Diagramming Story Structure on the Waterfront

¶ … Waterfront

STORY DIAGRAM FOR "ON THE WATERFRONT"

Framing crime drama: the police know that dockworker's union boss Johnny Friendly is involved with organized crime but cannot get any useful witness to snitch on him

Terry Malloy = Protagonist

Backstory: Terry was a promising boxer who "took a fall" (deliberately lost his match) on the instructions of his older brother Charley, who works for the dockworker's union. (Given the involvement of organized crime in sports betting, we are meant to understand Terry as one of the victims of Johnny Friendly's crime activities).

Turning Point / Act One Climax: Terry is used by organized crime in order to lure out another dockworker -- Joey Doyle -- who is preparing to snitch against Johnny Friendly. Joey Doyle is murdered.

Act Two begins with Terry's blossoming relationship with the dead Joey Doyle's sister, Edie.

The relationship means that Terry is now struggling with his conscience about whether to snitch on Friendly for his involvement in the death of his new girlfriend's brother.

Edie involves the community priest for the dockworkers, Father Barry, into trying to fight back against the organized crime that killed her brother.

A second dockworker, nicknamed "K.O." (shorthand for "knockout" and therefore presumably a boxer like Terry) is preparing to snitch against Johnny Friendly, with the support of the priest.

Johnny Friendly arranges the murder of K.O.

Terry's increasing pangs of conscience over snitching mean that Johnny Friendly now assumes Terry is a threat.

Friendly asks Terry's brother Charley to speak to Terry and ensure his silence.

Terry and Charley meet in a car. Charley first attempts to buy Terry's silence with the offer of a union sinecure.

Then Charley pulls a gun.

Since neither bribery nor coercion seem to sway Terry's newfound conscience, Charley gives Terry a gun and tells him to get out of town.

Johnny Friendly has monitored Charley's conversation with Terry, and now has Charley killed as the ultimate attempt to silence Terry.

Turning Point / Act Two Climax: Terry finds Charley's body hanging from a meathook in an alleyway.

Act Three; His brother's murder makes Terry desire to get revenge on Johnny Friendly, and he plans to kill him.

The priest Father Barry instructs Terry that snitching on Johnny Friendly would be a better revenge. Terry testifies about Friendly's illegal activities.

The Act Three Crisis occurs when Terry is told by Friendly after snitching that he will never work again as a stevedore.

Edie Doyle tries to persuade Terry that they should leave town, but Terry insists on a final confrontation, and goes to the waterfront.

The Act Three Climax occurs when workmen are being selected, and Terry is the only one not to receive a job.

Terry confronts Johnny Friendly in front of the mob of workmen.

The mob turns into an open fight, with the workers asserting themselves against the organized crime.

Johnny Friendly sends criminal thugs to beat Terry ruthlessly.

The Act Three Resolution occurs when the vicious beating turns the mob in Terry's favor, who rebuke Friendly and declare their solidarity with Terry.

Terry is permitted to go into work (thereby disproving the notion that, by snitching, he would become a persona non grata and never work again).

The narrative structure of "On the Waterfront" is fairly simple once the social politics that underlie its logic are fully understood. In the film, a corrupt labor union is understood to be the plaything of organized crime -- and one can be a victim of the crime like Terry Malloy (who was forced to abandon his youthful dreams and ambitions by taking a dive at the mob's behest in a prizefight) or victims like Joey Doyle and "K.O." (both murdered to prevent their revelation of large-scale racketeering).

Therefore the drama is about the difficulty, for the protagonist, of doing something that would seem to be rather easy. Terry Malloy merely has to agree to tell what he knows to the police, which would give them evidence against Johnny Friendly. The narrative of the film is organized to demonstrate why it is difficult for Terry to testify -- it shows the obstacles to snitching within a community that is heavily influenced by organized crime. If crime controls the union, and the union controls employment, then a man's livelihood is threatened by getting on the wrong side of crime. That is why the climax of the movie comes not when Terry actually does testify, but afterwards, when he proves that he can still force the heart of the labor union (i.e., a crowd of his fellow working men) to demand that he not be blacklisted from employment on the docks.