All Things West Side Story

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Although West Side Story is loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, this particular musical is still relevant, imho, because, although it's fiction, it's closer to reality in many respects; people from "opposite sides of the track" falling in love amid conflict on both sides, dating and even marrying, racial, ethnic and religious tensions, urban gang warfare, all of which still frequently gets played out in real life.
WSS is still relevant for the same reason that all the great plays and books and films are still relevant--they reflect the human condition. That's especially true of Shakespeare's works that have been updated so many times to the 20th Century, with Macbeth turned into a story of warring crime families. Shakespeare still lives because the situations and characters he wrote are so real, so human that time cannot contain or limit them.

The play and movie does indeed illustrate how the divisions and animosities among young people are still in our society today. And the attractions of lovers across dividing lines--when I was in high school, we had each year what we called slave auctions, in which we guys could bid for girls we liked and the girls on a separate day would bid for us. Slave requirements were that you had to meet your "owner" in the morning before classes and he or she would tell you what was expected of you through the day. The usual was something silly to wear, something silly to tote around, and you usually were obligated to meet the owner at the end of each class and carry his or her books to the next class. The slave status lasted only during school hours but guys usually were expected to take their "slave" out for burgers and a movie that evening. Usually, the guys and gals buying each other were already dating anyway.

Well, my senior year the girl I was hooked up with had moved to a neighboring town, so I had no "slave day" plans and was surprised when this really good-looking Hispanic girl paid out some good bucks for me. Night before we guys were to be slaves, she called me to tell me she was my "owner" (which I had already heard through the grapevine), and what really floored me--she asked if I were OK with that because of our ethnic differences. Except for a buddy of mine dating one of the prettiest Hispanics in our school (but seldom in public) there was no dating across cultural lines back then. But Yolanda and I had been friends for years, so I told her I was very honored at the opportunity be her slave. Well, I ended up the next day wearing some goofy hat to school and toting around a babydoll and its bottle, but I enjoyed seeing her at the end of each class and carrying her books and walking her to the next class. We did a lot of joking around in the halls and had a good time.

Thing is, back then I was very serious about my relationship with the girl I was dating, often driving over to see her on the weekends. Yet I was really attracted to Yolanda, too. But for various reasons, I felt like I "owed" to my girlfriend to be true to her, a situation she later gave me many reasons to regret after we were married. So I told Yolanda when she called me that I couldn't take her out the night after slave day because I was dating this other person. I've always regretted that decision--missed a swell opportunity to get to know this beautiful, sweet young lady, and ended up instead with my first ex-wife.

On the other hand, when I was about 13-14, my brother, cousin and I one night went to a sock hop at a youth hall across the street from his house in South San Antonio, a pretty salty side of town. It was a mixed race and ethnic neighborhood, with Hispanics accounting for more of the mix. To enter the recreation hall, we had to squeeze through two lines of Hispanic guys who would punch on us, pinch us, slap us. Some of these guys were my age but a lot of them were older, including some in their 20s, so it was not the place to start asserting one's rights. Inside the hall everyone was divided into the bigger Hispanic side and the smaller Anglo Saxon side. Some of those Anglo guys I didn't like any better than the Hispanics who had been punching on me. Anyway, there was a lot of tension in the hall. At one point someone threw a light switch and a bunch of Hispanics punched out some Anglo who apparently danced too close to their side of the room. Some of the older, tougher guys on both sides were starting to get vocal, so we figured it was time to call it a night. Had to squeez through the same lines on the way out, only a bunch of the guys followed us out whistling and yelling. We got halfway across the street and made a run for the house. Thank goodness I was a lot faster back then than I am now. But it wasn't the only time I ever got threatened or chased down in South San. So the mixed dance in WSS always seemed to me like a walk in the park compared to that night at the South San Rec Hall.

