Trivia / On the Waterfront

• Award Category Fraud: Although the part of Edie Doyle properly is a lead, producer Sam Spiegel listed Eva Marie Saint as a Supporting Actress in the hopes of getting her a nomination. The ploy worked, and she won the Oscar.
• Cast the Expert: Many real longshoremen from Hoboken, New Jersey were used as extras.
• Completely Different Title:
  • In Germany, the film became Die Faust im Nacken (The Fist in the Neck).
  • In Spain, the film became La Ley del Silencio (The Silence's Law); in Latinamerica, this film was called Nido de Ratas (Nest of Rats).
• Creator Backlash: Even though Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Terry Malloy, he was embarrassed by his performance. In his autobiography he wrote that when he saw the film for the first time, he became so depressed that after the movie, he left the screening room without saying a word to anyone.
• Dawson Casting:
  • Edie Doyle was supposed to be 19. Eva Marie Saint was 29.
  • Although Rod Steiger plays Marlon Brando's older brother in the film, in real life, Brando was a year older than Steiger.
• Executive Meddling: In the original ending, Terry was supposed to be killed by Johnny Friendly and company, but because of The Hays Code, Terry lives and it is implied that the longshoremen triumph over Friendly. Elia Kazan pointed out that Friendly was still alive at the end, insisting that he'll be back. He said that the ending wasn't meant to be taken literally but more as a resolution to Terry's personal struggle.
• Inspiration for the Work: The idea for the film began with an expose series written for The New York Sun by reporter Malcolm Johnson. The 24 articles won him a Pulitzer Prize and were reinforced by the 1948 murder of a New York dock hiring boss which woke America to the killings, graft and extortion that were endemic on the New York waterfront. Budd Schulberg was captivated by the subject matter, devoting years of his life to absorbing everything he could about the milieu. He became a regular fixture on the waterfront, hanging out in West Side Manhattan and Long Island bars, interviewing longshore-union leaders and getting to know the outspoken priests from St Xavier's in Hell's Kitchen.
• Playing Against Type: A composer version. The only film that wasn't a musical for which Leonard Bernstein wrote the incidental music.
• Reality Subtext: Elia Kazan had been harshly criticized for reporting names to HUAC during the Red Scare, so he made a film where informing on bad people is the heroic thing to do.
• Serendipity Writes the Plot: Sam Spiegel forgot to pay for rear-projection equipment, hence the reason why the cab where Terry and Charlie play out the film's most famous scene has blinds.
• Spared by the Cut: Terry Molloy was originally supposed to die at the end.
• Throw It In!: The scene where Terry picks up Edie's glove and puts it on his own hand was a complete improvisation of Brando's after Eva Marie Saint accidentally dropped it during the shot. It has since become one of the more iconic moments of the movie and Elia Kazan even said that the best decision he ever made as a director was not yelling "cut" after it happened.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In an early draft, the Terry Malloy character was not an ex-pug dockworker but a cynical investigative reporter, as well as an older, divorced man.
  • Frank Sinatra was almost cast as Terry. He suggested Montgomery Clift at one point.
  • Lawrence Tierney was offered the role of Charley Molloy, but he wanted too much money.
  • Grace Kelly turned down the role of Edie Doyle in order to star in Rear Window. It was a toss-up between Eva Marie Saint and Elizabeth Montgomery.
  • Arthur Miller was approached by Elia Kazan to write the screenplay, and did so, but later pulled it when the FBI and studio bosses required him to make the gangsters Communists.
• Working Title: The original title was simply Waterfront until Columbia learned that there was a television series by that name. Crime on the Waterfront and Bottom of the River were also considered.

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