Isn't Everybody a Part Of Everybody Else

  “They haven’t made a great movie since, “Waterloo Bridge”—1940, my father says to me.

It is 1972, and I am desperately, trying to look eighteen so I can get into see the film “Deliverance.”

As I put my Ali McGraw cloche on my head I think to myself, I hope I never get that old that I think the best of film is behind me.

Cut to 1987, my then husband and neighbors are off to the movies to see, “Tin Men.”

They invite me.

I decline their offer.

“They haven’t made a great film since, “On the Waterfront”—1954, I say to them as I am picking up my son’s toys.

Oh, my God, I am that old.

I have become my father.

The 85th Academy Awards are on Sunday February 24th, and I will be watching.

They don’t make anything like they used to and sometimes I do think the best of film is behind us.

I first saw “On the Waterfront”, when I was sixteen years old.

There was a television station that ran out of Buffalo, New York, the station obviously had a tiny budget and would run the same film three times in one day.

Lucky for me.
I found the film enthralling, with each view I became more spellbound and, yes, I watched the film three times that day, and countless times since.

I go to it, when I cannot find my way in this world.

I see myself in the character, of Terry Malloy everyday, as I search for the “right” answers.

This Oscar winning best film of the year was directed by the legendary Elia Kazan and starred Marlon Brando.

The screenplay was written by Budd Schulberg, and the soundtrack was composed by Leonard Bernstein.

The following is an excerpt from Kazan’s biography titled, “A Life.

”“Sitting out front or in front of your screen, you realize you’re witnessing a real event, one more real than life, for in ” life” there are the limits of civilization, in art there should be none. You should not know what the outcome should be. You wish for the best, but you’re not sure it will come to pass. You hope, as you do when you enter “Lear”, that this greatest of the old men of the world will come out of his daze, even for a flash in the end—as Lear does—and for that instant see his life clearly. When that happens, your own life has grown. What’s happened to people on stage or on the screen has happened to you”.

You can taste “On the Waterfront”, and the chill of Hoboken, New Jersey where it was filmed, in only 36 days.

The realism of this wondrous cinematic piece cuts you to the bone.

The plot is simple; Terry Malloy (Brando), works as a stevedore down on the waterfront. He was a promising boxer until Johnny
Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), a mob-connected union boss, and Malloy’s brother, Charley, (Rod Steiger) bet their money against Malloy so he will deliberately lose the fight.

Malloy meets Edie, played by Eva Marie Saint, and she and Father Berry (Karl Malden) show Malloy the importance of testifying against Friendly.
By falling in love for the very first time in his life, Malloy seems to come to terms with his internal struggle.

The story is as old as the hills; it is about the birth of a moral conscience.

.And that is the soul of this piece; like Lear, you come out of your daze and have that flash in the end— you see your life more clearly, as things come into perspective.

The back story to this work of art is Kazan’s own personal  story.

Senator Joseph McCarthy was at the top of (HUAC) better known as the House of Un-American Activities.

Kazan snitched on his friends and “On the Waterfront”, was immediately viewed as an attempt by Kazan to make excuses for his testimony: “an apologia for a stool pigeon”.

“On The Waterfront”, was my own story; every day I worked on that film, I was telling the world where I stood and my critics to go and fuck themselves”.

Edie: You don’t believe in anybody, do you?

Terry: Listen, down here, it’s every man for himself. It’s keepin’ alive. It’s standin’ in with the right people so you got a little bit of change, jinglin’ in your pocket.

Edie: And if you don’t?

Terry: And if you don’t, right down.

Edie: That’s living like an animal.

“Ignorantia moralis non excusat”.

“Is it possible that many more people than we imagine have a feeling that they’ve done wrong and yearn for forgiveness and rescue?”

I know my answer to Mr. Kazan’s question.

“Ignorantia moralis non excusat.”

“Ignorance of morality is not an excuse.”

My own life has grown.

Art has served its purpose.

“On the Waterfront”, was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and took home 8 of them that year.

It ranks #8 on the American Film Institute’s, 100 greatest films of all time.