People can and do even fall in love at first sight in real life, although in real life, even that takes time to grow and develop into something where mutual trust and love enable the love to mushroom into something really substantial, if one gets the drift.
Well, I don't know about love at first sight, although first time I ever laid eyes on my first ex-wife was when she was a new girl transferring into our high school history class. I was sitting in the back of the room clowning with some friends so she had already come into the room and was standing in front of the teacher's desk so all I could see was her back. She had a head scarf on and a winter coat, so I really couldn't see much of her, but for some reason I just knew something was gonna happen between us.

When she turned around, I saw she was cute, so when she started to the back of the room past all the chair-desks that were already taken, I pushed toward her an empty one next to me, and said, "here, take this one." And she did. That's when my troubles really began!

Years later, having been kicked in the teeth by young love, I seemed to have a knack for spotting women in honky-tonks who were receptive to romance with no strings. It was like one lady told me one night, "I don't know if I'm in love or just in lust, but I really don't care!"

Like the country song says, "Some girls don't like boys like me / But some girls do!"



Hey, folks: Here's hoping you'll be able to tolerate another thread on my all time favorite movie, West Side Story.

I started writing an essay with this title early one morning, not that long ago, only to have it just disappear on me when I was roughly halfway through it. It's a royal pain in the neck when that happens, but I decided to wait until later today to try it again, as I was too exasperated to try to do it over again right away.

I'll start out by saying that my initial introduction to West Side Story was through the music of the original Broadway stage production of this musical. It came while I was attending day camp out west in the summer of 1962, prior to entering the sixth grade. A girl in the group I was with, who'd just received an LP copy of the original Broadway soundtrack of WSS for her birthday, brought it to camp and played it for the rest of the group. My love of West Side Story took off...instantly.

West Side Story-mania was in the air that summer. Kids roamed the hallways, sometimes in groups, snapping their fingers, and the various songs from WSS rang through the bus to and from camp every day of the week, as the kids sang all the songs. It was cool.

I missed seeing the film version of West Side Story during the heyday of its popularity, partly due to my relative isolation from most of the other kids, and partly because my parents refused to take my sister and I to see it, at least in part because they didn't think (and my mom still doesn't think) that West Side Story was a kids' movie. Having seen this great, golden oldie but keeper of a Classic movie/musical more times than I'm able or willing to count at this point, the more I think about it, the more I tend to agree with my mom on this point.

Since my parents also had an LP copy of the soundtrack of the original Broadway stage version of WSS, I played it on my parents' Hi-Fi whenever I had the opportunity to do so, because I'd come to so love the music and the story of West Side Story itself. I would not get to see the movie until seven years later, as my high school years were coming to a close, and WSS, although there was a big national re-release of it, had passed the heyday of its popularity, freshness and newness.

I finally did get to see it for the first time, at around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, at a now-defunct cinema that was roughly 45 minutes north of Boston, and fell in love with this film the minute I saw it. Little did I, or my family know, that this was the start of my own love affair with the film West Side Story that would last all the way up until the present, much to their amusement, chagrin and resigned acceptence of this particular idiosyncrasy of mine.

Now for the real crux of my essay:

West Side Story, as everybody knows, began as a famous late-1950's Broadway stage musical, which played in NYC's Winter Garden for roughly two years before embarking on a national tour, and then an international tour, as well, becoming a hit national and internationally, as well. The concept of West Side Story had actually been started around WWII, when the conflict between Jews and Catholics here in the United States was still fresh. The two gangs were to be Jewish and Irish/Italian Catholic. Maria was to be Jewish and Tony to be Irish/Italian Catholic. There were also afew name changes to this musical along the way as well; It was originally named Gangway, then East Side Story, and, finally, West Side Story.

Based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the very concept of West Side Story didn't get really get off the ground until well after WWII, when the conflict between Jews and Catholics here in the United States was not nearly as new and fresh and overt as it had previously been. The large influx of Puerto Ricans into NYC and the Continental United States generally was now the catalyst of conflict, which was between the PR's and the White European Ethnic Americans. Tony was a Polish-American and a former White European Ethnic American Jets leader, while Maria, who became Tony's love interest, was the sister of the newly-arrived Puerto Rican Shark gangleader, Bernardo.

