On the Waterfront Scene 3 Summary

  • Next, a kid runs around on top of the apartment roofs during the day and finds Terry, still brooding, over by Joey's pigeon house.
  • Terry heads down to the docks, where the longshoremen are talking. They tell Joey's father that he should take time off and go home—they'll cover for him.
  • But he says he needs to work to pay for the funeral. Pop gives one of them Joey's coat, since the man's coat is worn out.
  • Men from the Waterfront Crime Commission arrive and try to talk to Terry…who denies knowing anything before they even ask him anything. (Not suspicious at all…)
  • They persist, asking him about Joey's untimely demise, but Terry keeps refusing.
  • Joey's dad and his friend, Dugan, banter bitterly with a union thug who's shaking them down on Johnny's behalf.
  • They see Edie sneaking down by the docks looking around. Barry, the priest, meets with her, and tells her that he's not going to hide in the church—this is his parish, and he's going to try to figure out what the corrupt union is doing and who killed Joey.
  • A worker, Big Mac, hands out tabs to let the men work on unloading a banana shipment. But there's only a limited number of slots, so someone knocks the box of tabs out of his hand, and everyone fights over them.
  • Edie jumps in, trying to get a tab for her father. Terry grabs one, and—not realizing who she is—tries to keep it for himself. But when someone says she's Joey's sister, Terry gives her the tab, and she takes it to her father.
  • The guys who didn't get any tabs stand around together, out of work. Barry asks them why they're getting such a raw deal, and they tell him it's been this way since Johnny took over the union.
  • Barry tells them they should meet at the church and discuss all this, and they seem think that's a good idea…