Off the alcohol, perhaps? Act as anchor in film (2,3,10)
I believe the answer is:
on the waterfront
'film' is the definition.
(On The Waterfront is a 1954 film)
'off the alcohol perhaps? act as anchor' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
'act as anchor' could be 'front' (as in fronting a TV programme) and 'front' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' acts as a link.
(Another definition for on the waterfront that I've seen is " Brando film".)