After Walter Mirisch bought the rights to the movie version, West Side Story not only became a big hit on stage, both nationally and worldwide, but it became a big hit as a spectacular film, which won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, after its initial release in late October 1961.

Since I was still a teenager in high school the first time that I saw the movie West Side Story, I identified with the Jets, the Sharks and their girls, regarding kids being kids, and so on. When I got to be a little older, however, and began watching West Side Story every time it came around to an independent, repertory movie theatre, however, I still loved and appreciated this film, although I had a somewhat different viewpoint of it than I had as a high school kid. I was able to appreciate West Side Story as a dynamic work of art and cinematic technology, as well as the intense scenery, the brilliant Bernstein musical store, the wonderfully-choreographed dancing by the late Jerome Robbins, and the very story behind it, as well as everything else.

With the exception of Richard Beymer (who I've always regarded as sort of a weak, lacklustre Tony), I thought that WSS had a very strong cast, and was a very strong film overall. West Side Story, to me, carries a certain message; It succinctly points out the destructive consequences of racial/ethnic prejudice and the violence that often ensues as a result, but there's also a detectable ray of hope in the end, when several Jets and Sharks come together to carry Tony's body off after he was shot to death by Chino in retaliation for Tony's having stabbed Bernardo to death. The scene where Maria comes between the Jets and Sharks as they seem ready to clash once more, seems to have been the catalyst for that ray of hope to have arrived, or perhaps it would've arrived anyway. No one knows.

Truthfully, I'm a devout fan of the film West Side Story (it's my all time favorite movie, hands down!), who's also seen several very good stage productions of this musical, including the newer, more up to date Broadway stage revival of West Side Story, which, although was enjoyable, I looked at with a harder, more critical eye than my sister in law and my then 8-year-niece, neither of whom had ever seen WSS on stage before,

The film West Side Story is a film that I never get tired of seeing over and over again, whether it be in a real movie theatre, on a great big, wide screen with the lights down low, or on TV, and i've seen it more times than I'm able and willing to count, at this point. Regardless of how many people claim that seeing it on a great home theatre system on TV is fantastic, absolutely nothing beats seeing West Side Story in a real movie theatre. In fact, WSS cries for a great big, wide movie theatre screen.

Although West Side Story is a strong movie overall (which is why I have a tough time picking out favorite characters and/or scenes and songs from it), the Dance at the Gym, The prologue/Jets song, Cool, America, the pre-Rumble quartet and the Rumble itself, as well as Ofcr Krupke are pillar scenes.

Regarding the cast, they're all strong, imho. Not long ago, however, I learned something about the relationship between Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer off-screen that made me more willing to give Richard Beymer the benefit of the doubt. Natalie Wood had a lot of hostility and resentment towards Richard Beymer (she was dating Warren Beatty at the time), and it showed, plus Richard Beyner was clearly pained by it. Natalie Wood had, in fact, tried to get Richard Beymer kicked off the set on several occasions, as well, although they made up a number of years later, when they met in a California restaurant. I believe that had Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer gotten along better during the filming of West Side Story, that Richard Beymer might've played a much stronger role as Tony, despite the way the original script both on stage and for screen, had been written.

Since West Side Story was filmed in Hell's Kitchen, where Lincoln Center now stands, the crew members and cast alike were regularly harassed by street toughs, who showered rocks and bottles, etc., from the rooftops at them. The crew ended up hiring out an actual street gang for security and protection during the filming. Oh, the irony in it..especially since West Side Story is about two warring NYC street gangs, as well as love and romance that develops admidst that conflict, only to go up in smoke due to the gangs' hatred for each other.

I have attended virtually every screening of West Side Story in our area (the one exception being in mid-March of 2001, when an afternoon screening of WSS conflicted directly with my late dad's memorial, so I didn't go that afternoon!), which have been well-attended. Boston-area audiences, while more reserved than NY audiences, enjoy it about as much as New Yorkers, and West Side Story is especially wonderful in a real movie theatre, on a great big, wide screen, with the lights down low, and with a slew of other people whether one knows them or not.

