West Side Story (1961)
Romeo and Juliet is a story everybody knows, is tremendously influential, and unfortunately often misunderstood. Is it a love story? Sure, but that’s a secondary point. It’s first and foremost a tragedy about lovers caught up in a pointless rivalry between their families. I’ve seen it done wrong more times than right. That brings us to West Side Story which changes some of the details but gets it. It’s an excellent re-imagining/re-interpretation/adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. It’s also strong on its own with marvelous dance choreography and superb musical numbers.
It’s 1957, Manhattan. In the West Side’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, two gangs are vying for the same territory. The Jets, led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo (George Chakiris). With the police (Simon Oakland as Lieutenant Schrank and Simon Oakland as Officer Krupke) cracking down on the violence, someone's got to go. When Bernardo’s younger sister Maria (Natalie Wood) falls head over heels for Tony (Richard Beymer), the two attempt to keep the peace, but it all seems doomed.
Let's begin by addressing the two elephants in the room. Firstly, this is a musical. If that isn't your thing... you should still at least give it a shot. This movie really is that good. The second eyebrow raised concerns the casting. Actress Rita Moreno is the only true Puerto Rican in the film. Everyone else? Makeup. It wasn't ok back then or now but you can't change the past and despite this, the movie is still amazing.
Where this film truly succeeds is in its characters. Yes, Maria and Tony fall madly in love with each other after just one encounter, but there’s great chemistry between the leads so you buy it. They're charismatic. They're earnest. You like them. You want this relationship to work. The songs clench it. You feel their plight; how they’re all poor and have few prospects ahead of them despite living in "the land of opportunity". Like so many uneducated and unsupervised young men, the gang members resort to violence. Time is dedicated to the main players to help you firmly establish who is who and when things go bad, it's upsetting.
You might've heard some of the songs in compilations or elsewhere. What I'd like to highlight are the dance numbers. If I can pick only one, it'd be The Rumble - the big confrontation between the Sharks and the Jets as Tony rushes to intervene.
Just about every aspect of the filmmaking is impressive. The art direction, special effects, character development, script, performances, even the end credits are great. Most of all, this is a strong adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet”. It lures you in with the romance and then hits hard with the tragedy. The way classic figures are adapted to this setting, how they're amplified by the addition and subtraction of others cannot be praised enough. This is all based on a Broadway show so a lot of credit goes to playwrights Jerome Robbins (who co-directs), Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents but the screenplay by Ernest Lehman puts in a lot of work too. All the choices made were the right ones.
Even if you’re iffy about the film at first because you see these thugs dancing in the street, by the intermission, you can’t wait to see where it’s going. At first, I was uncertain about West Side Story. The songs took a while to get used to and when you see something labeled with this many awards (10 Oscars), you expect to be blown away from frame one. If you aren't, you're quickly disheartened. It won me over. Boy did it ever. This is a must-see. (On Blu-ray, January 22, 2016)
