Following up on the previous Budd Schulberg post, below is the taxicab excerpt from On the Waterfront.
One of the great things about this scene is how the actors have elevated the writing. Marlon Brando makes “i could’ve been a contender” one of the most memorable lines in film history, Number 3 on the American Film Institutes 100 Movie Quotes. (Number 2 is also Brando – “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”)
From a film making perspective, there’s a great deal to learn from a detailed comparison of the script with the film. Though I don’t know the exact provenance of this “Final Shooting Script” which could have been compiled after the film was finished; the differences between the script and the scene are very interesting. Brando and Rod Steiger do not follow the script exactly. Some exchanges were edited out by Best Editing Oscar winner Gene Milford (who also won 20 years earlier in 1937 for Lost Horizon). The acting/ editing/ directing show that not literally following the script can have a greater impact.
From American Legends Interview Budd Schulberg: The Making of On the Waterfront
American Legends:
A lot has been written about the cab scene between Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger….It is probably the most famous Actors Studio session in history.
Budd Schulberg:
Marlon did not improvise it. That is a grand myth. During the filming, he would improvise a word here and there, but he didn’t change lines. He was good about it. Much later, Brando said he had improvised the cab scene. That’s absolute nonsense. The scene was intact before we sent him the script.
So the film writer Budd Schulberg isn’t bothered by these minor changes. I’m not sure wheather the American Legends question refers to an actual Actors Studio “session” in which Brando and Steiger worked on the scene in a rehearsal or if the word implies the scene on film is like an Actors Studio session. It certainly would be interesting if there had been such a rehearsal, but it’s probably unlikely. Other reports (IMDB trivia) of the actual shooting are that Steiger had to shoot all of his closeups without Brando who had left the set.
From film critic Bob Westal blog:
…it’s easy to see why this became one of the most famous scenes ever in movie history. And it’s more than five minutes of two guys talking in the back of a cab with no action or movement other than the tremendous emotions between two brothers. Hard to imagine anyone in mainstream movies having the guts to pull this one off now.
Available on Amazon – On the Waterfront: The Final Shooting Script
DISSOLVE
INT—TAXICAB—EVENING—(N.Y.B.G.)
…
CHARLEY
(gently)
What do you weigh these days, slugger?TERRY
(shrugs)
…eight-seven, eighty-eight.
What’s it to you?CHARLEY
(nostalgically)
Gee, when you tipped one seventy-five
you were beautiful. You should’ve
been another Billy Conn. That skunk I got to
manage you brought you along too fast.TERRY
It wasn’t him!
(years of abuse crying out in him)
It was you, Charley. You and Johnny. Like the
night the two of youse come in the dressing
room and says, “Kid, this ain’t your night— we’re
going for the price on Wilson.” It ain’t my night.
I’d of taken Wilson apart that night! I was ready—
remember the early rounds throwing them combinations.
So what happens— This bum Wilson
he gets the title shot— outdoors in the ballpark!
– and what do I get— a couple of bucks and
a one-way ticket to Palookaville.
(more and more aroused as he relives it)
It was you, Charley. You was
my brother. You should of looked out for me.
Instead of making me take them dives for the
short-end money.CHARLEY
(defensively)
I always had a bet down for
you. You saw some money.TERRY
(agonized)
See! You don’t understand!CHARLEY
I tried to keep you in good with Johnny.TERRY
You don’t understand! I could’ve been a
contender. I could’ve had class and been somebody.
Real class. Instead of a bum, let’s face it,
which is what I am. It was you, Charley.Charley takes a long, fond look at Terry. Then he glances quickly out
the window.MEDIUM SHOT—WATERFRONT—NIGHT
From Charley’s angle. A gloomy light reflects the street numbers — 433— 435—
INT—CLOSE—CAB—ON CHARLEY AND TERRY — NIGHT
TERRY
It was you, Charley… .CHARLEY
(turning back to Terry, his tone suddenly changed)
Okay— I’ll tell him I couldn’t bring you in.
Ten to one they won’t believe it, but— go ahead,
blow. Jump out, quick, and keep going… and God
help you from here on in.LONGER ANGLE—CAB—NIGHT
As Terry jumps out. A bus is just starting up a little further along
the street.EXT—MEDIUM LONG SHOT—RIVER STREET—NIGHT
Running, Terry leaps onto the back of the moving bus.
