On The Waterfront Film Analysis

At first sight Salt of the Earth and On the Waterfront seem two structurally independent and unrelated movies that only share some basic theme elements in their plot. However, analyzing both, side by side and frame by frame, can give us a more profound understanding of the American film industry, Hollywood in particular, and its relation to the McCarthyism in 1950s, a dark chapter in the US history. Salt of the Earth, directed by Herbert Biberman, is a 1954 blacklisted movie based on a true story about the struggles of Mexican American zinc miners and their families in Silver City, New Mexico, which resulted in an immense strike against the Empire Zinc Company. Similarly, On the Waterfront, directed by Elia Kazan in 1954, is a Hollywood
The blacklisted artists no longer were able to work legally or under their own real names. As a result, not only they could not afford to produce high quality films with professional actors in Hollywood studios with reasonable lighting and filming equipment, they could no longer receive the usual income, or the academy awards for their artistic work. Knowing this brief history of the Hollywood film industry in the 1950s with its socio-political background is very helpful in our evaluation of the two movies since each picture belongs to one of these two ideologies. Elia Kazan, along with Budd Schulberg, the co-writer of the On the Waterfront, both were among those artists who chose to name the names and free themselves from the accusations, jail, and unemployment. Salt of the Earth director Herbert Biberman and everyone else in his crew, on the other hand, were blacklisted. This ideological difference between the two groups and the consequences of their decisions resulted in a significant production quality difference between the two: while Kazan was able to gather professional actors and superstars for his film, Biberman mainly used the actual mine workers and
"Blacklisted Film Restored and Rehabilitated." Socialist Viewpoint. Washington Post, Apr. 2003. Web. 10 May 2016.
"McCarthyism." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association. Web. 10 May 2016.
Navasky, Victor. "Naming Names: The Social Costs of McCarthyism." Modern American Poetry. New York: Viking Press, 1980. Press. 10 May 2016.
On the Waterfront. Dir. Elia Kazan. Prod. Sam Spiegel. By Budd Schulberg, Leonard Bernstein, Gene Milford, and Boris Kaufman. Perf. Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, and Eva Marie Saint. Columbia Pictures, 1954. Film.
Orwell, George. "Notes on Nationalism." May 1945. Web. 10 May 2016.
Salt of the Earth. Dir. H. J. Biberman. Prod. Paul Jarrico. By Michael Wilson and Sol Kaplan. Perf. Rosaura Revueltas, Juan Chacón, Will Geer, David Wolfe, David Sarvis, and Mervin Williams. Independent Production Corp., 1953.