In 1952, film director Elia Kazan appeared before HUAC and sold out eight of his friends.

On the Waterfront, a grimy film noir starring a young Marlon Brando going up against mafia-controlled union bosses, became Kazan's defense of himself. It's an interesting companion piece to The Crucible, as not only are they from the same time period, but Miller was a former friend of Kazan who became one of his most vocal critics. Kazan thought the leadership of the Screen Actors' Guild were a bunch of left-leaning pinkos. Like Brando's Terry Malloy, Kazan thought of himself as an ethical guy speaking up despite pressure from his corrupt superiors.