the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn, Darren Mooney and Conor Murphy, this week with special guest Donald Clarke, The 250 is a weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released Saturdays at 6pm GMT.

This September, we are running a season looking at the films on the Irish Leaving Cert English Curriculum. So this week, Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront.

A down-on-his-luck former prizefighter, Terry Malloy finds himself doing oddjobs for the local union boss Johnny Friendly. When one of these jobs ends with dock worker Joey Doyle thrown to his death before he was due to testify to corruption within the union, Terry begins to question and doubt his involvement. A burgeoning romance with Joey’s sister Edie gradually awakens Terry’s conscience, throwing him into conflict with everything that he has ever known.

At time of recording, it was ranked 187th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 10th August 2023.
• Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
• On the Waterfront at The Internet Movie Database.
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• Dan Snierson at Entertainment Weekly reports on the latest renewal of The Simpsons, January 2023.
• Louis Chilton at The Independent reports on The Simpsons as a show that will never end, June 2021.
• Conall Ó Fátharta at The Irish Examiner reports on the republication of Soundings, June 2010.
• Donald Clarke at The Irish Times opines about the overuse of the term “overrated”, August 2023.
• Peter McGuire offers a brief history of the Leaving Certificate at The Irish Times, November 2019.
• The Irish Times looks over a decade of change to the Irish Leaving Certificate, January 1998.
• The Irish Times considers the changes made to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, June 2001.
• The Irish Times considers the addition of film to the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, January 1998.
• Hugh Linehan at The Irish Times discusses how film will be taught as part of the Leaving Certificate English Curriculum, October 1999.
• Jennifer Horgan at The Irish Times reports on the addition of theatre, film and drama studies to the Leaving Certificate, October 2022.
• Patrick Goldstein at The Los Angeles Times considers the legacy of Elia Kazan, January 1996.
• The Guardian reports on Elia Kazan’s Lifetime Achievement Oscar, March 1999.
• Patrick Goldstein at The Los Angeles Times reports on the response to Elia Kazan’s Lifetime Achievement Oscar, March 1999.
• Karina Longworth discusses Elia Kazan and On the Waterfront on You Must Remember This, May 2016.
• John Lahr at The New Yorker looks back at the life and times of Elia Kazan, December 2010.
• Rachel Shteir at The New York Times considers the legacy of Clifford Odets, April 1997.
• Courtney Reed at Ransom Centre Magazine looks back on the complicated relationship between Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams, March 2011.
• Andy Lewis at The Hollywood Reporter publishes Elia Kazan’s letters detailing his relationship with Marilyn Monroe, April 2014.
• Megan Rosenfeld profiles Elia Kazan for The Washington Post, June 1988.
• Victor Navasky writes about Elia Kazan’s relationship to the Communist Party in Naming Names, 1980.
• Matthew Dessem and Karina Longworth write at Slate about what drove Elia Kazan to name names for the House Unamerican Activities Committee, May 2016.
• Anthony Giardina at The New York Times considers the intersection of Karl Malden, Budd Schulberg and Elia Kazan, December 2009.
• The Harvard Film Archive screens Man on a Tightrope, August 2009.
• Megan Rosenfeld at The Washington Post considers the legacy of the blacklist, January 1981.
• Michael Hiltzik at The Los Angeles Times considers On the Waterfront as a film by Elia Kazan directed at his critics, January 2020.
• Gwen Ihnat at The A.V. Club considers John Garfield as a casualty of the blacklist, February 2016.
• John Patterson at The Guardian considers what drove Sterling Hayden to name names, November 2010.
• Joseph A. Loftus at The New York Times reports on Arthur Miller being convicted of contempt of Congress, June 1957.
