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Edge of the City

Edge of the City
Edge of the City 1957 poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster designed by Saul Bass
Directed by Martin Ritt
Produced by Jim Di Gangi
David Susskind
Screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur
Story by Robert Alan Aurthur
Starring John Cassavetes
Sidney Poitier
Jack Warden
Music by Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography Joseph Brun
Edited by Sidney Meyers
Production
company
David Susskind Productions
Jonathan Productions
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • January 29, 1957 (1957-01-29)
Running time
85 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $493,000
Box office $760,000

Edge of the City is a 1957 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's debut film as a director. Robert Alan Aurthur's screenplay was expanded from his original script, staged as the final episode of Philco Television Playhouse, A Man Is Ten Feet Tall (1955), also featuring Poitier.

The film was considered unusual for its time because of its portrayal of an interracial friendship, and was praised by representatives of the NAACP, Urban League, American Jewish Committee and Interfaith Council because of its portrayal of racial brotherhood.

Young drifter Axel Nordmann (John Cassavetes) arrives at the waterfront on the west side of Manhattan, seeking employment as a longshoreman, and giving his name as "Alex North." He goes to work in a gang of stevedores headed by Charlie Malick (Jack Warden) a vicious bully, and is befriended by Tommy Tyler (Sidney Poitier), who also supervises a stevedore gang. Malick resents blacks in positions of authority, and is antagonized when Axel goes to work for Tommy.

Axel moves into Tommy's neighborhood and becomes friends with Tommy's wife Lucy (Ruby Dee) and becomes romantically involved with her friend Ellen Wilson (Kathleen Maguire). Tommy serves as a mentor to Axel, urging him to stand up to Malick, and that if he does he will be "ten feet tall." It is apparent from the start that Axel is hiding something, and it emerges that he is a deserter from the United States Army. Malick is aware of that, and is extorting money from him.


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