Marlon Brando is one of the most influential actors of the twentieth century and this is evident in his films ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘On The Waterfront.’ He is renowned for using the Stanislavski System within his work and this method gave him great success and acclaim in one of his first films “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
His onscreen performance with Vivien Leigh in “A Streetcar Named Desire” is one of the best that has ever been seen. Marlon Brando’s portrayal of Stan showed him as a sweaty, animalistic, brute compared to Blanche’s character-frail and faded. When Stan and Blanche first meet the audience believe there to be some sort of sexual tension between the two of them however it soon comes apparent that this desire turns to despise. One of Stan’s stand out lines within the film is “Every mans a King and I am the King here…” (A Streetcar Named Desire: Kazan: 1951) From Brando’s performance in the film an audience can see that this line is significant to how Brando prepared for this role.
According to a blog entitled ‘Old Movies’ Brando’s performance of Stanley was based upon “a reflection of the complicated nature of people and the key to his own philosophy of acting…that people are neither inherently good or evil and that even the most villainous role should be tempered by a realistic helping of humanity.” This theory worked in terms of the character Stanley and it is apparent throughout the film. In particular the scene after the Poker Night when Stanley hits Stella, after this Brando has a close up and an audience can see the realisation in his face as to what he has just done. Is it remorse or confusion? Whatever the emotion is it is Brando’s truthful performance in this scene that helps an audience understand why the character of Stella is sexually attracted to a thug like Stanley.
In comparison to Brando’s performance of Stanley in “A Streetcar Named Desire” the character of Terry Molloy in “On the Waterfront” is a much more sensitive character. This performance cemented Brando’s film career and he won an Oscar for his performance. His ease within this role made it easier to watch and once again the Stanislavski system can be seen.
“On the Waterfront” was visually based upon “Crime on the Waterfront”- a series of newspaper journals which exposed the problems in the New York dockyards. Arthur Miller began writing a screen play for Kazan but he soon broke ranks and handed it over Kazan. It has been said that Brando used some of these journals to create a broken failure in Terry Molloy.
The characters of Stanley and Terry are complete opposites with Brando allowing the audience to despise Stanley but empathise with Terry. In one of the most famous scenes from “On the Waterfront” Brando used improvisation to create the famous lines “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.” (On The Waterfront: Kazan:1954) The director later admitted that he did not direct this scene he “let Rod and Marlon work it out in improvisation. Marlon showed me how the scene was to be performed.” (Brando Unzipped: 426) Due to the improvisation an audience can see the true emotion of Brando, creating one of the most famous scenes in film history. This scene is not the only pinnacle moment within the film, others include: Terry discovering that all his pigeons have been killed and Terry beating down Edie’s door and forcing a kiss upon her as they slide down the wall.
Both the performances Brando creates are hindered by his infamous mumbling which makes it fairly difficult to understand what he has to say however, his training in method acting overrides this issue and from an audiences point of view both of his performances deserve the credit in which he received. No one will ever forget the high pitched screams of “Stella!” from Stanley in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and the famous “Contender” speech by Terry Molloy in ‘On The Waterfront’ and that is all due to Marlon Brando’s raw and irreplaceable talent.
Porter, D (2006). Brando Unzipped. New York: Blood Moon Productions. 426
Luke. (2006). Marlon Brando: A Guide to his Film Roles (Part 1- the 1950’s). Available: http://www.oldmovies.net.au/marlon-brando-1/. Last accessed 19th Oct 2012.
A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951. Film. Directed by Ella KAZAN. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures
On The Waterfront, 1954. Film. Directed by Ella KAZAN. USA: Columbia Classics
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