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Location: The Cab
The most famous line in On the Waterfront -- and one of the most famous in film history -- is Terry's Lament, "I coulda been a contender," he delivered as he and Charlie are being driven (or so Terry thinks) to Madison Square Garden for a night at the fights. The major turning point in the plot, the conversation turns on the brothers' joint realization that Charlie played a major part in sidetracking Terry's boxing career. The crux comes when Terry recalls Charlie telling him, "We're goin' for the price on Wilson;" recognizes that "He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark and what do I get? A one-way ticket to Palookaville;" and sadly recognizes that, "It was you, Charlie."
Through it all, the cab never actually left its parking space on River Street between First and Second. To disguise what would have been the obvious reality that the vehicle wasn't moving, someone hastily snatched a venetian blind from Meyer's Hotel and cut it to fit the rear window of the vehicle. An electrician stood behind the car moving a light to create the illusion of movement.
The movie returns to the streets of Hoboken after Charlie decides he can neither tempt Terry to remain D-and-D with a promise of a dock loader's job, nor bring himself to deliver his brother to the fictitious 437 River Street, where someone named Gerry G will silence him more crudely. Only after Terry is dropped off on the corner of First and the actual River Street does the audience see the cab driver, who turns out to be one of Friendly's skels. The cab then proceeds south on River, turns right (yes, the wrong way on what was even then a one way street) onto First Street, and disappears through the entrance to an underground garage, now covered by 5+ Marine View. The public facility belonged to AZ motors, whose showroom had been relocated from the northwest corner of First and River to Fourteenth and Willow some time before the film was made. Friendly is visible through the window of the garage office on the second floor. Above the office was Empire Lanes.
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