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Tony Mordente, George Chakiris, and an unknown dancer in West Side Story (1961) |
A gang of white street thugs think they're entitled to "own" a few square blocks on the upper west side of Manhattan. But then a Puerto Rican gang of street thugs moves into the neighborhood.
What could go wrong? It doesn't take long for them to break into song. Why can't we all get along?
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West Side Story has taken its knocks over the past twenty years. Everyone already knew that Natalie Wood hadn't done her own singing, that Marni Nixon had dubbed her singing voice. But many fans of the movie were disappointed and somewhat shocked by the news (revealed in background features on the 2003 DVD release) that all the of leading actors' singing voices had been dubbed. Tony? Not Tony! Yes, Tony too. Not Riff! He sounds just like Riff! Yeah, Riff too.
Also, the movie has been called to account for using white actors to play the Puerto Rican roles. This criticism is especially relevant now because a new version of West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, to be released this Christmas, will feature Puerto Ricans in the Puerto Rican roles.
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West Side Story was the first serious movie I saw at the theater. It was the film that most influenced me as a moviegoer as I was growing up. Yet even in January 1962 when I saw it at the age of 7, I was not comfortable with white actors wearing heavy brown makeup and using phony accents to play Puerto Ricans. I must admit, however, that I only spotted a few of these phonies back then.
I'm glad I saw West Side Story with my sisters and before I learned I wasn't supposed to like musicals. Thanks to this movie and The Wizard of Oz (1939), I unwittingly paved my way to enjoying The Sound of Music (1965), Damn Yankees! (1958), Fiddler on the Roof (1971), My Fair Lady (1964), the Astaire-Rogers dance musicals, the Broadway show Les Misèrables, La La Land (2016), and many others.
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Most Hollywood musicals were produced before the advent of the widescreen movie in 1953. They can be fully enjoyed at home even on a smallish TV monitor (e.g., 42" diagonal). However, West Side Story—shot on location in New York City in 70mm with a cut 2.35:1 aspect ratio—can be fully appreciated only on the big screen in a movie theater. I don't want to talk you out of watching the movie at home. By any means necessary see this film, please see it. However, though not shot in 3D, West Side Story is very nearly 3-dimensional during the dance sequences. The dance numbers take up a lot of 3rd-dimension space on those New York City streets, the rooftop, and the playground. Oddly enough, this depth of field is visually enhanced by the big screen. If you ever get the chance to see it on the big screen, take it.
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Most of the players in West Side Story were professional dancers. Many had worked with choreographer Jerome Robbins in the Broadway production of the musical, which Robbins had staged. For the film he would direct the dancing and singing scenes for which he earned the credit of co-Director. Producer and co-Director Robert Wise would direct the drama scenes.
Robbins worked his dancers rigorously during rehearsals, but his choreography was so exacting and thrilling that he garnered a lifetime's worth of respect and allegiance from those dancers.
The intense rehearsals paid off. Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise developed "creative differences" during the filming, and Wise, as producer, fired Robbins. The leading dancer then took over supervision of Robbins's choreography for the rest of the filming. As of the 2011 release of the restored version of the movie on Blu-ray and DVD, the dancers and the leading actors as well still had hard feelings over Robbins's dismissal.
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West Side Story was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won ten of them. Best Director Oscars went to Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. This was the first time two Oscars were given for Outstanding Direction.
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The movie played for 249 consecutive weeks in Paris, the longest theatrical movie run in French history.
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| C: Daniel Fapp. D: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. |
