 Marlon Brando (qv) objected to certain aspects in the famous  taxicab scene. When filming began, Brando began to improvise some  dialogue, surprising Rod Steiger (qv). After a while,  Elia Kazan (qv) told Brando to "knock it off". The problem Brando  had with the scene, as he explained to screenwriter  Budd Schulberg (qv) and Kazan, was that he felt he (as Terry  Malloy) would have difficulty trying to talk reasonably with his  brother (played by Steiger) with a gun at his ribs. At this, Kazan  agreed and told Brando to improvise. Kazan maintained that he did  not direct Brando nor Steiger in this scene, he simply stood back  and let the two actors direct themselves.