Oscar Winners - West Side Story

United Artists, 1961
Starring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, and Russ Tambyn
Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Music by Leonard Bernstein; Lyrics by Stephan Sondheim

This tale of warring teen gangs in the changing New York of the early 1960's is about as far from High School Musical shenanigans as you can get. Indeed, it was ripped directly from the headlines of the time, as real gangs of the new immigrants who now mainly populated Manhattan found themselves crowded with long-time residents. How does this tragic modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet look today? Let's head down to the impoverished Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York's West Side, where one particular gang is gearing up for a very choreographed rumble, to find out...

The Story: The Jets, a group of white teens, and the Sharks, newly-arrived Puerto-Ricans and Hispanics, are warring for control of their neighborhood. The Jets are lead by tough-guy Riff (Tambyn); the Sharks by explosive Bernardo (George Chakiris). Riff wants his best buddy Tony (Beymer) to come to the big local dance, but Tony's not interested. His buddies manage to talk him into it...and he falls in love with Bernardo's beautiful and innocent sister Maria (Wood) the moment he sees her there.

Needless to say, almost no one approves of the romance from the get-go. Bernardo breaks it up as soon as he can. Tony, however, is smitten with Maria, and she with him, enough that he visits her on her fire escape. The other kids are more interested in fighting each other than romance, no matter how often local beat cop Officer Krupke (William Bramley) breaks up their rumbles. The Jets want Tony to take part in the rumble the next day, but Maria wants him to stop it. Her best friend and Bernardo's girlfriend Anita (Moreno) is convinced to help them flee and get married. Tony, however, is not only unable to stop the rumble, but he's involved in two deaths. Maria loves him no matter what, but the other kids are out for literal blood...and it won't end until hearts and lovers are broken and scattered, and Maria is left wondering what all the killing was for.

The Song and Dance: With emphasis on the "dance" side. Those famous chorus numbers are just as amazing as everyone has always claimed. The brilliant costumes and expansive cinematography shows off a gritty New York just as it was starting to slide into its late-20th-century decay. Jerome Robbins' stylized choreography was ground-breaking in its day, and became the benchmark for chorus routines in film for years to come.

I know Natalie Wood isn't Puerto Rican, but she's so good, I don't care what race she is. She totally nails that final scene with the gun and the gangs. You can so feel her rage, and there's not a dry eye in the house by the time of the kids' final  procession. Chakiris and Moreno won supporting actor Oscars as the leader of the Sharks and his fiery girlfriend; Tambyn and Ned Glass as Doc, Tony's boss and the owner of the drug store where the kids hang out, are also excellent.

Favorite Number: My personal favorite of the famous chorus routines is "America," as the Hispanic ladies sing the praises of their adopted country, while their boyfriends point out that they haven't exactly felt welcome in it. (I like it much better than the stage version, where the girls are just picking on a homesick classmate. Here...unfortunately, what the boys say makes a great deal of sense.) The opening number, shot against the then-real-life tenements of the West Side, "Cool" towards the end of the movie, and the Rumble at the Dance are also excellent.

Of the ballads, I'm fondest of the dreamy "Somewhere," performed by Tony and Maria towards the end of the film as they meet one last time; their "Tonight" is also lovely. Tony gets two good solos, the hopeful "Something's Coming" and passionate "Maria."

Trivia: The exterior shots were filmed in Lincoln Square, a real block of tenements on New York's west side. They were empty because they were on the verge of being demolished for what's now the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, making them the perfect film set.

Why are there two directors on this movie? Robert Wise realized he knew nothing about making a musical and brought in Jerome Robbins, the director and choreographer of the stage version, to direct the musical sequences. He ended up getting about a third of the way through when the production company was worried that the movie was going over-budget, but Wise still insisted he get credit.

The movie won ten Oscars, the most of any musical movie to date; along with Supporting Actor and Actress and Best Picture, the movie picked up statues for Cinematography, Editing, Score, Costumes, Director(s), and Art Direction, and a special award for Jerome Robbins' choreography.

Steven Spielburg is apparently going to direct a remake of this, his first out-and-out musical. No word on a release date, but at press time, it's due to start filming this summer.

What I Don't Like: Obviously, this is not what you would call a feel-good movie. This is fairly dark material for a musical, especially for its time; it's not for those who prefer their song-and-dance films on the light and fluffy side. The way the cops treat the Hispanic kids in the drugstore towards the middle of the film and the racially-insensitive language they use would probably start race riots nowadays (though it is pretty accurate to the time and place). The kids' slang, real and made-up, kind of sounds goofy to modern ears and can occasionally undercut the serious intentions. Wood's not the only non-Hispanic actor playing an immigrant; Moreno is the only authentic Puerto-Rican in the entire cast.

And...to be honest, I agree with Maria in the end and several adults that there's no real reason for these kids to be fighting, other than they want to.

The Big Finale: While it's a little dark and depressing to be a personal favorite, there's enough I like for me to understand why many film and musical fans regard it as a masterpiece. It might especially be good for real-life teens and adults with a taste for tragic romance.

Home Media: Its status as one of the most popular and beloved film musicals of all time makes it quite easy to find on all home media formats, including most streaming platforms, usually for under 10 dollars.

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