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the audience applauded

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Sidney Poitier is famous for his serious roles as an outstanding person in unfortunate circumstances, often dealing with people who are horrible to him. Being a black leading man in a time when there weren't many black leading men, many of his movies also deal with race. So it was kind of nice to see this movie, because this one is quite different.In "Edge of the City", Poitier plays Tommy Tyler, a freight car loader who finds Axel "North" (John Cassavetes) looking for a job where he works. Tommy offers to give a recommendation for Axel, but Axel insists that his friend Charlie Malik (Jack Warden) will get the job for him. Charlie becomes a bit too controlling of Axel though, so Tommy gets him switched from Charlie's crew to his. Charlie is not exactly a great guy, so this causes some serious issues. There's lots of fun along the way though, with Sidney Poitier playing one of the sweetest movie characters in the history of film. We get to see him dance, too, so that is definitely a plus. I mean, how often are you going to have the opportunity to watch Sidney Poitier dance? I will warn you that the happiness doesn't last, but I suppose that is not very hard to guess anyway.One thing that I love about this movie, and I would guess that Poitier appreciated it too, is that the movie doesn't really focus on his race. They don't play up the fact that he is black like they often did, he and his wife and son are just regular, wonderful people. It's nice to see a movie from that time period where the actors are not black actors and white actors, they are just actors.I know I have been talking about Sidney Poitier a lot, but John Cassavetes is very good in this too. He is great as the troubled Axel who has a dark past that we don't really learn about until well into the movie. His character, along with the overall look of the movie, seems a bit "On the Waterfront"-esque to me, which I found quite interesting. It is shot in the same style of black-and-white-after-black-and-white-wasn't-really-being-used filming and some aspects of the plot are kind of similar.All in all, "Edge of the City" is a really great, well-acted movie that I enjoyed a lot and would definitely recommend.

Edge of the City is not as remembered as it should be. John Cassavetes gives his best performance of all time. Poitier and Warden are not far behind in their performances. Martin Ritt's first film is one of his most intense and well-made. The best part is the innocence and wisdom of Poitier's character placed against Cassavetes' troubled personality. The relationship between the two is one of the most enlightening of the film. The noirish aspect of the picture is well-done, but what really makes it great is the respect the film has for New York. Not as great as Cassavetes' later Shadows (which deals with much the same themes), but still a worthwhile masterpiece.

Although this small film kind of got lost in the wake of On The Waterfront, Edge Of The City can certainly hold its own with that star studded classic. It's another story about the docks and the code of silence that rules it.Next to the corrupt union that Lee J. Cobb ran in On The Waterfront, Jack Warden is really small time corruption. But he's real enough as the gang boss on one of the docks who intimidates the other workers by being handy with his fists and the bailing hook and he gets the rest to kickback part of their hard earned money. And it's all hard earned money in that job.One guy Warden can't intimidate is Sidney Poitier another gang boss and when he tries to intimidate newcomer John Cassavetes, Poitier takes him under his wing. The two develop quite the friendship and Poitier and his wife Ruby Dee even fix Cassavetes up with Kathleen Maguire.Warden is truly one loathsome creature and it's sad how by sheer force of personality and physical prowess he cows almost everyone else into submission. In that sense he's tougher than Lee J. Cobb who did have to rely on an impression collection of goons to enforce his will in On The Waterfront.Edge Of The City marked the big screen directorial debut of Martin Ritt who did a great job with a good cast of New York based players and spot on location cinematography. The film's low budget does show, but you're so impressed with the ensemble cast you don't really care.Cassavetes as the loner with a past and the hip and tough Poitier are both fine, but my personal favorite in this film is Ruby Dee. She should have gotten some award for her performance, her final scene with Cassavetes is outstanding.Catch this one if ever possible. I wish it were out on DVD or VHS.

John Cassavetes plays Axel Nordmann who, AWOL from the U.S. Army, gets a job as a New York City dockworker. In short order he becomes friends with Tommy Tyler (Sidney Poitier), a foreman on the dock. Tommy is happily married to Lucy (Ruby Dee) and they have a cute young boy. Into this mix is put Charles Malik (Jack Warden), a corrupt and vindictive foreman, who has a contentious relationship with both Tommy and Axel.I liked the black and white photography, but I found the characterizations to be too black and white. For a foreman having to deal with the frictions at the dock Tommy has an unrealistically sunny and cheerful disposition - life just couldn't be better for him. Sidney Poitier turns in a fine performance, but Tommy's character was just too irreproachably good for me. I found Cassavetes to be wooden in his portrayal of the confused Axel who has a problem with authority, stemming from his relationship with his father. Warden is fine as the consistently mean-spirited Malik and Dee shines in her few appearances.I was bothered by many inconsistencies. In a phone conversation with his parents at the beginning of the movie Axel's father is so irritated with his son that he doesn't even want to talk with him and encourages his wife not to take the call. Then toward the end, his father falls all over himself begging his son to come home, telling him that he is all that he and his wife have. Tommy's wife tells Axel that she is so happy that he and Tommy are friends, since Tommy didn't have any friends. But if Tommy, as portrayed, was such an outgoing friendly guy, it is hard to imagine that he did not have any friends. The whole racism issue, central to the plot, comes out of nowhere toward the end. In his relationship with his love interest Ellen, Axel behaves like an awkward teenager - could he really be that naive? The scenes between him and Ellen are embarrassing. For the life of me I could not figure out what it was about Axel that Tommy and Ellen felt so immediately drawn to? The fight scene between Tommy and Malik was intense and riveting, but then the final fight scene I found to be staged and difficult to believe.The music is overly dramatic.One cannot see this movie without comparing it with "On the Waterfront," and judging it to be a derivative work. Credit must be given to "Edge of the City" for taking on the issue of racism in an era when that was being swept under the rug, and it does not shy from an ending that probably would not have played well with focus groups had such existed then. But "Waterfront" deals with corruption in more detail and is all round a vastly superior movie in my opinion.