Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
Vitals
Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy, dockworker and former prize fighter
Hoboken, New Jersey, Fall 1953
Film: On the Waterfront
Release Date: July 28, 1954
Director: Elia Kazan
Wardrobe Supervisor: Anna Hill Johnstone
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Screen legend Marlon Brando was born 100 years ago today on April 3, 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska. After studying under Stella Adler in the 1940s, Brando shot to stardom with his iconic performances in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and The Wild Ones (1953) before receiving his first Academy Award for his powerful portrayal of longshoreman Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954), released 70 years ago this summer.
Including Brando’s recognition, On the Waterfront won in eight of its 12 nominated Oscar categories, including Best Picture, Best Story and Screenplay, and Best Director for Elia Kazan, who would later write of Brando’s work as Terry: “If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don’t know what it is.”
The story originated from Malcolm Johnson’s Pulitzer-winning 1948 series of two dozen exposés published in the New York Sun, unmasking the mob’s violent control of the Hoboken docks. Navy veteran and small-time writer Budd Schulberg was among the many fascinated by the stories, spending years researching a screenplay by immersing himself among the bars, churches, and docks along the waterfront. Many of the figures that Schulberg encountered, like gangsters Albert Anastasia and Johnny Dio and the outspoken priest John M. Corridan, would ultimately be represented in On the Waterfront through characters like the brutal docks boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), his right-hand man and Terry’s older brother Charley Malloy (Rod Stieger), and the honest, crusading Father Pete Barry (Karl Malden).
Perhaps most significantly, Schulberg also met stevedore Anthony Di Vincenzo—a former boxer who loved pigeons and was vocal against the International Longshoremen’s Association’s corrupt practices. In response to seeing these traits directly transferred to Terry Malloy’s character, Di Vincenzo sued producer Sam Spiegel and Columbia Pictures for invading his privacy by not securing consent to incorporate details like this from his life, eventually settling out of court for $25,000. Schulberg also consulted with prize fighter Roger Donoghue, who trained Brando for the screen, contributed the idea of putting plastic tubes in the actor’s nose to depict scar tissue, and was credited with inspiring Terry’s now-iconic line:
I coulda been a contender…
What’d He Wear?
The Buffalo Plaid Jacket
Until the final act, Terry Malloy spends most of On the Waterfront dressed in smart, rugged workwear, anchored by his buffalo plaid woolen flannel jacket. This waist-length jacket has a straight-zip front with a large shirt-style collar. The distressed edges, tears, and holes worn into the jacket provide the authenticity expected of a hard-wearing work jacket regularly worn for hard work.
The blouson-style waist hem and cuffs are finished in a solid black ribbed-knit wool, and the only outer pockets are the two patch-style pockets above the hips, each covered with a gently pointed flap that closes through a single button.
A straight yoke extends across the upper back, with shirring below that follows the tapered cut down to the waist—a cut that adds fullness to the chest and shoulders, aiding Terry’s movement while heaving crates on the docks.
Terry and Edie (Eva Marie Saint).
Despite Boris Kaufman’s Oscar-winning black-and-white cinematography, rare color photos from the production reveal the colors of Brando’s screen-worn jacket as red and black, the classic configuration for buffalo plaid also known as the “Rob Roy MacGregor” tartan. This photography informed the great “hard wool” reproduction that the UK-based Aero Clothing continues to produce, in both a screen-accurate red and black as well as a version in green and black (the colors they originally believed the jacket to be).
Contemporary color photography from the production of On the Waterfront shows that Marlon Brando’s screen-worn buffalo plaid jacket was the traditional red-and-black check.
Terry’s Shirts
At the start of On the Waterfront, Terry layers the plaid jacket over a black merino wool long-sleeved jumper with a low mock-neck and a wide-ribbed waist hem.
Terry often wears a light-colored flannel work shirt layered over a dark cotton crew-neck long-sleeved T-shirt. Almost certainly the same shirt that he also wears with his twill sports coat and Macclesfield tie while testifying, this full-fitting work shirt has a point collar, full button-up placket, single-button cuffs, and two button-through chest pockets with mitred corners on the bottom of each “patch”. All of the two-hole plastic buttons are a slightly darker shade than the shirt itself.
In addition to those he wears under his button-up shirt, Terry rotates through a selection of crew-neck T-shirts, few of which we see more prominently than the light-colored knit long-sleeved T-shirt with a contrasting darker “ringer” that continues into a short inverted triangle over the top of the chest.
