On the Waterfront

Rating: 5, World-shaker

This movie is a world-shaker.  It is very inspiring and really makes me want to stand up to the Jonny Friendly's of the world.  The internal struggle with Terry Malloy and how his conscience weighs on him to do what's right is very inspiring.

The movie realistically shows the difficulty of changing your philosophy on life and how crucial role models are, especially those of family.  The film showed how much Terry loved his brother Charly (and vice-a-versa).  This is particularly evident in the famous "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody..." scene.  When Charly got killed the contrast of this brotherly love and the supposed "family" bond of the union bosses clearly teaches the important influence (for good or bad) family members can have on each other.

Another important message is the pastor's humility and his realization of the need to stand up and practice what is preached.

Terry's choice to be a "canary" lets him see who his real friends are.

I felt disgusted as the longshoremen just looked on and didn't seem to care when Terry took on Johnny and his cronies.  Maybe the longshoremen weren't supposed to get into it, but they sure did out number them, they cared more about their jobs under corrupt union bosses (their lives could have been at stake, but when they out number them what could they do?) than breaking free and standing up for what's right.  If you've never seen this, make it a point to do so and tell us what you think.

Guys and Dolls

Luke

Rating: 5

I had never sat through this entire movie. The last time I attempted (or rather, my family attempted) I fell asleep halfway through it. This time I was wide awake through the whole thing and enjoyed all the music, dancing, and great story.

I was kind of wondering where the movie was going with Sky Masterson's initial outlook on women as "toys." He harped on Nathan Detroit and his 14-year relationship with a single woman and boasted that he could get any woman he wanted. Nathan takes him up on his bet, desperate for some dough to fund his floating crap game and selects a woman from a religious group who preaches against such gamblers as Sky and Nathan.

Through a series of wonderful musical scenes, including Marlon Brando singing and dancing, you see a very realistic change of heart for his character, Sky. He sees that women really are more than just toys and feels something stronger than he's ever felt before. In today's movies he would have made that realization and still slept with the girl claiming he found "true love"; but he doesn't. While in Cuba, he realizes the drunken state he's lured his victim into and respectfully flies her home in the middle of the night.

The only possible qualm that could exist on the morality of the movie is the fact that gambling was shown as "saving" Sky's and Sarah's relationship; but it allowed Sky to keep his word (marker) which was another strong positive in the movie and outweighs the sin of gambling. Also, the idea of marriage was made light of throughout the film in the depiction of the relationship between Nathan and Adelaide. I believe this depiction actually helped strengthen the argument that marriage is essential between a man and a woman, Nathan just needed a stronger person to show him the importance of it, though there's no implication that he fully appreciated the end situation.