Opening Night

Presented by Barry Levinson

What better way to celebrate this year’s Opening Night of the Maryland Film Festival than by screening a celebrated classic film, presented by a celebrated “local-boy-done-good” filmmaker who counts that particular film as a major influence on his career?

Over the years director Barry Levinson has successfully put his hometown on the cinematic map (Diner, Avalon, Tin Men, Liberty Heights – the first two garnering Academy Award nominations), as well as in living rooms across America (the Emmy winning “Homicide: Life On The Streets”). Among his many other Academy Award nominations, he received a Best Screenplay nomination for And Justice for All (1979) and Best Director & Best Picture nominations for Bugsy (1991). In 1987 he directed Robin Williams to his first Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Good Morning Vietnam. In 1988 he won a Best Director Academy Award for Rain Man. And the hits kept coming with Disclosure (1994), Wag the Dog (1997) and Bandits (2001) to name a few. In 1999 he kicked off the inaugural Maryland Film Festival with the World Premiere of his Diner Guys documentary, and we’re happy he has returned to kick off the fifth Maryland Film Festival with a film he has personally chosen for this occasion, On the Waterfront.

Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront stars Marlon Brando as would-be prize fighter Terry Malloy, a longshoreman working for Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb), the corrupt boss of the Dockers Union. Terry feels guilty after witnessing the union-related murder of a fellow longshoreman. He meets the dead man’s sister (Eva Marie Saint) and Father Berry (Karl Malden), who try to convince him to help break up the corruption at the docks. However, Terry’s brother Charley (Rod Steiger) is involved in the very corruption they seek to wipe out.

On the Waterfront is the epitome of classic American filmmaking. Even director Elia Kazan’s infamous cooperation with the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952 can’t – or shouldn’t – overshadow the importance of this socially conscious film. In 1955, it was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning 8 of them (including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Cinematography). It launched the film careers of Eva Marie Saint and Fred Gwynne, and is the only non-musical film scored by Leonard Bernstein. And yes, it is the origin of the famous Brando line, “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been someone instead of a bum which is what I am.” Always ahead of the game, the Maryland Film Festival is celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary a year early.

Join us afterwards, across the street at Belvedere Square Market for the Opening Night Party.


--Skizz Cyzyk