On the Waterfront

“So, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront. When I first started acting, I watched this movie and I really understood what authenticity was from this movie. It reminds me of when I first started acting, over 30 years ago. So I’m putting this in the bag.”

“I’m pulling this one out, once again for selfish reasons. I’ve seen this film ten times, but I’ll watch it over and over again. Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront. The cinematography, the story, the two brothers, the struggle of this movie, the extras, even the extras. This is a masterpiece of filmmaking. Every time I get kind of lost in my writing or lost in my ideas, I could pop this film on and the film energy and the film techniques open up my third eye.”

“My favorite all-time film, On the Waterfront. The first time I saw this movie, oh my God, I'm almost going to cry. I was a kid and I watched the Performance that Marlon Brando gave. Listen, the overall cast in this movie was incredible, the story, the directing, but man, Marlon Brando, oh man, this is beyond a must-see. You got to run a IV and just hook this movie, this is unreal. On the Waterfront, people, thank you guys for having me.”

“One of them that was a great inspiration, I'll pick On the Waterfront by Kazan. This was quite fascinating because Kazan was the theater director in New York and the first couple of movies he really was just shooting as if it was theater... You see he evolves as he starts to make more movies that there's an enormous change and how he starts to master this relationship with camera and movement... The physicality of the actors is in the relationship to a camera that's never self-conscious.”

“It's tough not to love. That's the pigeons and the pigeon coop. I used to live in Hoboken and would recognize pretty much every street that this was filmed on. It meant so much to me. I just love Kazan.”

“On the Waterfront. What's unique about... I had dinner with Elia Kazan when I was 24 and had just done my first movie. I asked Elia Kazan, 'So what advice would you give a young filmmaker?' and he said, 'My advice to you is do it your way.' Which of course had a specific meaning when I was 24, but I also understood that it would have the same meaning but a different way the older I got. It's been the only thing I can ever give myself because I realized that he was saying do it your way.”

“And the final movie for my bag: the classic Elia Kazan, Bud Schulberg script, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront. 108 minutes. Notice how many of these movies aren't long. My little speech for today's filmmakers: short is good. I met Bud Schulberg once and he wanted to do a new On the Waterfront in the Long Beach Harbor in LA... It was an honor and of course one of the great performances ever.”

“Bon Elia Kazan là c'est Marlon Brando On the Waterfront... Moi je trouve que les grands génies les grandes œuvres vous tendent la main et vous aident à vivre à devenir vous-même un auteur à devenir vous-même quoi...”

“Here it is, On the Waterfront. Great film. And I loved his work. I think I worked a lot like him because he was honest, he was open, he wasn't playing games, he was just doing films and always told the truth. He was an honest director. That's the way I feel I am, I'm an honest director.”

“Here's On the Waterfront and the cool thing about this one is all three aspect ratios that the movie was released in are in here in 1.66 you see the gun on Rod Steiger's lap in the in the taxi scene but if it's cut in 1.85 you don't see the gun in his lap or when Brando is rolling the cue ball in the in the in the pool room scene you don't see him doing it you don't see the ball you just see from here his arm going like this you don't know what he's doing...”