On the Waterfront is a 1954 American
crime drama film with elements of
film noir. The film was directed by
Elia Kazan and written by
Budd Schulberg. It stars
Marlon Brando and features
Karl Malden,
Lee J. Cobb,
Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, and, in her film debut,
Eva Marie Saint. The soundtrack score was composed by
Leonard Bernstein. The film is based on "Crime on the Waterfront" by
Malcolm Johnson, a series of articles published in November-December 1948 in the
New York Sun which won the 1949
Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. The film focuses on
union violence and corruption amongst
longshoremen while detailing widespread
corruption,
extortion, and
racketeering on the waterfronts of
Hoboken, New Jersey.