On the Waterfront Quotes
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Source: On the Waterfront
Speaker: Terry Malloy
"I coulda been a contender!"
I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.
Context
This famous lament is spoken by Terry Malloy, played by Marlon Brando, in On the Waterfront (directed by Elia Kazan, 1954).
Before Marlon Brando was a mob boss in The Godfather, he was being controlled by a mob boss in On the Waterfront. He plays Terry Malloy, a talented young boxer who is convinced to throw a fight so that the mobsters can win money. And we always thought boxing was such an honorable sport...
After throwing the fight, Malloy realizes that it ruined his career, and he regrets his decision and his brother's role in convincing him to lose. Malloy tells his brother Charley that if he hadn't done that, he "coulda been a contender!"
And now he'll never know.
Where you've heard it
People drop this line whenever they have a chance at winning something—a boxing match or, uh, a game of Trivial Pursuit—but then they lose...whether the mob is involved or not.
Hopefully not.
The scene is also referenced (verbatim) in that other iconic boxing movie, Raging Bull.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
If you can pull off the Brando accent, you're golden.