On the Waterfront Page #4

Synopsis: Dockworker Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) had been an up-and-coming boxer until powerful local mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) persuaded him to throw a fight. When a longshoreman is murdered before he can testify about Friendly's control of the Hoboken waterfront, Terry teams up with the dead man's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and the streetwise priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) to testify himself, against the advice of Friendly's lawyer, Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger).
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Production: Sony Pictures
  Won 8 Oscars. Another 21 wins & 9 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.2
Metacritic:
88
Rotten Tomatoes:
98%
NOT RATED
Year:
1954
108 min
3,840 Views


CLOSER SHOTS—LONGSHOREMEN

Muttering to each other.

AD LIBS He was a good boy, the Doyle kid. Sure he was, that's why he

got it in the head. Couldn't learn to keep his mouth shut.

MEDIUM CLOSE—ON TERRY

With his chum, JACKIE, as another pal, CHICK, comes up. Terry looks

around as if t rying to hear what the men are muttering behind him.

CHICK:

(to Jackie but really to Terry)

Hey Jackie, what D'ya think of this privileged character?

Don't have to shape up no more. Got himself a soft touch

up in the loft.

(mimics sound of snoring)

TERRY:

(defensively)

Who told you that?

CHICK:

(winks at Jackie)

Waterfront Western Union.

(business of putting his hand to his mouth)

Terry looks around at the restless men

again.

JACKIE:

You're doin' lovely, Terry, very lovely.

TERRY:

(hotly)

O.K., O.K., That's enough.

In the B.G. Pop can be seen approaching Nolan, Moose, Tommy, and

Luke with a windbreaker jacket over his arm.

JACKIE:

(a little hurt)

What's the matter wit' you,

success gone to ya head?

TERRY:

I told you lay off.

JACKIE:

(to Chick in a falsetto)

My ain't we touchy this morning?

MEDIUM CLOSE—MEN BEHIND TERRY AT PIER ENTRANCE—DAY

Nolan, Moose, Tommy, Luke, and others are muttering about Joey. Pop

comes up to them. The men quickly drop the subject of Joey.

NOLAN:

Go home, Pop. The lads who get work

Today'll be chippin' in gladly.

TOMMY:

Sure, we'll take care of ya.

LUKE:

That's the truth, Pop.

Others mutter expressions of bitter sympathy. "Tough about Joey," etc.

POP:

Thanks, boys, but I'm gonna shape. Who do

you think's gonna pay for the funeral— Johnny

Friendly and the boss stevedore?

CLOSE SHOT—TERRY

Reacting. Sonny, a few feet away, also hears and we follow him back to

Pop and group.

SONNY:

Hey, watch that talk. What you say?

NOLAN:

He was just tellin' me how proud he was

to belong to a fine honest local run by such an

outstandin' labor leader as Johnny Friendly.

SONNY:

Don't get wise now, you.

NOLAN:

Wise! If I was wise I wouldn't be no longshoreman

for thirty years and poorer now than when I started.

Sonny looks at him threateningly. Nolan holds his ground and Sonny goes

on.

POP:

Here— I brought you Joey's windbreaker—

Wear it, Kayo. Yours is more full of holes than

The Pittsburgh infield.

CLOSE SHOT—NOLAN

He is affected, but largely hiding his feelings.

GROUP SHOT—POP, NOLAN, MOOSE, TOMMY

J.P. Morgan pops up right behind Pop.

J.P.

Condolences. How you fixed for cabbage this mornin'?

NOLAN:

Oh me and my chum are just rolling in

the stuff. We only work down here for a hobby, J.P.

(Pop's cronies chuckle.)

MOOSE:

Haw, haw, haw— that's a good one.

J.P.

(undaunted, to Pop)

You'll be needing a few dollars for your extras,

Won't you, Pop? You're three weeks behind

on the last twenty-five, but I'm willing to take

a chance.

NOLAN:

Some chance at ten percent a week!

And if he don't borrow, he don't work.

J.P.

(to Pop)

You'll work.

NOLAN:

I ought to belt you one, J.P.

J.P.

(retreating slightly)

Raise a hand to me and... .

NOLAN:

... .and you'll tell Johnny Friendly.

J.P.

