This led Brando to a film career beginning in 1950 with The Men, directed by Fred Zinnemann (see posts High Noon and From Here to Eternity), the story of a paraplegic coping with life after being wounded in WWII.
In 1951, he resurrected his role in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Elia Kazan. Brando was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen.
In 1952, also with Kazan, Brando portrayed a Mexican revolutionary in the film, Viva Zapata, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to Gary Cooper in High Noon.
In 1953, he portrayed Marc Antony in the the film version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Brando was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but lost to William Holden (see blog post) in Stalag 17 . That same year, he was Johnny Strabler, a cultural iconic figure in the film, The Wild One.
girl: Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against?
Johnny: What you got?
In 1954, Brando starred in one of my favorite films, On the Waterfront, again directed by Kazan, and which also starred Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, and Eva Marie Saint. The film won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Brando), Best Supporting Actress (Saint), and Best Screenplay (Budd Schulberg). Malden, Cobb and Steiger were all nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa.
On the Waterfront is the story of labor union violence and corruption involving longshoremen in Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. Brando portrays Terry, an ex-pugilist, now a longshoreman who benefits from his brother, Charlie (Steiger), being the right-hand man of the corrupt union boss, Johnny Friendly (Cobb).
Originally, Terry's cynical attitude towards life is "Do it to them before they do it to you." However, that changes when he falls in love with Edie (Saint), the sister of a man who was murdered by Johnny Friendly because he had threatened to testify against Friendly to a crime commission. Originally, out of loyalty to Charlie and Johnny, Terry wants to remain "D & D" (deaf and dumb).
Through the influence of Edie and a Catholic priest (Malden), Terry develops a conscience and contemplates doing the right thing by testifying about what he knows. In a climactic scene (one of the most iconic in movie history) inside a taxi, Charlie fails to dissuade Terry from testifying. Then, Charlie starts talking about Terry's former career in the ring.
Charlie: How much you weigh, son? When you weighed one hundred and sixty-eight pounds, you were beautiful. You coulda been another Billy Conn, but that skunk we got you for a manager, he brought you along too fast.
Terry: It wasn't him, Charlie, it was you. Remember that night in the Garden. You came down to my dressing room and you said, "Kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price on Wilson." You remember that? This ain't your night. My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart. So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors on a ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville. You was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me just a little bit so I wouldn't have to take them dives for the short-end money.
Charlie: Oh, I
had some bets down for you. You saw some
money.
Terry: You
don’t understand. I coulda had
class. I coulda been
a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is
what I am. Let’s face it. It was you, Charlie.
a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is
what I am. Let’s face it. It was you, Charlie.
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