UNDER THE WATERFRONT

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
dir: Elia Kazan

UNDER THE WATERFRONT
MAD #21, March 1955
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Wallace Wood

One of the few pieces from MAD's Kurtzman era to be lettered by the artist and not bt regular letterer Ben Oda, as it says, the lettering is probably different to simulate the effect of nervousness from having seen a violent movie.

Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is a longshoreman that tells co-worker Joey Doyle (Ben Wagner) he's found Joey's lost pigeon and will return it to his roof, but it is all a ruse to lure Joey to the roof so he can be pushed off by corrupt union men so he won't be able to testify against them. Terry goes to the bar where Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), the union boss with mob ties to collect his reward for participation in the dirty work.

Johnny Friendly kids around with Terry about his old boxing days. Terry has a guilty conscience about what he's been doing and his brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) sets him straight.

Kayo Dugan (Pat Henning) is another longshoreman who has agreed to testify, and Friendly's men perform a hit job on him as well, cutting a rope being used to haul boxes of liquor amd making it look like it broke accidentally.

In scenes not used, Joey's sister Edy (Eva Marie Saint) is trying to get to the bottom of the murder of her brother and seeks the aid of Father Barry (Karl Malden). Terry has a crush on her, they begin dating, and it's broken off when he confesses his part in the murder. He runs back to her when he agrees to turn Johnny Friendly in.

The movie still is of Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Friendly's men go after Terry knowing he will be a witness and he runs from them when they try to kill him. Terry has ratted Johnny Friendly out in court (another scene they didn't use), and pressured by Edy and Father Berry to do the right thing, he has a climactic fight at the docks.

All the other longshoremen stick up for Terry and refuse to work, ruining Johnny Friendly once and for all.

One of the many scenes not used is the big monologue Marlon Brando gives when he's kidnapped by his brother who promises a cushy job if he sides with Johnny Friendly, and he accuses his brother of ruining his boxing career and leading him into his life of organized crime.

SWITCH TO WATERFRONT
From Here to Insanity (Crazy, Man, Crazy) volume 3 #1, April 1957
a: Joe Pena

This parodies the movie sticking to the plot more inclusively but being more of a commentary about how much product placement exists in the world, nothing compared to now.