1955: On The Waterfront

Director: Elia Kazan

Production Company: Horizon Pictures
Leads: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Eva Marie Saint

"Hey, you wanna hear my philosophy of life? Do it to him before he does it to you." - Terry Malloy

Setting

Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, 1950s

The Plot 

The film follows Terry Malloy (Brando), an unwilling mobster running the local docks at the, well, waterfront. Once our antagonist meets Edie (Saint) he is torn between two worlds, will he follow the path that's dangerous to leave or follow his heart?

The Review

I haven't seen much in the way of gang genre films...Nuns on the Run and Some Like It Hot probably don't count, Angels with Filthy Souls certainly doesn't either.

It starts off with a bang and keep going from there, as we see both sides of the area run by the Mob; both within the Mob and those outside of it. 

Cobb plays an excellent Mob boss as Joe Friendly, cool calm and collected but also cold and intimidating. Marlon Brando is great but just doesn't cut it as a "bad guy" even when he's trying to be, whether it's the acting or the character I couldn't quite tell.
This was filmed at a time when a man could shut a woman up with a big kiss...and given Edie's quite reasonable reasons for hating him, Brando must have been one heck of a kisser! Given his pick-up line involved sayin how she used to look mess with hair like rope, it bordered on the ridiculous.
Edie was played by Eva Marie Saint, the last living cast member (at time of writing she's almost 100), a key character despite getting such a low billing. She deserved a higher spot honestly.

The Slap

Joe Friendly is the obvious choice, all the bad stuff leads back to Joey. And no, he's not friendly.