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| West Side Story (1961) | |
| Background
Like many other musicals of its time, Hollywood again looked to a successful Broadway stage play (first starring Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert) for its source material (e.g., in earlier years, South Pacific (1958), Oklahoma! (1955), and Carousel (1956) were chosen, among others) and it was no different for this film. An almost completely new cast was assembled, except for actor George Chakiris (who played Riff, NOT Bernardo, in the London production). After her success in Spendor in the Grass (1961), Natalie Wood was chosen for the lead female role after Barbara Luna was considered. And Richard Beymer, known for his performance as Peter Van Daan in George Stevens' The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), took the lead male role which was also considered for Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley. Chita Rivera, the Broadway actress who played the part of the tempestuous Anita, was replaced by Rita Moreno, known for her role as Tuptim in The King and I (1956). Supporting actor Russ Tamblyn, known for many roles in films such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and Peyton Place (1957), played the role of Riff. The same tale has been told numerous times in past cinematic history, including:
The ground-breaking, dynamic film of 1961 was based on the successful Broadway hit - a staged musical play (opening in 1957) by writer Arthur Laurents and directed/choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The play reworked the traditional love story material (of lovers that crossed racial/ethnic barriers) and translated it, in a radical, novel and revolutionary style for a musical, to include racial strife between rival New York street gangs (newly-arrived Puerto Ricans and second-generation Americans from white European immigrant families), juvenile delinquency and inner-city problems of the mid-twentieth century - in exhilarating musical and dance form. To capture the realism of the social tragedy and its urban environment, some of the film was shot on location in Manhattan (in abandoned West Side tenements around 110th St., and other settings), but most of it was actually filmed on sound stages with stylized, artificial studio sets.
The stage book was rewritten and adapted for the screen by Ernest Lehman, and the film retained the beautiful and electrifying musical score, songs and lyrics of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. It was co-directed by two clashing individuals from the start - veteran director Robert Wise and exciting choreographer Jerome Robbins. Both shared credit for the film's direction although Robbins was removed after a few months due to schedule delays, the over-budget production, disagreements with Wise over the film's degree of faithfulness to the stage production, and Robbins' potentially-expensive demands for perfection. The four kinetic dance sequences that Robbins choreographed ("Prologue," "America," "Cool," and "Something's Comin'") and the jazzy, interpretative score of Bernstein rhythmically communicate the passionate intensity, frustration and tough violence of the streets. The singing of both leads was dubbed: Jimmy Bryant for former child actor Richard Beymer, and Marni Nixon for Natalie Wood, and the vocals by Rita Moreno were enhanced by Betty Wand for "A Boy Like That". [Note: Marni Nixon also dubbed Audrey Hepburn's singing voice in My Fair Lady (1964).] (Visit the official West Side Story website at: http://www.westsidestory.com.) The much-praised, box-office blockbuster for United Artists received eleven Academy Award nominations and won all but one - Best Adapted Screenplay. Its achievement as a ten Oscar winner has only been surpassed by three films (all with eleven Oscars): Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997), and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003). West Side Story's Oscar awards include: Best Picture, Best Director (Wise and Robbins - the first time that awards went to co-directors), Best Supporting Actor and Actress (George Chakiris in his first major film role and Rita Moreno), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Color Costume Design. Robbins was also awarded a special statuette for "his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography on film." Robbins was the only Best Director Oscar winner to win for the only film he ever directed. Robert Wise won his second directorial Oscar for The Sound of Music (1965). Natalie Wood was un-nominated for West Side Story, but she was competing for a Best Actress Oscar (that she lost to Sophia Loren for Two Women) for her role in Spendor in the Grass (1961). The Story During the opening prologue, a breathtaking aerial shot of Manhattan from a bird's eye view captures the city with its bridge traffic and highway ramps, its waterfront docks, parks and skyscrapers. The camera passes over recognizable landmarks as it moves steadily to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and then speedily zooms down and plunges into a concrete playground. A gang of 'cool' white youths are posed together in one corner