Reviews

It's always difficult to try to pick an all-time favourite film. There are plenty of great ones to choose from and it's easy to change from one to another depending on your mood. However, if I really had to pin down one film as my number one, this could be it.

Even though Marlon Brando claims that it was an "actor-proof" role, I think that he gives a wonderful performance (the best of any films that I've seen him in) that justifies his rating as one of the finest movie actors of all time. I must admit that he gets on my nerves in some films, improvising(?) in a self-indulgent way. But here he is lean and focused in his acting to give a great portrayal of Terry Malloy.

The romance that develops between his tough docker character and Eva Marie Saint's sweet convent girl, Edie, is one of my best-loved movie love affairs. I particularly love the scene in the bar when Terry takes Edie for her first drink. I think it's one of Brando's best in this or any other of his films. It's funny to think now that the first time that I saw this film I didn't pay much attention to Eva Marie Saint. She is so lovely!! The warmth and sweetness of Edie comes across so strongly and naturally in her perfomance.

All the principal actors are great - Brando and Marie Saint, Rod Steiger and Lee J. Cobb (who are, admittedly, both usually great), and even Karl Malden, who I find a bit hammy at times and who has some cheesy moments here but overall is just about right. The film is very moral and preachy in a way that doesn't work effectively in films made in the more cynical present day. But it's something that I love in genuinely well-made and intelligent Hollywood classics like this and Twelve Angry Men. Obviously those WERE cynical times as well, with MaCarthyism and Kazan's desire for this film to portray a justification for his informing on his peers. Whatever his reasons, though, I don't think that it detracts from the result, which is a superb film.

The most famous scene is probably the one with Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger in the taxi. One that rarely gets mentioned and that I think is terrific is near the end, when Brando, at the end of his tether, taunts Lee J. Cobb out of his lair with a stream of abuse. It's a very powerful scene and again demonstrates Brando's brilliance. It's a commonplace in films for the tough guy goodie to let all his anger out near the end just before he puts paid to the evil baddie to provide cathartic relief to us, the poor audience, frustrated by the seeming lack of justice in it all. I've never seen it done better than here. Just compare with someone like Clint Eastwood (standard plot: complete psycho - laughingly over the top - kills a few of Clint's friends/partners to get him worked up. Clint, suitably riled, scowls and twitches his upper lip a lot before growling some dumb catchphrase and blowing away psycho. Lah-de-Dah!).

All in all, one of the best films ever. It has to be a classic for me to have the gall to inflict my longwinded opinions on the world!!!

Maybe this seems strange but the one scene that I remember most from the film is where Renton gets hit by a car as he is running away from the store detectives. The expression on his face as he laughs at the driver stunned me and made me laugh at loud with the sheer joy of watching such a great film with such fantastic actors. For me, this is a truly original film with many, many memorable moments and outstanding performances by all. A true tonic for all sociopaths like me who (sadly) find great comfort in the portrayal of some of the darker sides of life with such unsentimental, clearsighted brilliance.

This is one of my favourite films. I don't think that you can necessarily call it realistic. Johnny in particular seems to be one of those characters that you sometimes see in psychological dramas in film, theatre and literature who embodies too many extreme characteristics in his mode of living and his thought processes and experiences too many hyperintense situations in the short timescale of the film's action to be wholly believable. So you probably won't meet a cynical, sharply witty and intelligent and cruel f**k-up quite like that even from Manchester. But I don't think that that detracts from the film as some of the other commenters seem to feel - I don't mind a bit of staginess! David Thewlis's performance fills me with awe. His speech, his facial expressions, the way he moves and holds his body are electrifying. He is an incredibly damaged character who uses his (sometimes inhumanly) sharp wit and intelligence to cruelly torment and exploit those around him instead of trying to use his obvious gifts in a more positive way to help himself and the other human flotsam that he encounters. For all his strength of will and powers of endurance, he is weak because he revels in his nihilism and his desire to crush other unfortunates. He could never have a genuinely open mutual compassionate relationship with another human being. But thanks to the brilliance of DT he becomes one of the most magnetic screen characters ever. I love Mike Leigh and I love David Thewlis (he always plays unusual characters but not often misanthropes - the man is a great actor). I love this movie. 'Nuff said.