But the only thing anybody remembers about that movie was the "I could have been a contender" scene between Brando and Rod Steiger. And the union stuff drops away.
Joanna
----- Original Message ----- Mike Ballard: The ILA was dominated by Mafia types. If "On the Waterfront" had been made about the ILWU, I would agree with you about union bashing in that film.
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The significance of any film (or novel or poem or for that matter theoretical work or even symphony or ballet) is determined by the reader/viewer/etc, not either the intentionof the maker _or_ the "facts" behind the work.
For the viewer of Waterfront, it was just The Union in general, not some particular corrupt union that came across. Most viewers would not know the difference between the ILWU, the ILA, or (for that matter, the IWW. It was a good movie, but like Yeats's "Irish Airman," utterly vile as well.
Carrol
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