All Things West Side Story

She left Town.

WSSlover, West Side Story is also one of my favorites and I cry, somewhat when seeing it. I agree with everything you wrote and I am glad you posted this as being new I would not have read it otherwise. I also appreciate you going into so much detail and as I read your post the scenes from the movie come into my mind. I have also seen it on the stage. Thank you. By the way I just figured out what WSSlover means.

WSSlover, while it is not a musical a movie that reminds me of West Side Story is the 1931 film “Street Scene” staring Sylvia Sidney. It was also taken from a stage production and while the story is not the same as West Side Story the flavor of the movie is similar.

I'm on board as a fan of the film...the choreography is absolutely breathtaking, as is the cinematography and art direction. The leads are acceptable in their roles, even though none of them do their own singing, with the exception of Richard Beymer as Tony. I would have definitely liked to have seen someone else play that role, but if the truth be told, despite the film's problems, the dancing alone makes it worth watching over and over again...I never getting tired of watching "Cool", "America!", "Gee, Officer Krupke", the opening prologue, the dance at the gym, or the rumble...they don't make 'em like this anymore.

Thanks, Gideon.

Your post about the film West Side Story is right on the mark, although pretty much everything about this great classic, including the very story behind it, helped make it the dynamic package that it truly is. It's a work of art, also, and one has to view the film West Side Story on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, in order to really appreciate that.

Natalie Wood's voice is dubbed by Marni Nixon, and Richard Beymer's voice is dubbed by Jimmy Bryant, however. Dubbing was very common back during that period. Due to my intense love for this film, I'm more than willing to overlook the dubbing.

The people who said that there'd never be another film like West Side Story were right on their money!

The MGM quote "Unlike other classics, West Side Story grows younger." rings so true!

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Thank you, Tom. i'm glad that my post about West Side Story inspired nice thoughts.
The film West Side Story always feels fresh and new to me, like I'm seeing it for the very first time, and I always notice at least one or two things that I failed to notice in a previous viewing of this movie.

I also wanted to let you know how much I agree with you about something else you said...the film DEMANDS to be seen in an actual theater if possible.

Thanks again for your input, Gideon58. Sure, seeing the film West Side Story on TV, or on an elaborate home theatre system is enjoyable, but it's just not the same kind of experience. Seeing the film West Side Story on a great big, wide movie theatre screen, and sharing the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not, makes one really appreciate what a dynamic film this really is.

No matter how much many people claim that a home-theatre system is like a regular movie theatre, or how enjoyable West Side Story is on TV, absolutely nothing beats seeing this great classic (or other great classics, for that matter.) in a real movie theatre.

Hmmmm, Street Scene sounds like an interesting film. Thanks for the heads up. I admittedly don't have a DVD player at home, however.

West Side Story, like many other Classic films made during that general period, demands to be seen on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, whenever possible. Sure, seeing the movie West Side Story on TV, or even on a big, elaborate home-theatre system, on a DVD or Blu-Ray DVD player is enjoyable, but, no matter what people may claim about the fantasticalness of such a home-theatre system, or watching it on a big-assed TV at home, absolutely nothing beats seeing the film West Side Story in a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, thus sharing the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not. If the movie theatre has a balcony, so much the better, imho. Since the film West Side Story is in a special class all by itself, viewing this great golden oldie-but-keeper of a classic from the height of a balcony (provided, of course, if the given movie theatre has one, which, unfortunately, most movie theatres no longer have, which, in a way, is too bad.) provides an even more special and spectacular view. Also, movie theatres serve as temporary communities, in which people of virtually all ages, and all walks of life, come together to share the special experience of viewing West Side Story (as well as other great classic films) on the great big, wide movie screen, as they're really and truly meant to be viewed.

As I have pointed out on another thread (but it bears repeating here), I was first introduced to West Side Story through the music to the original Broadway stage version, back in the summer of 1962, prior to entering the sixth grade, while attending day camp out in Tucson, AZ. A girl in my group who'd recently acquired a copy of the LP album of the soundtrack to the original Broadway stage production of West Side Story for her birthday brought it to camp one morning and played it for the group. My love for the music and the very story behind West Side Story took off instantly, although, due to my relative social isolation, and to the fact that neither of my parents regarded the film West Side Story as a kids' movie (My sister and I were still pre-teens when the film version first came out.)

I first saw the film version of West Side Story at around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, during a national re-release of this movie, at a now-defunct cinema north of the town where my younger siblings and I grew up. I fell in love with the film version of West Side Story instantly. Little did I, my family, or even my friends know that my seeing this great classic film for the first time would begin a love affair with West Side Story that would last all the way into the present!

Since I was still a teenager in high school when I saw the movie West Side Story for the very first time, I identified with the Jets, the Sharks, and their girls, regarding kids being kids and so on, but when I got a little older and was out of high school and began seeing the film in (now mostly-defunct) independent repertory movie theatres in and around Boston, I began to also appreciate it more and more for the truly creative work of art that the film West Side [i]Story[/I ]really is, as well as its very story of love (especially across the cultural/racial/ethnic divide), romance, youthful exuberance, anti-immigrant attitudes, arrogance, cockiness, hatred, hubris, sardonic sarcasm, fiery tempers, urban gang warfare, racial/ethnic tensions, violence, death, and, ultimately, the hints of possible intergroup reconciliation.

