Before Marlon Brando became the Godfather, he was fighting organized crime on the waterfront (he won best actor Oscars for both roles).
He gives an incredible performance in On the Waterfront, with just the right combination of toughness, charm and reluctant heroism. He plays Terry Malloy, a former boxer now working on the docks, which are controlled by criminal Johnny Friendly and his stooges, including Terry's big brother, Charley.
Johnny likes Terry, and appears to be grooming him for a position in his organization, starting by having him set up a local man (Joey) that has been speaking out against Johnny's corruption. Terry helps lure Joey to the roof of his building, not realizing that Johnny's goons are planning to throw Joey off the roof and kill him (he believed they would just be pressuring him to keep his mouth shut). Good-hearted underneath his tough exterior, Terry is upset, even more so when he begins to fall for Joey's sister, Edie (Eve Marie Saint, who also earned a well-deserved Oscar for her role).
Edie and the local priest, Father Barry, push Terry to do the right thing and testify against Johnny, but Terry is hesitant. He is concerned with looking out for himself, and aware that anyone that speaks out against Johnny gets killed. When Edie pushes him to pick a side, he tells her "Me? I'm with me, Terry." He follows along with the rest of the men in playing "deaf and dumb," in order to stay safe. The movie follows his transformation from a man content to ignore his conscience and stick with this status quo, to a man willing to stick his neck out and fight for what's right. The transition is powerful to watch, and he suffers a great deal, but the movie is ultimately a great story of a man learning to listen to his conscience and fight the good fight, despite the costs, inspiring the other men to follow in his lead and find the courage to do the same.
The supporting characters are very well developed, and fight their own inner battles. Terry's brother, Charley, one of Johnny's top men, has to face the fact that his loyalty to a criminal has meant that he hasn't taken care of his little brother. He finally sees what this has cost his brother, when Terry reminds him that he had to throw a fight on Charley's instructions so that Johnny could win a bet: "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, Charley." Charley's loyalties are put to a final test when he has to decide between killing his own brother and staying loyal to Johnny, or defying Johnny and risking his own life. 
In addition, we follow Father Barry as he recognizes the truth that he can't stay cooped up in his church hoping things will change. He risks his own life to go out to the waterfront and fight for the men there, even as they stand their throwing things at him: "Boys, this is my church! And if you don't think Christ is down here on the waterfront you've got another guess coming!...Some people think the Crucifixion only took place on Calvary. They better wise up! Taking Joey Doyle's life to stop him from testifying is a crucifixion. And dropping a sling on Kayo Dugan because he was ready to spill his guts tomorrow, that's a crucifixion. And every time the Mob puts the pressure on a good man, tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen, it's a crucifixion. And anybody who sits around and lets it happen, keeps silent about something he knows that happened, shares the guilt of it just as much as the Roman soldier who pierced the flesh of our Lord to see if he was dead."
Considering I was not very interested in this movie, I was pleasantly surprised. It was gritty, gripping, and inspirational. It also achieves the difficult feat of portraying violence without being gory.
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