• Karina Longworth writes at Slate about Humphrey Bogart’s ill-fated trip to Washington to confront HUAC, March 2016.
• Orson Welles shared his opinion of Elia Kazan, February 1982.
• Adam B. Vary at Variety reports on Zoe Kazan addressing the conduct of her grandfather Elia, January 2020.
• Mark Steyn at The Atlantic considers why Elia Kazan became a figure of such singular hatred, December 2003.
• Kate Taylor at The New York Times considers the relationship between Elia Kazan and Arthur Miller, over Miller’s play A View from the Bridge, January 2010.
• John Nathan at The Guardian compares and contrasts On the Waterfront and A View from the Bridge, February 2009.
• Rose Adams at The New York Times reports on the first North American staging of The Hook, June 2023.
• Budd Schulberg writes to The New York Times insisting that On the Waterfront was not intended as a political script, September 1994.
• Joseph Berger at The New York Times considers the ongoing debate over On the Waterfront, January 2010.
• Sean Murphy at The Pulitzer Prizes discusses Malcolm Johnson’s reporting that inspired On the Waterfront, December 2019.
• Cole Thompson at My Inwood considers the shooting of Thomas Collentine, which inspired On the Waterfront, December 2015.
• Michael Pollak at The New York Times considers the real-life priest who inspired the character in On the Waterfront, June 2015.
• Gabrielle Grady at Collider considers the decline of Hollywood’s Golden Age, April 2023.
• The Take considers the religious symbolism in On the Waterfront.
• Vanity Fair considers how Marlon Brando’s performance in On the Waterfront changed the artform, June 2021.
• David Thompson at Literary Hub considers the impact and legacy of Marlon Brando’s work on On the Waterfront, February 2023.
• Eva Marie Saint talks to The Santa Barbara Independent about making On the Waterfront, January 2010.
• Roger Ebert considers On the Waterfront for The Chicago Sun Times, March 1999.
• DJ D-Mac celebrates Lloyd Cole and the Commotions’ Rattlesnakes, August 2019.
• Edward Davis at IndieWire considers how Frank Sinatra was almost cast in On the Waterfront, February 2013.
• Noel Murray at The A.V. Club considers On the Waterfront as a snapshot of its particular time and place, February 2013.
• The Art of Cinema considers cinematographer Boris Kaufman, February 2016.
• Rick Lyman and Barry Levinson discuss at Leonard Bernstein at The New York Times, April 2002.
• Jon Burlingame at The Los Angeles Times considers Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront, April 2001.
• Mal Fisher at More Movies considers the similarities between Leonard Bernstein’s score for On the Waterfront and Jerry Goldsmith’s score for L.A. Confidential, December 2021.
• Raisa Bruner at Time considers why American companies are particularly hostile to unions, April 2022.
• Criterion considers the various aspect ratios of On the Waterfront, February 2013.
• Rod Steiger talks to Greg Joseph about filming the taxi cab scene in On the Waterfront, 1989.
• Teo Bugbee at The Daily Beast considers the psychology of Marlon Brando, July 2015.
• Erin Blakemore at History.com considers how television killed Hollywood’s Golden Age, June 2023.
• Susan King at Gold Derby considers the journey of Marty from small screen to big screen, May 2023.
• Donald Clarke at The Irish Times ranks the best lead performance wins at the Academy Awards, March 2023.
• Jacob davis at The Film Magazine considers Marlon Brando’s performance in In the Waterfront, March 2023.
• Pat Saperstein at Variety considers how Marlon Brando’s performance style changed acting forever, April 2021.
• Ethan Hawke talks to E!Online about why he thinks Nicolas Cage is the most interesting actor since Marlon Brando, June 2013.
• Robert Duvall talks to The Huffington Post about wearing Marlon Brando’s cue cards in The Godfather, May 2014.
• Maxwell Yezpitelok at Cracked considers the connections between The Godfather and Superman, April 2022.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: america, blacklist, Cold War, communism, conor murphy, donald clarke, education, elia kazan, english, history, huac, leaving cert, leaving certificate, leonard bernstein, marlon brando, on the waterfront, Russia |