Wicked Problems at the Movies: On the Waterfront

 

February 2

ON THE WATERFRONT

“I coulda had class, I coulda been a contender…”

There is no agreement among movie critics on the most memorable lines ever spoken by an actor in a movie. But undoubtedly, the lines most often quoted  by people who are willing to share something personal about themselves come from the prize-winning film, On the Waterfront:  “I coulda had class,” says Terry Malloy to his brother Charlie,  “I coulda been a contender.  I coulda been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.”  Many of us have quoted these lines.  And most of us, at one time or another, have thought about what it takes to become a contender. 

Spoken by a washed-up ex-prizefighter who has become a mascot of the mob, these iconic lines capture his frustration and hint at his increasing despair. Terry not only sees himself as a bum, but is also treated as one by the mob that rules the Longshoremen’s Union on the New Jersey docks.  We all identify with Terry.  There is a deep need in us all to be seen as contenders, to be treated as if we were somebody.

Terry and Charlie are riding in a taxi when Terry says “I coulda been a contender”  to his bother.  Concerned that Terry is going “soft” and may be tempted to testify about the rampant corruption in the union, Johnny Friendly, the mob boss, has ordered Charlie to get rid of Terry.  And Friendly has reasons to be concerned.  Terry is beginning to see that his life has been a failure.  Influenced by Edie, the sister of  a friend of Terry’s who he inadvertently set up to be murdered, and by Father Berry, the local Catholic priest who is finally speaking out against the mob, Terry is beginning to have doubts about the ways he has been complicit with the mob in the past.

In the taxi, as they move closer to the moment when Charlie is supposed to kill his brother, Charlie tries to remind Terry that he was once a promising fighter who had a great future:

Charlie:  Look kid, I – how much you weigh, son.  When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds you were beautiful.  You coulda been another Billy Conn, and the skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.  

Terry:  It wasn’t him, Charlie, it was you.  Remember that night in the Garden when you came down to the dressing room and you said, ‘Kid, this ain’t your night.  We’re going for the price on Wilson.’  You remember that?  ‘This ain’t your night.’  My night!  I coulda taken Wilson apart.  So what happens?  He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark and what do I get?  A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville.  You was my brother, Charlie, you shoulda looked after me a little bit so I wouldn’t have to take them dives for the short-end money.  

Charlie:  Oh, I had some bets down for you.  You saw some money.

Terry:  You don’t understand.  I coulda had class.  I coulda been a contender.  I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.  It was you Charlie.

Charlie, influenced by his brother’s words,  decides not to kill his brother, and is himself killed by the mob.  Charlie’s murder is the last straw for Terry, and it pushes him into testifying against Friendly and the mob to the Crime Commission.

Abandoned by his former friends and supporters in the mob and threatened with death if he ever shows up down on the docks, Terry finally decides that it is time to face up to the problems that have overtaken his life, time go down to the docks and confront the mob.  He decides that it is time to be a contender,  time to become “somebody.”

As Terry arrives on the docks, he is attacked by the union “muscle,” savagely beaten and left for dead.  The longshoremen, who have for years been intimidated by the threat of violence from the mob, are now inspired by Terry’s courage.  When ordered to go to work, they confront the mob in their own way:  They refuse to  move unless Terry leads them.  Battered, bleeding, and hardly able to walk,  Terry staggers across the dock and leads the men in.  As the movie ends, we see that Terry has in fact become “somebody.”  He is no longer able to contend for a boxing title, but through his courage and sacrifice, he has become a contender to lead the union members in remaking their union, as well as a contender for becoming a decent human being worthy of respect and admiration.

All Are Faced With Wicked Problems

All  the main figures in the movie are faced with difficult, complex, wicked problems:

Charlie:  An insider in the Mafia mob that rules the waterfront, Charlie still loves his brother and wants to support and protect him.  When he is ordered by his boss to get rid of Terry, he is put in an impossible situation.

Father Barry:  The priest of the neighborhood Catholic Church is hesitant to get involved, believing that his ministry is to preach to those faithful members who come to  church. When Edie confronts him with his reluctance to take a stand against the evil outside  the church, he finds himself uncertain as how to be a faithful servant of Christ.    He is worried about what could happen to the church, to the members and to himself.

Edie:  When her brother is killed by the mob, Edie leaves her school in upstate New York and comes home to find out who killed him.  She challenges both Father Barry and Terry for not standing up to the mob.  Her father wants her to go back to school and not get involved, but she refuses and becomes even more involved by speaking out against the corruption.  As she grows fond of Terry, she struggles with the prospects of a closer relationship with someone so different from herself and her protected background.

