Review of West Side Story (1961) by Justin M — 07 Apr 2010

West Side Story is essentially a modern take on Romeo & Juliet but with a helluva lot of visual and audible flare that oozes with style. Instead of Capulets and Montagues, the plot centers on two gangs called the Jets and the Sharks set in the west side of Manhattan in the late '50s. The Jets are an American gang led by Riff, played by Russ Tamblyn. The Sharks are a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernardo, played by George Chakiris. The prologue has these two gangs taunting each other with such graceful and stylish choreography and the cops eventually arrive at the same time one of the Sharks is close to being cut up by one of the Jets. The two gangs are eventually broken up and once the two cops are gone, the members of the Jets start to discuss having an all out rumble with the Jets once and for all. Riff decides that his best friend Tony, played by Richard Beymer, a co-founder of the gang who's left the gang to work at a local candy/drug store, would be the best to present their challenge to the Sharks because he always came through for them, this then leads to a song number, "Jet Song". Riff visits his best friend at the store and asks him to come to the dance but Tony is just not interested as he senses that something very important is about to happen to him. Eventually, Tony changes his mind and agrees to him and the rest of the gang at the dance. Perhaps he will discover "something" there. This leads to the solo number "Something's Coming." Bernardo arrives to take his sister Maria, played by Natalie Wood, and his girlfriend Anita, played by Rita Moreno, to the dance. At the dance, both gangs and their girls are greatly enjoying themselves which is the first true dance number entitled "Dance At the Gym". The host of the dance tries to get the members of the rival gangs to dance with each other but the rival gang members and their girlfriends remain apart. During a mambo, Tony and Maria see each other for the first time and quickly become infatuated in an almost trance-like state and begin dancing with each other to a much slower tempo mambo and are completely oblivious to the rivalry between their ethnic groups. They kiss but Bernardo angrily intrudes. He orders Maria to go home and tells Tony to stay away from her. It is is here where Riff gives Bernardo his proposition and Bernardo agrees to meet them at Doc's drug store after the dance. Tony leaves in a happy daze, where the scene transitions to him singing his newfound love in one of the most famous songs in the film, "Maria." With Maria being sent home, Anita argues with Bernardo that they are in America and not in Puerto Rico anymore. On the rooftop of the apartment building they all live in, Anita along with the other girls engage in an argument with Bernardo in Maria's defense that she can rightfully dance with whomever she pleases. Their debate eventually leads into my personal favorite song number, "America." The boys and girls eventually disperse with the gang going to the "war council." Tony discreetly pays a visit to Maria outside the fire escape at her home where they confirm their love in the song, "Tonight." They arrange to meet at the bridal shop where Maria works. Meanwhile, the Jets gather outside of Doc's and wait for the Sharks and are visited by a cop they interacted with earlier who warns them not to cause anymore trouble. After he leaves, they go into another song number, "Gee, Officer Krupke." Doc is about to close up shop but the gang convince him to keep it open a while longer. The Sharks finally arrive and the council begins. In the middle of it, Tony arrives and calls them all chickens for having to resort in using weapons. He demands they only use fists instead. The leaders agree with having Bernardo fighting for the Sharks and Ice fighting for the Jets, much to Bernardo's disappointment in not fighting Tony himself. Soon Lt. Schrank, played by Simon Oakland, arrives and the gangs start interacting with each other rather friendly. Schrank pretends that it's a good thing they're getting along but he knows they're up to no good. Schrank orders the Puerto Ricans out and then asks the Sharks where the rumble is to take place. Soon, the Jets disperse and Schrank leaves as well. Tony and Doc stay back cleaning up the store and Tony, who is in a cheerful mood, surprises Doc by telling him about his newfound love Maria. Tony leaves and a distressed Doc closes the store. The next day in the bridal shop, Maria sings to her coworkers about how happy and excited she is in the song "I Feel Pretty." After all have left except for Maria and Anita, Anita tells of the rumble that is to be held accidentally. Anita tells her to go home but she insists that she wants to close the store herself because she "had work to do." Tony suddenly arrives to see her and Anita is left in shock. He tells Anita of their love and Anita mocks Maria. While she is shocked about their romance, Anita shows some tolerance but worries about the consequences if her brother were to find out. Maria pleads to Tony to stop the rumble from happening and Tony promises to do so. Using clothes in the bridal shop, Tony and Maria fantasize about their wedding in the song number "One Hand, One Heart." They use the headless mannequins as their parents, Tony's best man Riff, and Maria's Maid of Honor Anita. They exchange vows and kiss. After is a musical montage, "Quintet," that intertwines the feelings of the Jets and Sharks anticipating the rumble as well as Tony and Maria's anticipation for meeting each other later that night and also includes Anita preparing for her date with Bernardo. The two gangs arrive