On the Waterfront

 Write down what/who influences Terry to testify at the Waterfront Crime Commission Hearing.  How does Terry’s body language and voice change throughout the film and what is this symbolic of?  What is Terry standing up against?

 List what is corrupt about the waterfront.  D and D- silence  The Shape Up  The other murders  Kick backs

 List characters that are ‘good’ and their significant actions  List images of goodness that occur throughout the film

 Statues of Jesus and the saints in the church  The spectacle of the body of Dugan rising from the hold with Father Barry and Pop Doyle  Father Barry’s determination to speak in spite of being attacked- the food/cans  The work of the Crime Commission  Joey’s jacket- particularly when Edie gives it to Terry  Pigeons- free, loyal- get married

 What about the waterfront demonstrates that its like ‘it ain’t part of America’?  Father Barry- ‘in this country we have ways of fighting back... Testifying for what you know is right’- comparison to American judicial system, the presence of the Crime Commission officers.

 Edie tries to convince Terry to leave the waterfront but he looks over towards a now smoke free Manhattan skyline and sees a beautiful ocean liner beginning its journey. He tells Edie that he is going to the waterfront to get his rights- that is, his rights as an American, in a beautiful rich country. (The American Dream)

 Pop Doyle going to work the day after his son’s death  Pop’s struggle to keep Edie at school  Terry’s (possessive) and the longshoremens’ (notice plural and possessive) jackets with holes  The tenement buildings  The desperation of the men to get work: “Who do you see to get a day’s pay around here?”

 Who is he?  What does he represent?

In your own time you will need to revise over:  Your own shortened list of quotes that you learn off by heart  Knowledge of film terminology.  Four or more key scenes that you can write a detailed analysis on, incorporating knowledge of character, theme, social values and cinematography.

 Glove scene- Terry opened up to a new world of possibility, different way of thinking  Scene in the bar- “Shouldn’t everybody care about everybody else?” Edie’s naive world view.  Father Barry’s sermon in the hold- Dugan’s death  Terry breaks into Edie’s apartment  Cab scene  Johnny Friendly’s bar- Father Barry talks and punches Terry: “fight him in the courtroom with the truth”  The last scene : “I was ratting on myself all those years and I didn’t even know it”, “I’m glad what I done to you.” Terry leads the workers to work with a legitimate union leader in himself.

 Why does Edie plead with Terry to leave the waterfront?  What has she learned?

 ADDRESS THE ESSAY TOPIC  If you have a mental blank- DO NOT write mental blank and stop writing. Take a minute, stop and think. What is the question asking me? What is an important scene from the film that relates to the topic?  ONLY if all else fails... Write what you know about the film- you can get a few marks for summary (more than you would if you left the page blank!!)