Waddya guys do again?
It may be a familiar theme, but it’s still riveting. On The Waterfront (1954) examines the problems inherent in cultural xenophobia as well as the every man for himself mentality. In this examination we see what we can remain, much to our perplexed sorrow, or what we can become once we take those steps of faith – and the harrowing nature of those steps.
“A hawk has made the pigeons nervous,” former boxer Terry, now dockworker, says about his flock of racing pigeons. The obvious allusion of the hawk is to the mob boss, Johnny Friendly, who runs the Dockworker’s union to which Terry belongs. Friendly consistently manipulates the members of the union to ensure they won’t trust each other, nor anyone outside of their insular little community, so that the only grouping is his ‘muscle’, armed and unafraid to use those weapons to keep everyone in line.
But the real hawk is conscience, the conscience of men who understand, if only dimly, that evil is in their midst, gnawing at their souls, glutting itself on wealth scooped from the pockets of the workers. They know the never seen Joey was killed by the mob muscle, and that knowledge feeds their hawk, causing it to flutter about, stirring them to restless anger.
Terry’s own hawk is feeding on his inadvertent collusion in the murder of Joey. Joey had planned to testify against the mob bosses, and Terry helped lure him for his apartment; from the roof, Joey takes a short-lived wing, and in his fatal plunge becomes food for the hawks. Terry avoids his conscience, convincing himself that he thought that Joey would merely be persuaded not to testing, but is forced to face the talons as he discovers the classic interest in Joey’s sister, Edie, a woman driven to discover what happened to her beloved brother.
The authorities, ever distrusted by the working men of the docks, have come to investigate corruption and murder, and serve Terry with a subpoena. Terry dances and dodges, for it’s every man for himself and testifying would mean the mob descending on him, but the hawk is digging into his shoulders for the ride, and soon he finds himself with his brother, Charley. Charley, who years before had told Terry to throw the fight that could have put him in the big-time. Charley, who gave him a few bucks for ensuring the profitability of Friendly’s bet. Ah, short-term gain and fraud, and how did that serve you?
“I’m a bum.” Every man for himself.
Charley had been assigned to bring Terry to Friendly to ensure Terry would not testify, but Terry is making the transition from a bum to a man right in front of him, and Charley knows what that means. Charley, at least in this TV version, is not well-drawn, so the scene is not convincing from his point of view, but Charley cannot force Terry to his death, a costly decision for Charley. Terry is lured out of his apartment, nearly run over, and finds Charley’s body. He vows revenge, but Father Barry won’t permit him to throw his soul away, escorting him away.
Following his damning testimony, Terry discovers his pigeon flock destroyed by a boy who helped him with it: a pigeon for a stool-pigeon, the boy shouts as he throws a dead pigeon at Terry. Thus are those who ignore their consciences destroyed, no? Terry then descends to the pier, unconsciously looking to rescue another flock, for it’s time for the dockworkers to receive their assignments, and soon Johnny and Terry are fighting. When Johnny finds Terry has a backbone, he calls for help from his mob muscle, and as Johnny is pounded to a pulp, the silently watching dockworkers surge back and forth, the claws of the hawk urging them on, but their uncertainty holding them back.
They said there’d be a popsicle at the end.
Father Barry and Edie show up, push aside the battered Friendly, and minister to a badly hurt Terry. As they do so, a ship’s owner comes by and demands the union get work, but the dockworkers ignore Friendly’s harangue, stripping Friendly of his power. Terry now must walk that harsh path from what they all know, the comfort of familiarity, even when it’s the brutal mob muscle, short wages, and no futures, to the uncertainty that will come by working together, strongly and fairly. Terry makes that pain-wracked journey, step by horrible step, and the dockworkers follow him to a better place as they begin the work of the day, leaving the lash of their former masters behind.
A movie filled with stars and stars to be, it’s a lesson in the importance of ethics and honesty, not only with each other, but with one’s self as well.
Strongly recommended.