at the agreed destination for the rumble, a fenced dead-end under a New York highway. As the fight begins between Bernardo and Ice, Tony arrives and tries to stop it, but is met with ridicule and is mocked by Bernardo and the Sharks. Unable to stand by and witness his best friend be humiliated, Riff lashes out and punches Bernardo and soon, drawing out their knives, Riff and Bernardo fight each other. Tony stops Riff once he gets the upper hand. However, Riff breaks away and dashes towards Bernardo and runs straight into his blade. Riff collapses while handing his blade to Tony, while Bernardo looks shocked at what he has just done. Full of rage, Tony then kills Bernardo with Riff's knife, resulting in both gangs having an all-out fight with each other. Suddenly the police sirens are heard and all the member scatter leaving Tony alone with the two bodies of the leaders of each gang. Unbeknownst to Maria, she is happily waiting for Tony on the roof top of the apartment building. One of the Sharks, Chino, arrives with urgent news and as he finds out about her love for Tony he angrily tells her that he had just killed her brother. Tony eventually arrives at Maria's and initially Maria lashes out on him, but Tony then explains what had happened and asks her for forgiveness before he turns himself in to the police. She decides that she is still in love with him and begs him to stay with her. They reaffirm their love in the song "Somewhere" and kiss. Meanwhile the Jets reassemble at an empty garage. Action demands revenge for Riff's death, but Baby John opposes it. Tensions soon begin to flare amongst the gang then Ice tells them they will have their revenge on their rivals, but they must do it carefully. This brings the group into another number, "Cool." Anybodys, a tomboy who's desperate to be in the gang, informs them that Chino is after Tony with a gun. Ice then sends the Jets to various locations to find tony and warn him. Anybodys is then told by Ice to search in and out of the shadows to find him. Back in Maria's bedroom, she and Tony have a romantic encounter but soon they hear Anita arriving home and they make quick, whispered arrangements to meet at Doc's and run away together to marry. Anita hears through the door and knows something is up. Tony escapes through the bedroom window and flees, but Anita witnesses him running away. Anita scolds Maria for the relationship during the song "A Boy Like That." She soon softens as Maria begins to sing "I Have a Love" and wins over Anita and she, despite her grief, agrees to cooperate with Maria's plan to help them run away and marry. Lt. Schrank then arrives and questions Maria about the events leading up to the rumble, but she is protective of Tony and lies to cover for him. To deceive Schrank, she sends Anita out to "get some medicine" for her headache so she can tell Tony she has been momentarily detained from meeting him. Tony is taking refuge in the basement of Doc's store but when Anita enters the store and asks for Tony, the gang mock her and harass her until Doc stops them. Infuriated with what they were just doing, Anita gives a totally different message, saying that Chino found out about the two lovers and that Maria has been shot and killed by him. Doc makes all of them leave and gives Tony the message. In shock and despair, he storms out to find Chino so he can kill him too. Now at the playground, Tony sees Maria and quickly they begin to run toward each other. But suddenly Chino appears and shoots Tony. As both gangs arrive, Maria and a mortally wounded Tony begin to start singing "Somewhere" but Tony's voice gives out and dies in her arms. Maria takes the gun from Chino and starts pointing it at him and the others while blaming all of them and their hatred for the deaths of Tony, Riff and Bernardo. A few of the Jets begin to lift Tony's body and a couple of Sharks walk right behind them in a funeral procession and just like William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, this tragedy brings both of the feuding gangs together.

The winner of 10 Oscars (Best Picture; Best Director: Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins; Best Supporting Actor: George Chakiris; Best Supporting Actress: Rita Moreno; Best Art Direction, Colour; Best Cinematography, Colour; Best Costume Design, Colour; Best Original Music Score; Best Film Editing; Best Sound) is one of the most stunning achievements in the whole film medium. It is brought to life from the play based on Romeo & Juliet by screenwriter Ernest Lehman, directors Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins (who handled all the choreography and won a special Oscar for it), with original music by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It is absolutely one of the top 5 greatest movie musicals ever made and probably my personal favorite. The screenplay is absolutely fantastic. Robert Wise does a great job of directing the dramatic scenes and Jerome Robbins' directed choreography shown with Leonard Bernstein's breathtakingly brilliant score is absolutely magnificent. Of course all this along with the fantastic set design, the great camerawork and lighting by Director of Photography Daniel L. Fapp and the great editing make this one of the most stunning masterpieces ever made. This is the film that solidified me as a person that does indeed enjoy movie musicals. Before this I had only seen Wizard Of Oz, Chicago, and My Fair Lady and I completely blown away by the music, choreography and the camerawork. An amazing achievement in cinema and one that has hardly dated, except for a little bit of the dialogue but other than that minor thing, it is absolutely flawless! 10/10.