In On the Waterfront (1954), Marlon Brando plays Terry Malloy, a former boxer who works on the New York docks and is drawn into a corrupt union run by mobsters. Directed by Elia Kazan, the film follows Terry as he falls in love with Edie, played by Eva Marie Saint, and decides whether to testify against the men who control the waterfront.
Brando’s Terry is the role that won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the famous scene in a taxi, in which Terry tells his brother he could have been a contender, remains one of the most quoted moments in film history. It is a performance of great tenderness and moral awakening, played without a hint of showing off.
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