You'd be off the pier for good.

POP:

(ashamed)

All right, slip me a bill— and may

you rot in hell, J.P.

J.P.

When I'm dead 'n gone you'll know what a

friend I was.

NOLAN:

Drop dead now, why don't you, so we c'n

test your theory?

Moose leads the laughter. J.P. looks at them sourly.

J.P.

Condolences.

J.P. goes off with his shoulders bent over and his head down, like some

mournful bird, and Nolan walks behind him, mimicking. Nolan notices

Pop isn't laughing and stops. CAMERA FOLLOWS J.P. toward Terry, Chick,

and Jackie and holds on them. Two men in business suits—one of them

carrying a briefcase, looking decidedly out of place on the waterfront—

approach.

GLOVER:

(larger, more good-natured of the two)

Do any of you men know Terry Malloy?

JACKIE:

Malloy? Never heard of 'im.

CHICK:

(quickly)

Me neither

They both turn away sullenly. Glover and his colleague, GILLETTE, look

at Terry carefully. Gillette is scrappy and tough.

GLOVER:

You're Terry Malloy, aren't you?

TERRY:

(suspiciously)

What about it?

GLOVER:

I thought I recognized you. Saw you

fight in St. Nick's a couple of years ago.

TERRY:

(impatiently)

O.K. O.K. Without the bird seed. What do you want?

GLOVER:

Our identification.

He snaps out his wallet and holds it open for Terry's inspection.

TERRY:

Waterfront— Crime— Commission— ?

(pushes wallet back indignantly)

What's that?

GLOVER:

We're getting ready to hold public hearings

on waterfront crime and underworld infiltration

of longshore unions.

TERRY:

(automatically)

I don't know nothing.

GILLETTE:

You haven't heard the questions yet.

GLOVER:

(pleasantly)

There's a rumor that you're one of the last

people to see Joey Doyle alive.

TERRY:

And I still say— I don't know nothing.

GILLETTE:

We're not accusing you of anything, Mr. Malloy.

GLOVER:

I hope you understand that.

GILLETTE:

We only want to ask you a few things

about people you may know.

TERRY:

People I— You mean sing for you. Get out

of here before I—

GILLETTE:

(with a slight but confident smile)

I wouldn't advise that, Mr. Malloy. Unless you want to be

booked for assaulting an officer of the law.

TERRY:

Listen, I don't know nothing, I didn't see

nothing, I ain't saying nothing. So why don't you

and your girlfriend get lost.

GLOVER:

(gently)

All right, Mr. Malloy, you have a right not to talk,

if that's what you choose to do. But the public

has a right to know the facts, too.

GILLETTE:

(nodding in agreement)

We may be seeing you again.

TERRY:

Never will be much too soon.

GLOVER:

(almost like a friend)

Take it easy.

The two men nod and turn away. Jackie and Chick, a few paces off, have

been taking it in. Terry swaggers for their benefit .

TERRY:

How do you like them jokers? Taking me

for a pigeon.

JACKIE:

(mimicking the investigators, in a falsetto)

Gimme the names, I'll write 'em down in me little book.

Chick laughs and punches Terry's arm with rough affection.

TERRY:

(responding to the praise)

One more word 'n I would've belted the two of 'em,

badge or no badge!

They nod and laugh approvingly. There is a blast from the ship in the

B.G. which is just docking.

MEDIUM CLOSE—ON BIG MAC

The hiring boss. A stevedore official comes up to him with a box of

slips.

STEVEDORE:

Here's the tabs for two hundred banana carriers.

Big Mac blows his whistle.

MEDIUM CLOSE—POP, NOLAN, ETC.—PIER—DAY

NOLAN:

(trying to cheer Pop up)

A banana boat. It would be bananas. One of these days

me ship's comin' in from Ireland, God love 'er,

loaded to the gunnels with sweet Irish whiskey!

POP:

Nolan, me lad, ye're dreamin' again.

They laugh, then Pop looks O.S. and frowns.

POP:

—Edie?

LONG SHOT—EDIE—PIER—DAY

From Pop's POV. Talking to a pier guard.

Rate this script:3.7 / 3 votes

Budd Schulberg

Budd Schulberg (March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy Award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the Crowd. more…

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