Reflects on the choice of theme: “Somehow the channel of the film should also be my life... In some subtle way or not, every film is autobiographical. One thing in my life is expressed by the essence of the film” (Stevens). In his most famous, On the Waterfront, widely regarded as one of the greatest films in the history of international cinema, Kazan emulates his retrospective feelings about his involvement in the Communist Party when he was a member of the theater group. When the aforementioned protagonist, Terry Malloy, "lashes" the corrupt Johnny Friendly and observes that "[he] made a fool of myself all those years," Kazan is explaining his temporary seduction into the American Communist Party and his disappointment because of this. previous state of being from the advantage of a sober mind. Johnny Friendly's coercing of Terry into arranging the death of a dock worker he was about to testify parallels the manipulated feeling Kazan felt when the communist cell he frequented asked him to fill his beloved Group Theater with more communists. Every aspect of On the Waterfront is filled with a deep-rooted passion derived from the pressures and criticism Kazan faced during his HUAC ordeal. The emotions he distilled into his film, just like those of his enthusiastic actors, were authentic; this is what made his films so vibrant for his viewers. He noted that all he was “concerned about… was saying something artistic that was uniquely [his].]