Review of West Side Story (1961) by Marvin T — 07 Apr 2011

After first viewing "West Side Story", it didn't impress me much. I thought the songs were forgettable and the story was just okay. However, after months and months, it eventually grew on me and after re-evaluating it, I can now say "West Side Story" is one of the finest motion picture musicals ever made.

The story is a modernized retelling of Shakespeare's classic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. Except here, it's told with 2 gangs, the American gang "The Jets" and the Puerto Rican gang "The Sharks". The main conflict though is that the founder of the Jets, Tony, falls in loves with the sister of the founder of The Sharks, Maria. The idea to modernize Romeo and Juliet with gangs is genius, and it is all woven together so greatly here. It has the perfect balance of romance, excitement, thrills and laughter that make it all work so well.

But what really makes this film so great is the songs. At first they seem like just half-ass written songs with little meaning behind them, but they eventually got stuck in my head and I was starting to find myself singing many of the songs to myself often. Then, after re-watching, I saw how creative and meaningful they were and how different it is from all the other big Hollywood musicals. From slow ballads like "Maria" and "Somewhere", to fast upbeat numbers like "Tonight (Ensemble)" and "America", almost every song is catchy, while being either fun or moving.

"West Side Story" belongs up there with huge musicals titles like "Singin' In the Rain" and "Wizard of Oz". Before, musicals were glamourous star-studded family-fun films. But here, it succeeds in being different. It has a gritty look, serious and dark messages, and is shot on a large scale incredibly by cinematographer Daniel Fapp. It set a new standard for the musical genre and forever changed people's perception about them. The films' trailer states "Unlike other classics, West Side Story grows younger" which I can't help but agree with completely.