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Reviews by Matt Heffernan <matt@filmhead.com>
This week my picks are
The Contender
(2000 - 
) and
On the Waterfront
(1954 - 
).
The first film this week lives up to its title; Rod Lurie's
The Contender is up for two
Academy Awards this
year. The first nominee is Joan Allen, who plays a senator
that has been selected by the president (Jeff Bridges, the
other nominee) to be the next vice president. The confirmation
hearing is headed by a congressman (Gary Oldman) who seeks
to defame her character by bringing up an alleged event from
her college days. The Contender wears its liberal
politics on its sleeve, but still manages to be a compelling
film that even fans of Rush Limbaugh could appreciate on
an artistic level. Ironically, an article in Premiere
alleged that the right-leaning Oldman found his character
-- who is essentially a monstrous caricature of a zealous
Republican -- to be more sympathetic than Allen's. However,
the consensus is that Lurie succeeded in his thinly-veiled
dig at those who persecuted Clinton during his impeachment.
Full review from October 19, 2000
Any film buff would be hard-pressed to not think of the second film when watching The Contender. Even those who have never seen Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront know that Marlon Brando won his first Oscar for telling his brother, Charlie (Rod Steiger), that he "coulda been a contender." The line may be a cliché now, but in the original context, it adds an important stitch to the fabric of the film. It is a gripping story of a young longshoreman (Brando) who dares to defy the corrupt union that operates the loading docks along the Hudson River. It was a big leap from Kazan's earlier work, and finally established him as a great filmmaker as well as a great stage director. Aside from Brando's win for Best Actor, On the Waterfront garnered seven other Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress (Eva Marie Saint), Original Screenplay (Budd Schulberg), Black-and-White Cinematography (Boris Kaufman), Best Director, and Best Picture of 1954. Unfortunately, Steiger, Lee J, Cobb, and Karl Malden cancelled each other out for the Best Supporting Actor award.
For more information, visit the Internet Movie Database:
The Contender (2000)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Here's some merchandise for sale at
| The Contender (2000) | -- VHS |
| The Contender (2000) | -- DVD |
| On the Waterfront (1954) | -- VHS |
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