In 1954, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, and Eva Marie Saint did "On the Waterfront." Classic film about union corruption on the docks. The film's success spurred copycat films. In the 1950s, the unions and docks were rife with corruption and crime. Now that our government has aimed to clean them all up, our docks are even more rife with corruption and crime. Today's film was shot in New Orleans, at the time the seconds busiest port in America. New Orleans is a shithole today and back then it was sort of a shithole in training. Let us look at 1955's "New Orleans Uncensored," directed by horror film great, William Castle.
Dan (Arthur Franz) arrives in New Orleans with a dream. The former navy sailor from California buys a surplus LSM docked on a Mississippi River junkyard. He has dreams. The rust bucket, according to Dan, will be fixed up and haul timber up and down the mighty Mississippi. He meets the sultry blonde Alma (Helene Stanton) who gets him introduced to the longshoremen and their union bosses. Now Dan is making money on the docks. Uh oh...he befriends Joe (William Henry) who is a union boss who is trying o do the right thing. Zero (Michael Ansara) is the owner of the stevedore company that controls the loading and unloading of all the ships in port. Zero has a fine racket going and makes loads of cash stealing and reselling cargo. Dan, and honest chap, also meets Joe's lovely wife, Marie (Beverly Garland). Marie is sad. Joe's desire to make a lot of money has corrupted him and she fears Dan will also be corrupted.
When Joe gets too ambitious, Zero has him killed and dumped in the Mississippi. Marie is sad, and also available. Dan is too awed by Alma and her charm and seduction to notice. Alma is also on Zero's payroll and anything Dan says or does is reported to Zero. Zero then tries to corrupt Dan and thinks he's doing a great job at it. Then when Marie's brother, Scrappy (Stacy Harris) is killed, Dan figures out what is really going on. Now, doing the right thing could get him killed, nonetheless, he liked Scrappy and Joe and now realizes Zero murdered them. He also likes Marie...who wouldn't?
Will Zero put bullets into Dan and dump him in the river? Will Alma and Marie get into a catfight over Dan's affections? Just how will Dan go about doing the right thing on those dirty docks of The Big Easy? This is a gritty and violent one. Union corruption and fisticuffs permeate every frame of this film. The two dames, Ms. Garland and Ms. Stanton, are sultry and a great contrast to the dirty river docks. See "New Orleans Uncensored" for a bargain basement version of the classic "On the Waterfront."
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