Everything Else
Terry always wears the same dark trousers made from a pinwale corduroy, also known as “needlecord”. While corduroy may be considered a somewhat dressier or elevated fabric today, this ridged cloth has a hardy heritage among outdoorsmen that would make it suitable for a 1950s dockworker’s trousers. Held up by a narrow dark brown smooth leather belt that closes through a squared single-prong buckle, these flat-front trousers have side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups (cuffs).
Terry’s robust plain-toe chukka boots are either black or dark-brown leather, derby-laced through three sets of eyelets and lined in a piled fleece for additional warmth and insulation. He wears them with baggy white or off-white ribbed socks.
Production photo of Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint on the waterfront while filming, well, On the Waterfront.
When on duty at the docks, Terry frequently wears two-tone work gloves that appear to be a soft brown sueded leather over the backs of his hands and a lighter-colored (likely beige or cream) canvas for the rest, including the turned-back gauntlets that protect his wrists.
In some scenes (but not all), Terry wears a plain wristwatch with a round, light-colored dial on a smooth dark leather strap. We hardly see the watch enough to clearly identify it, but it may be a Rolex model as Marlon Brando was a lifelong enthusiast of the Swiss watch brand from the time his parents gifted him a black-dialed Oyster Royalite Observatory model in 1943.
In the 1960 film The Fugitive Kind, he would specifically mention the Rolex Moonphase ref. 6062 strapped to his wrist. Given the model’s production timeline from 1950 through ’53, the ref. 6062 is also a possible contender (so to speak) for the timepiece dressing Brando’s left wrist in On the Waterfront.
Brando himself would be gifted an 18-karat yellow-gold Vacheron Constantin by his then-girlfriend Zsa Zsa Gabor in June 1954 to celebrate his Oscar win earlier that year for On the Waterfront, though the actor himself would continue wearing Rolex watches through the rest of his life, including the gold Datejust and bezel-free GMT Master prominently seen in Last Tango in Paris (1972) and Apocalypse Now (1979), respectively. You can read more about Brando’s watches on- and off-screen in this Crown & Caliber article.
The Gun
Terry arms himself with his brother Charley’s Colt Detective Special, the classic snub-nosed revolver that was equally popular among cops, crooks, and civilians across much of the 20th century for its easy concealment, reliability, and relative power.
Colt introduced the Detective Special in 1927 alongside the larger Official Police service revolver, intended to be a backup or “belly gun” for plainclothes detectives—as its name implies. The Detective Special functions similarly to the Official Police with its traditional double-action/single-action trigger and a swing-out cylinder loaded with six rounds of .38 Special.
The ejector rod and rounded cylinder release clearly identify the snub-nosed revolver as a Colt, rather than a Smith & Wesson.
For scenes requiring extensive stunt work where it may have been unsafe or unnecessary to arm Brando with a blank-loaded Detective Special, a heavy painted metal prop gun was provided. This prop sold for more than $5,000 when auctioned by Christie’s in November 2003.
What to Imbibe
Beer is the drink of choice for Terry and his fellow longshoremen, typically poured from Ballantine taps—an appropriate choice given the ale’s New Jersey origins. Peter Ballantine opened his first brewery in Newark in 1840. Terry mystifies Edie by ordering them “two Glockenheimers and two for chasers,” though it’s unclear if this is intended to be a brand made up for the movie or merely a colloquial shorthand for beer.
Father Barry (Karl Malden) joins a bleeding Terry for a beer.
How to Get the Look
Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
Marlon Brando presents a tough and classic workwear look to contend with throughout his Oscar-winning performance in On the Waterfront, anchored by a classic red-and-black buffalo checked blouson, dark corduroys, and fleece-lined chukka boots with a rotation of hardy shirts.
- Red-and-black buffalo plaid wool waist-length work jacket with shirt-style collar, straight front zip, flapped patch-style hip pockets (with button-down pointed flaps), shirred back, and black ribbed-knit cuffs and hem
- Mid-colored flannel long-sleeved work shirt with point collar, front placket, two button-through patch-style chest pockets, and 1-button squared cuffs
- Dark cotton long-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt
- Dark pinwale corduroy flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Dark-brown smooth leather belt with squared single-prong buckle
- Dark leather plain-toe three-eyelet derby-laced chukka boots with piled fleece lining
- White ribbed baggy socks
- Stainless steel 1950s-era wristwatch with round white dial on dark leather strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
You don’t understand. I could’ve had class. I could’ve been a contender. I could’ve been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.
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