of a basketball court, clicking their fingers to the syncopated rhythm of the musical score. The aggressive gang members leave the fenced-in playground and cross the tenement street. In the famous, dazzling opening sequence, they gradually break into a highly-stylized dance and then burst into a daring, high-stepping sequence - an exhilarating, inventive, visual ballet of pirouettes, vigorous athletic moves, and running jumps that symbolizes their dominance and energy - they are readying themselves for a gang brawl. They are members of the Jets composed of white teens, led by brown-haired, All-American type Riff (Russ Tamblyn). [They represent one side of the racial rivalry, similar to Shakespeare's tense and feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets.] Two of the gang members face off against one member of a rival gang, Sharks leader Bernardo (George Chakiris), a darker-skinned, black-haired Puerto Rican immigrant. He is joined by his gang members, and they pick up the beat by clicking their fingers. The gangs both are vying for control of the streets, alternating between dominance and submission. Two of the members provoke each other, and after an extended confrontation, a full-scale brawl breaks out when the Jets come to rescue Baby John (Eliot Feld), the youngest member of their gang, from an assault by the Sharks. The conflict is broken up by the arrival of a precinct patrol car, carrying uniformed Officer Krupke (William Bramley) and bigoted, plainclothes policeman Lieutenant Schrank (Simon Oakland) who have stopped similar fights between the "punks" many times before:
Riff speaks to his gang members and arouses their immature gang mentality. He directs his hatred toward the Puerto Ricans and their turf-encroachment. Convinced of the Jets' own strength and invincibility, he is adamant about checking the Sharks' expansion and influence in the neighborhood while still avoiding a life-threatening rumble with blades or zip guns. However, Riff would consider battling the rivals with weapons if challenged:
Riff proposes getting help from Tony, a young Polish boy and ex-leader of the Jets who has grown away from them and taken a respectable job: "We need Tony. He's got a rep that's bigger than the whole West Side...He always came through for us and he always will." Tony could serve as the Jets' lieutenant for the impending showdown. The Jet Song:
Riff suggests persuading Tony, who founded the gang but has since moved on, to "stand up" with him and the Jets at the local dance and challenge rival gang-leader Bernardo to a rumble:
The Jets Song (continued):
Tony, an ambitious, level-headed young man who is responsibly employed and works for a living at Doc's, the neighborhood drug and candy store, resists Riff's invitation to the dance, to confront the Sharks that "walk bad" and "fight hard" on neutral turf. Riff pleads for one last favor from his idealistic best friend who has left his past behind and dreams of moving on to something "just around the corner":
Tony sings: "Something's Coming," a song of expectancy about the coming night: Something's Coming:
His dance under many clotheslines heaped with laundry transitions with a match-cut to a scene in the back of Madame Lucia's Bridal Shop where fabric hangs. There, a young, newly-arrived (a month earlier), innocent-looking Puerto Rican girl, Maria (Natalie Wood in her second adult film role), speaks in a heavy accent to Anita (Rita Moreno) while she makes alterations to Maria's dress for the evening's dance. Maria begs her to lower the neckline one more inch on her dress, as she slightly pulls down on her own bodice ("How much can one little inch do?"). However, Maria's over-protective brother Bernardo (and Anita's boyfriend), who wants to prevent her from growing up too fast, has already forbidden it: "Bernardo made me promise." Maria's older brother has brought her over to marry Chino (Jose de Vega), but she feels no romantic attraction to him:
When Maria tries on the plain white dress with a wide red belt, she complains: "White is for babies," but after trying it on, she becomes ecstatic: "It is a beautiful dress!" Bernardo (regarded as a "watchdog" by Maria) views his sister as "a precious jewel."
Maria is thrilled and excited about her 'coming out' that evening: "It is most important that I have a wonderful time at the dancing tonight...because tonight is the real beginning of my life as a young lady of America." She spins backwards, and a rainbow of colors envelopes her - the background behind her turns black, and becomes the spinning shapes at the gym dance. |
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West
Side Story (1961) is an energetic, widely-acclaimed, melodramatic
musical - a modern-day, loose re-telling of Shakespeare's Romeo
and Juliet tragedy of feuding families, although the setting
is the Upper West Side of New York City in the late 1950s with
conflict between rival street gangs rather than families. West
Side Story is still one of the best film adaptations of a musical
ever created, and the finest musical film of the 60s. It arrived
at a time when the silver screen was realizing tremendous competition
from TV and other genres of cinematic entertainment.