West Side Story (1961)

Musical about two youngsters from rival NYC gangs who fall in love.

Directors:

Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise

Writers:

Ernest Lehman (screenplay), Arthur Laurents (book),

Stars:

Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn

Won 10 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Natalie Wood	...	Maria
Richard Beymer	...	Tony
Russ Tamblyn	...	Riff
Rita Moreno	...	Anita
George Chakiris	...	Bernardo
Simon Oakland	...	Schrank
Ned Glass	...	Doc
William Bramley	...	Krupke
Tucker Smith	...	Ice
Tony Mordente	...	Action
David Winters	...	A-rab
Eliot Feld	...	Baby John
Bert Michaels	...	Snowboy
David Bean	...	Tiger
Robert Banas	...	Joyboy

Storyline

West Side Story is the award-winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, "Romeo and Juliet". The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs- the white Jets led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff's best friend (and former Jet) Tony and Bernardo's younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what's happened, tragedy strikes and doesn't stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.

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Plot Keywords:

love | gang | new york city | puerto rican | dance | 

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Taglines:

Unlike other musicals 'West Side Story' grows younger!(re-release)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

23 December 1961 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Amor sin barreras

Filming Locations:

110th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$43,650,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mirisch Corporation, The, Seven Arts Productions, Beta Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

152 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original Broadway production of "West Side Story" opened at the Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 1957, ran for 732 performances and was nominated for the 1958 Tony Award for the Best Musical.

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Goofs

The length of Riff's cigarette in the lead up to the Jets song/dance. It starts out short and stubby, and just before they start singing and he flicks it away, it is much longer.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[the Jets dance across the streets of New York, eventually coming to a playground where they toss around a basketball. The ball is intercepted by Bernardo, leader of the Sharks]
Riff: [snaps fingers at Bernardo] Come on.
[Bernardo drops the ball, Riff picks it up]
Riff: Beat it.

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Crazy Credits

The credits at the end of the movie appear as graffiti on street signs.

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Connections

References Show Boat (1936)

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Soundtracks

"Tonight"
(1957) (uncredited)
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Richard Beymer (dubbed by Jimmy Bryant) and Natalie Wood (dubbed by Marni Nixon)

User Reviews

It could hardly have failed

Note the opening credits. I use the term "credits" loosely, because there aren't any. There's just a reddish orangish title card which changes colour ever so slowly while they play the overture. Now THAT takes courage. Obviously Wise was certain that Bernstein's music provides so much interest on its own that it would have been redundant to do anything but play it. And he was right. Bernstein simply wrote better music than any other Broadway composer of his day - much better music - and whether or not "West Side Story" contains his very best music, it's his very best musical. It would take a special effort to make a bad movie out of it.

In fact Wise handles things very well. We get the same silent sweep over New York that he later gave us over Austria in "The Sound of Music" - the sweep that says, "I'm going to show you New York" (or Austria, as the case may be). The filming and the colours are stark and intentionally artificial: it does feel as if we are being shown a city. Performances are all fine.

Of course, most of what makes this film great was already present in the musical. But what's wrong with that? Surely Wise shouldn't HAVE to spin straw into gold. A wise man - sorry - just accepts it with good grace when he is handed gold to begin with.