I can't wait for the next screening of West Side Story, which I've even made road trips to the opposite end of the Bay State as well as to neighboring states to see, over the years. I attended the 40th year anniversary screening of WSS at NYC's Radio City Music hall with friends, a special event of the one-night 50th-year anniversary re-release of West Side Story, and a number of other screenings of WSS in our area. West Side Story is a hard film for me to resist, and I'm looking forward to the next movie theatre screening, which I hope will come in the near future.
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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)



I sing some of the songs from West Side Story in the shower sometimes too, most notably "Tonight". This film is still great, imho. When there was a 50th-year Anniversary national one-night re-release of the film West Side Story in some 400 selected movie theatres here in the United States, I and a friend/neighbor of mine attended the event here in Boston...and loved every minute of it.



West Side Story is generally regarded as a classic so I'm not sure where the annoyance is coming from. There's always going to be people who don't like certain films, even if they are classics. The classic status of West Side Story is firm.



Your post is absolutely spot-on, TheGirlWhoHadAlltheLuckx! Thanks. West Side Story is regarded as a classic, not only because it is a classic, but a very, very solid classic, to boot. Therefore, so's West Side Story's status as a classic.

West Side Story is timeless, beautiful, exuberant, sad, tense and violent all at the same time, and it's all combined to form a dynamic package, and therefore the beautiful film that it is. Moreover, especially given the world's affairs in general, West Side Story is as relevant as it was when it first came out, both on stage and on screen more than 50 years ago.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
It's good, but I think The Town is better.
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I remember watching it at school... we had a prject that year that ended with us doing a stage version of it... we had to sing and dance and put on funny accents.
Loved every minute of it.

Was quite surprised at how much I liked it and how much I still do like it... I'm not a fan of musicals.



West Side Story is all about the music for me; Not even necessarily the words at all, simply the music, it says everything.



West Side Story is all about the music for me; Not even necessarily the words at all, simply the music, it says everything.
Wonderful music.



From the cool multi-colored Overture to the Graffiti-ed credits at the very end, the film West Side Story is a film that I find irresistible. Although I've never really been able to put a finger on why, this is a film that seems to beckon me to come and see it again and again, especially when it comes around to a movie theatre that's either in my general area, or that's within reasonable driving distance from where I reside.

Not only is the very story behind West Side Story extremely dynamic, but the way in which this beautiful musical was translated from stage to screen was exceptional, imho. Since there were no expensive gadgets to create overly graphic special affects on film back then, the cinematic technology was all done by camera, with varying angles, and colors, all of which help to narrate the story behind West Side Story in a very visually telling and illustrious manner. From the warring Jets and Sharks to the romancing Tony and Maria, and from the very beginning to the very end of this great classic film, as well as both the local scenes of filming and the stage settings that were used in the film version of this great musical were uncannily realistic looking, and indicative of a run-down urban area, creating a background that added to the various characters of this movie-musical.

The brilliant Bernstein musical score also adds yet another dimension to this beautiful film, also illustrating the very story behind WSS, and indicates what's coming up next. The dancing in West Side Story, as well as the Jet gang whistles and the finger-snapping, is also an extremely integral part of this great musical. West Side Story, both on film and on stage, is a strong indication of how various emotions, and a story in itself, can be told through dancing. That, imho, makes this movie-musical a rare classic, albeit a very special classic that's in a very special class all by itself.

Unlike most other musicals, which tend to lose at least some of their "kick" when transferred from stage to screen, West Side Story is very successful on both stage and screen for the following reasons:

A) The very story behind West Side Story (i. e. love that grows and develops amid conflict between warring urban street gangs, only to be destroyed by jealousy, violence and death, but, as a story overall, came up again to hint of possible intergroup reconciliation, provided a good backdrop for a successful film made from what was a great musical on stage, as well.