Terry:  Seen by the longshoremen as a corrupt “insider” in the mob, Terry is conflicted over how he is treated by the union members.  They despise him for having sold out.  He is aware of the evil and corruption of the mob that robs the union members of their livelihood as well as their dignity, but is not willing, at first, to do anything to help them.  When he meets Edie, and begins to fall in love with her, his confusion and uncertainty increase. Edie is determined to learn who is responsible for killing her brother and Terry is worried that she will find out that he was involved.  He strongly disagrees with way the mob bosses treat Father Barry who “goes down to the docks” to confront the evil that is there.  When Terry begins to protect him, the mob bosses begin to see him as a possible “rat” and make moves to eliminate him.

Terry’s most difficult decision is to break the unwritten code of the docks and agree to testify against Johnny Friendly.  “Ratting” to the authorities was, on the docks,  the most unforgivable act of all.

Finally, after Terry is almost beaten to death, he has to get back on his feet  and, broken and bloodied,  accept the challenge of becoming the new leader of the Longshoremen’s Union.

Becoming a Contender

Much of the power of the movie lies in our identification with Terry.  He faces huge obstacles, and so do we.  We admire his courage when he stands up to them and, however dangerous, goes down to the docks to confront the mob.  We also aspire to face our challenges with courage and conviction.

Terry wanted to be seen as worthwhile person in his own right, and to be treated with dignity and respect.  And so do we.

Terry wanted to be a contender – and so do we.

As a boxer, Terry believed he had the talent and the strength to contend for the middle-weight title, but because of  his brother’s betrayal he never had the chance.  We also want to be contenders for the opportunities and advantages that life has to offer and for which we feel ready and prepared.  We want to be contenders for getting into good schools and landing a good job.  We want to be contenders for being seen as responsible citizens, valuable friends, effective workers and leaders, and helpful companions.  We want to be good spouses to our companions and helpful parents to our children.

But becoming contenders in a competitive world is no easy walk in the park.  None of the “goods” that life offers us are free.   They have to be earned.  And they have to be earned in the same way that Terry earned them:  By “going down to the docks” and confronting the obstacles that stand in our way.

Like most movies, On the Waterfront offers us an opportunity to enter into a different world.  In On the Waterfront, we become participants/observers in a world of conflict and corruption that is, for most of us, light years away from the lives we lead.   As in all great art, there is much here for us to learn. This is why the experience can be so valuable.  As we enter into Terry’s, and Edie’s and Father Barry’s, world, we watch their struggles from two perspectives:  an immediate and emotional one, where we feel deeply involved ;  and a second one, removed from the immediacy and heat of the action where we able to watch the actors live their lives within the larger and more complex perspectives of family, belief, community, corruption, justice, and courage.

From both perspectives there is much for us to learn about wicked problems and how they can be dealt with.  From the beginning to the end, neither Edie nor Father Berry knew what to do or how to do it, yet they knew that they had to do something.  Sustained by their values and beliefs, they “went down to the docks” to do what they could.

Terry’s challenges were more complicated.  If he was to find his way out of the “swamp” in which he found himself,  things had to get worse before they could get better.  In order to move away from the corruption and criminality that had shaped his life, toward becoming “somebody” worthy of admiration and respect by people he was coming to care about, he had to make a clean break.  He had turn his back on his previous life, give up most of the values and beliefs that had sustained him up to that point,  and then begin the arduous and frightening journey toward finding new ones.  In order to go all the way, he had to abandon his previous friends and associates.  And finally,  in the film’s final scenes, he had to put his life on the line.  After he testified in court against Friendly and the mob, he was told that if he ever showed up again on the docks, he would be killed.  And yet, in order to finally come to grips with this most wicked of problems,  he chose to”go down to the docks” and see it through to the end.

“What a great movie” we say when it is over!  And yet,  it is more than that.  Through the skills of the screenwriter, the director, and the actors, we are offered a view of life being lived by people struggling, as we all do, with difficult questions that have no answers, and intractable problems that have no solutions.  We watch them as they struggle, make difficult decisions, make mistakes, then move on to make them right, face up to danger and, finally,  because of their persistent, sustained and courageous efforts, we see them triumph in the end.  By paying attention, we can learn lessons from their struggles that can help us with our own.