The Two Eva Marie Saint Movies With Near-Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Scores

You can't get off to a much better start as a film actor than Eva Marie Saint did when she starred alongside thespian sensation Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's 1954 drama "On the Waterfront." Saint's performance received raves from critics and earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Suddenly, at the age of 30, this luminous, tremendously talented graduate of Bowling Green State University was all the rage in Hollywood.

Though she followed up her debut with the Bob Hope comedy "That Certain Feeling," Saint became best known for her dramatic chops in films like "A Hatful of Rain" and "Raintree Country." She took a 14 year break from film acting in 1972 but kept busy on stage and television. Saint was always a star, and always wonderful, but you'd often go to a movie and see a lackluster performance and wonder why she didn't get that role. The TV work was good, yet, unless you lived close to New York City or Los Angeles, you missed out on her terrific stage work. You just couldn't help wanting more from her.

Fortunately, in the wake of Saint passing away on October 6, 2026, at the age of 102, most of her finest performances are readily available to stream, including two movies that come within one or three percentage points of scoring a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unsurprisingly, those films are "On the Waterfront" (99%) and Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (97%). The former can be rented at Prime Video and Apple TV, while the latter is free to stream at Tubi. I shouldn't have to sell you on these true-blue classics, but here's a little nudge, just in case.

Written by Budd Schulberg, "On the Waterfront" is a fiercely affecting drama about longshoremen dealing with union unrest and corruption in New York. Marlon Brando stars as Terry Malloy, a former boxer who could've been a contender had he not taken a dive at the behest of mobster Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb). Now, he works the docks, where he's still under Friendly's thumb, to the extent that he unwittingly helps facilitate the murder of a coworker. Eva Marie Saint plays Edie Doyle, the sister of the victim, who appeals to Terry to testify in front of the Waterfront Crime Commission. She initially doesn't know about Terry's involvement in her brother's murder, but the two nevertheless fall in love. Saint's scene with Terry in a playground is one of the most perfectly played moments I've ever seen in a movie. The whole film is a gem.

On the other side of the spectrum is Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest." The film stars Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill, an ad executive who gets mistaken for a U.S. intelligence agent that a rival set of operatives, led by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), want dead. This forces Thornhill on the run, and it's while hiding out on a passenger train that he meets the lovely Eve Kendall (Saint). Grant and Marie have wild chemistry from the jump. Grant's usually the one doing the charming, but Saint is every bit his seductive equal. Ergo, she's more than happy to help hide him from his pursuers.

You just can't do better than these two movies, and you could never, ever do better than Eva Marie Saint. So, do yourself a huge cinematic favor, and double feature these classics in her honor.