B) Because West Side Story is set in a rough, run-down urban area (NYC's West Side, to be exact (that's how that part of NYC was back then.)!), the resources were right there at hand to make a successful film out of WSS possible. Also, Boris Leven, who designed the stage sets for some scenes of the film version of West Side Story managed, in countless ways, to design and create the sets so that they looked uncannily like run-down, rough sections of a big city.

C) Many of the people who were chosen for the cast in the film version of West Side Story had played in the original Broadway stage productions as well, which helped make this classic film even more 3-dimB) Because West Side Story is set in a rough, run-down urban area (NYC's West Side, to be exact (that's how that part of NYC was back then.)!), the resources were right there at hand to make a successful film out of WSS possible. Also, Boris Leven, who designed the stage sets for some scenes of the film version of West Side Story managed, in countless ways, to design and create the sets so that they looked uncannily like run-down, rough sections of a big city.

C) Many of the people who were chosen for the cast in the film version of West Side Story had played in the original Broadway stage productions as well, which helped make this great golden oldie-but-keeper of a classic film even more dynamic and 3-dimensional.

D) The richly-colored costumes and cinematography also added emphasis to an already-great story behind an already-great movie-musical, and added even more dimension to it overall.

E) Excellent actors/actresses, even those who hadn't played in any of the original Broadway stage productions of West Side Story, were chosen for this great classic film. George Chakiris, Rita Moreno, Tucker Smith, Russ Tamblyn, Simon Oakland, Ned Glass and Eliot Feld all played their parts fantastically, adding a special 3-dimensionality to this great classic film. Yet, with the exception of Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood, all of the cast was rather strong. I'll also add that David Winters also played the role of A-Rab (a Jet) with much aplomb and greatness, as well.

F) What was also wonderful about this film is that it was not overly graphic, bloody or violent, and the cinematographers were able to create wonderful special affects without the use of expensive gadgetry or computerized, cartoon-like illustrations.

G) Perhaps, in addition to all of the above-mentioned aspects of the film West Side Story put together to create a strong movie, is the fact that when West Side Story was transferred from stage to screen, it was kept as a larger-than-life-sized piece of theatre, which gave additional strength made this film even more three-dimensional. That being said, it doesn't bother me at all that the film West Side Story is also available in a High-definition, remastered, reprinted version that's meant for today's digital projection. In fact, I'm glad of it.


H) After all is said and done, the film West Side Story came to the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, which is just a stone's throw from downtown Boston, a week ago. I purchased online tickets (on the theatre's website) for my friend and I well in advance, we went to the screening of WSS, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I) Having said all of the above, the MGM quote "Unlike other Classics, West Side Story grows younger." rings so true!

Afterthought: I've posted the following afterthought on other threads, on here and on other forums, but it bears repeating here: West Side Story is a film that I never tire of seeing over and over again. The exuberance, the story, and the overall beat of this great classic, as well as everything else about it is why the film West Side Story beckons me to come and see it every time it comes around, especially on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, and a sharing of the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not.



I love West Side Story but seriously, don't you have a million of these threads already?
No she doesn't.



Master of My Domain
This is a thread I tire of seeing over and over again...
Well, this posts just made me search the OP's threads, and I'm amazed. I wish my love for one film was so great that it made me spam a forum for 7 years.
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Well, this posts just made me search the OP's threads, and I'm amazed. I wish my love for one film was so great that it made me spam a forum for 7 years.
Oh but it's not just the love of one film that she spams the board with, it's also the irrational hatred of another film.



Oh but it's not just the love of one film that she spams the board with, it's also the irrational hatred of another film.
I tried to get her to speak more about that movie today.... and she wouldn't. She said she didn't have any interest, she had "moved on to other things."



I love West Side Story but seriously, don't you have a million of these threads already?


3 or 4 of them haven't gained any traction and are sitting with no replies... so I guess it must time to try again.



3 or 4 of them haven't gained any traction and are sitting with no replies... so I guess it must time to try again.
She makes your Young Guns addiction look normal.



Chappie doesn't like the real world
I tried to get her to speak more about that movie today.... and she wouldn't. She said she didn't have any interest, she had "moved on to other things."
Ah, growth. It is possible.