And without further ado here is the second part of the Marlon Brando season.
After
three years of striking out in the Best Actor category Brando finally
came up trumps at the 1955 ceremony with the film that also won the Best
Picture award that year - On the Waterfront. For this picture Brando
reteamed with both Streetcar writer Elia Kazan and co-star Karl Malden
to make a story based on real experiences that long shoremen had dealing
with their mob-run environment. As the film starts Brando's Terry
Malloy is instrumental in the death of long shoreman Joey Doyle who's
death is interlinked with him testifying against gangster Johnny
Friendly who runs the docks and trades illegally. Malloy's brother
Charley works as Friendly's accountant and gets Terry to do some of the
easier jobs through his guilt of making Terry throwing fights when he
was a prize fighter. Events get complicated when Terry falls for Doyle's
sister Evie who, along with Malden's priest Father Barry, tries to
convince Terry to testify against Friendly. Worried that Terry is being
swayed Friendly sends Charley out to set Terry straight where Terry
delivers the still famous 'I Coulda Been a Contender' speech. Eventually
Terry testifies and Friendly turns the rest of the dockworkers against
him and has him beaten up but Friendly is then discredited with all the
longshoremen turning their backs on him. There's so much to praise about
On The Waterfront and thankfully for once a great film gets recognised
by the Academy winning Best Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay and
Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint as Evie. Saint is great in the
film so much so I think this was almost a Lead performance which
would've seen the film scoop the much-touted 'Big Five'. If Streetcar
was Brando's breakout then this was definitely his star-making turn
playing a conflicting character wanting to do what's right but not
wanting to test his loyalty against his brother and the men who have
been giving him the job. There are also so many great filmic moments
from the already mentioned speech, to the ending where a beaten Malloy
makes his way to work despite being light on his feet and having blurred
sight but my favourite scene is probably Terry telling Evie about his
involvement in Joey's death which we don't hear as a big steamship comes
past making their conversation inaudible. Of the supporting
performances Karl Malden is probably my favourite as the priest, but Lee
J Cobb also makes a convincing gangster and Rod Steiger as Charley also
is strong in a couple of scenes all were nominated as Supporting Actors
but to Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa both a role and film
that aren't best remembered. I also feel that the score is brilliant it
stuck in my head afterwards and added to the atmospheric tone. The Oscar
winning set direction and cinematography were both brilliantly handled
with the shoot taking place over 36 days in Hoboken, New Jersey making
all the shore scenes seem very real and the workers' silence over how
badly their work is run and even some of Friendly's goons are played by
real-life prize fighters. Just a brilliant film and a worthy Best
Picture winner and definitely the film that made Marlon Brando.
The
final Best Picture nominee that Brando starred in during the 1950s, and
again he got a Best Actor nomination, was Sayonara which I feel was a
bit of a departure from the roles he played in contemporary American
dramas in this particular blog post. The film sees Brando play Air Force
Major Ace Gruver who moves from Korea to Japan where one of his troop -
Joe Kelly is about to marry a Japanese woman. A lot of people in the
Air Force and the military in general aren't happy with Kelly's choice
to marry a Japanese woman but despite his reluctance Gruver agrees to be
Kelly's best man. Also in Japan, Gruver's superior General Webster has
bought along his daughter Eileen, played by Patricia Owens, who for a
long time Ace has been in a relationship with. However during the time
in Japan neither feel the relationship is pretty solid with Eileen's
feelings being a lot stronger than Ace's. As time goes on Gruver starts
to accept Kelly's relationship with his wife Katsumi and himself becomes
entranced by a Japanese dancer Hana-ogi. Things come to a head when
Kelly is to be shipped back to America and his wife isn't allowed to
come with him despite the fact she is pregnant. Ace is also to be sent
back after his relationship with Hana-ogi is revealed but the day that
Kelly is to be taken away he runs back to Katsumi and they both commit
suicide deciding to be together in the next life. Ace then discovers
that General Webster has made a law possible for men like Kelly to bring
their Japanese wives back to America so he announces to the media that
he is marrying Hana-ogi and people best get used to it. The biggest
surprise in this film is probably seeing Brando in a kimono despite that
this film is a little long-winded in its message of equality and that
these soldiers are in love with these women rather than just wanting to
be with the first woman they touch as Webster so eloquently puts it in
once scene. Brando's Southern drawl adds an extra dimension to this
character who is portrayed as being a natural leader but at the same
time very simple in his views and he is one round by the differences
that Japan and Japanese women have to offer. However the two standout
performances come from Oscar winners Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki as
Joe and Katsumi both giving spectacular performances as the doomed
couple Buttons in particular is a revelation as he was much better known
as a comedian than a dramatic actor but this film more than showed that
he could do both. I have to say I felt the film needed to be about 20
minutes less and I didn't need to see as many of the Japanese sequences
as I did and I felt James Garner was wasted in a worthless role as the
military man showing Ace a different side of Japan. Overall though a
film with a strong message and another great performance from Brando
again displaying his range.
As I watched this quartet of films I really felt that Brando was
improving as an actor as the decade went on from rough and ready in
Streetcar he honed his skills for On the Waterfront before playing an
almost naive character in Sayonara. Like with Elizabeth Taylor I'm
looking forward to seeing more of Brando as we trek on through the
decades but I guess its Sayonara for now
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