become an iconic scene, Terry reminds Charley that had it not been for the fixed fight, Terry's prizefighting career would have bloomed. Terry flees to Edie's apartment, where she first refuses to let him in, but finally admits her love for him. Friendly, having had Charley watched, has Charley murdered and his body hung in an alley as bait to lure Terry out to his death, but Terry and Edie both escape the attempt on Terry's life. After finding Charley's body, Terry sets out to shoot Friendly, but Father Barry prevents it by blocking Terry's line of fire and convincing Terry to fight Friendly by testifying instead.

Terry proceeds to give damaging testimony implicating Friendly in Joey's murder and other illegal activities, causing Friendly's mob boss to cut him off and Friendly to face indictment. After the testimony, Friendly announces that Terry will not find employment anywhere on the waterfront. Terry is shunned by his former friends and by a neighborhood boy who had previously looked up to him.

Refusing Edie's suggestion that they move away from the waterfront together, Terry shows up during recruitment at the docks.

On the Waterfront: The Making of a Great American Film

When he is the only man not hired, Terry openly confronts Friendly, calling him out and proclaiming that he is proud of what he did. The confrontation develops into a vicious brawl, with Terry getting the upper hand until Friendly's thugs gang up on Terry and nearly beat him to death. The dockworkers, who witness the confrontation, show their support for Terry by refusing to work, unless Terry is working, too, and pushing Friendly into the river.

Encouraged by Father Barry and Edie, the badly injured Terry forces himself to his feet and enters the dock, followed by the other workers. A soaking wet and face-scarred Friendly, now left with nothing, swears revenge on them all, but his threats fall on deaf ears as they enter the garage, and the door closes behind them. One of Kazan's critics was his friend and collaborator, the noted playwright Arthur Miller , who had earlier written the first version of the script, originally entitled The Hook.

Kazan had agreed to direct it, and in they met with Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures about making the picture. Cohn agreed in principle to make The Hook , but there were concerns about the portrayal of corrupt union officials. Cohn sent a letter telling Miller it was interesting he had resisted Columbia's desire to make the movie "pro-American".

Kazan then replaced Miller with Budd Schulberg. After rewriting the script, Schulberg and Kazan approached Darryl F. Zanuck , who eventually told them he did not like a single thing about the script, asking, "Who's going to care about a bunch of sweaty longshoremen? Spiegel was insistent on Schulberg delivering a perfect screenplay, and barraged the writer with changes and suggestions, to the frustration of Schulberg.

Schulberg's script nonetheless went through a number of changes before reaching the screen. In an early draft, the Terry Malloy character was not an ex-pug dockworker, but a cynical investigative reporter, as well as an older, divorced man. 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.

Father Corridan was interviewed extensively by Schulberg, who also wrote the foreword to a biography of Father Corridan, Waterfront Priest by Allen Raymond. Friendly also had aspects of former Murder, Inc.

The Godfather (1972) Trailer #1

In , Clemente and other members of the Genovese family were indicted for corruption and racketeering on the New York waterfront. But Kazan still favored Brando for the role, partly because casting Brando would assure a larger budget for the picture.

On the Waterfront: The Making of a Great American Film by John William Tuohy

While Brando's agent, Jay Kanter, attempted to persuade Brando to change his mind, Kazan enlisted actor Karl Malden, whom Kazan considered more suited to a career as a director than as an actor, to direct and film a screen test of a "more Brando-like" actor as Terry Malloy, in an effort to persuade Spiegel that "an actor like Marlon Brando" could perform the role more forcefully than Sinatra.

Within a week, Brando signed a contract to perform in the film. At that point, a furious Sinatra demanded to be cast in the role of Father Barry, the waterfront priest. It was left to Spiegel to break the news to Sinatra that Malden had already been signed for that role. There was something well-bred about Montgomery that Kazan thought would not be becoming for Edie, [ citation needed ] 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' 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. On the Waterfront was filmed over 36 days on location in various places in Hoboken, New Jersey , including the docks, workers' slum dwellings, bars, littered alleys, and rooftops.

The church used for exterior scenes in the film was the historic Our Lady of Grace , built in , while the interiors were shot at the Church of St.