On the waterfront film

On the Waterfront a classic, award-winning, controversial film directed by Elia Kazan. This 1954 film is part drama and part gangster film. With its authentic look, powerful film is concerned with the problems of trade unionism, corruption and racketeering. It is set on New York's oppressive waterfront docks, where dock workers struggled most for work and dignity, just to make ends meet under the control of mob-run labor unions that would force them to submit to daily routine by cruel hiring bosses. Elia Kazan's film On the Waterfront is based on a real life events at the New York harbor in the late 1940's, a place where extortion and murder were just another aspect of everyday life. The waterfront is controlled by corrupt union boss Johnny Friendly (played by Lee J. Cobb) and his right hand man, Charley Malloy (played y Rod Steiger). Together they have a hand in every shipment going through the port. But as their wallets grow bigger, the lives of honest workers become even tougher. Th...