The fact that so many different emotions, ranging from light to dark, could be expressed so intensely through dance, as well as music that combined Latin, jazz and classical music into one intensely brilliant Leonard Bernstein musical score also helped make this film into the dynamic package that it really is. So did the richly-colored costumes, as well as the wonderful cinematography, which, back in those days, was created through various lighting and angles of the camera, as well as great colors. The fact that all this was created without the kind of expensive gadgetry, computerized sort of animation and constant exploding on the screen, as well as the overly graphic and explicitly sexual content, as well as the excessive amounts of "blue" language that're all too prevalent on many, if not most of today's movies, is also what makes West Side Story very special as a movie. Seeing all of these aspects of the film West Side Story on a great big, wide movie theatre screen really brings all of the above-mentioned aspects of this movie to the forefront, thus creating a real appreciation for West Side Story, overall.

From the multi-colored Overture to the aerial shots of the West Side of 1950's-1960's NYC (Manhattan), to the gradual zeroing in on the finger-snapping Jets on the playground, all the way to the graffiti-ed Credits at the end of the film West Side Story, all of these aspects of the scenery take on an even brighter, bigger and more intense quality when this movie-musical is viewed on a great big, wide movie theatre screen. Even the Jet gang whistle that this film opens up with seems more intense and exciting. Parts of WSS were also filmed on the streets of New York City's West Side, as well as streets in downtown Los Angeles, as well. Some parts of West Side Story were also filmed on a gigantic sound stage. The creatively designed sets by Boris Leven looked uncannily like rough and run-down sections of a big city.

From the warring Jets and Sharks to the romancing Tony and Maria, to the bitter, bigoted and cynical Lt. Schrank and the equally cynical (but quieter) Officer Krupke, to Doc, the Candy Store owner who hoped to steer the Jets and Sharks in a better direction than they were presently headed, the various characters in West Side Story all seem to move much more fluidly and freely, in a much wider, more open space. Even Richard Beymer's Tony (who I've always considered somewhat lackluster) seems much more vital and alive when West Side Story is shown on a great big, wide movie theatre screen. The scenery seems much more expansive, one can see all of everything, and the already-brilliant Leonard Bernstein musical score seems even more intense...and brilliant, to boot. The dancing in all the dance scenes, from the Prologue/Jet Song scene to the Rumble itself, and to the "Cool" scene afterwards, also take on a new vitality and life, on a great, big wide screen. So do the many subtleties in this film, and the various facial expressions of the characters, especially of the warring Jets and Sharks, are also more noticeable.

Seeing the film West Side Story on a great big, wide movie screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low always makes me notice certain aspects of this movie that I failed to notice in a previous viewing of WSS, and it always feels fresh and new to me, like I'm seeing it for the very first time. West Side Story is a very strong movie-musical, and one of its great strengths is the fact that, when West Side Story was transferred from stage to screen, it was preserved as a larger-than-lifesized piece of theatre. Seeing West Side Story on a great big, wide movie screen, especially from a theatre balcony, helps accentuate that aspect of this great classic, as well as the fact that it is such an unusual work of art. Having written all of the above, and after all is said and done, while watching West Side Story on TV or even an expensively elaborate home-theatre system is enjoyable, watching such a special classic at home does not enable one to really see the film West Side Story for the creative work of art that it really and truly is.

As someone on another board said: It's the size that really helps bring this film to life. Nothing beats seeing the movie-musical, West Side Story, on a great big, wide movie theatre screen, with the lights down low, and sharing the experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not.

Here are some afterthoughts, however, that I wish to mention about Richard Beymer: Not withstanding the fact that the Beymer-bashing in some circles has definitely gotten out of control, I have (fairly) recently learned some things that have made me more willing to give Richard Beymer the benefit of the doubt:

A) Richard Beymer has mentioned that he would've liked to play the role of Tony with a little more of an "edge" to him, but, due to directorial constraints put on him by Robert Wise, and because of the way the original script of both the original Broadway stage production and the film version of West Side Story had been written, he was not able to. Richard Beymer was very upset by that, so he walked out of the Premiere of the film version.

B) Natalie Wood made absolutely no secret of her antipathy towards Richard Beymer during the filming of West Side Story. In fact, Natalie Wood had actually tried to get Richard Beymer kicked off the set on several occasions. Both of the above-mentioned things were painful to Richard Beymer, and it showed, somewhat in the film. Later, however, Richard Beymer saw Natalie Wood in a diner somewhere out in California, he approached her, and was attracted to her, and they subsequently made up thereafter.

Interesting. Can you give us reasons why you love West Side Story so?

the only film that needs to be seen in theatre is the hobbit.

You can't watch 48FPS at home.

To each their own, RealHero, but, I prefer to watch movies on a great big, wide movie theatre screen. How the audience in a given movie theatre(s) behave depends on the location, as well as the quality of movies that're shown in a given movie theatre(s).

Bad behavior, generally, is not nearly as big a problem in movie theatres that show better-quality movies, like the independent, repertory movie theatres, for instance. In such a rare instance, in a theatre that shows better-quality movies, speaking with the offending person generally gets good results....they stop.

I can see where rudeness is a far bigger problem in the really big, antiseptic-looking 10-20 cinema multiplexes that dot the USA's highways and byways, because, for the most part they show crappier movies. As a general rule, I don't go to the big multiplex cinemas, except if a very special event that's taking place.

I no longer have a 15.6 inch TV--mine's twice as large, but I still prefer watching movies in a good movie theatre to watching them at home.

I've never seen The Hobbit, but I still differ with you here.

have a hard time believing that crap about Richard Beymer being forbidden to play Tony with more of an edge by Robert Wise...if that were true, he would have walked during production of the film, not during the premiere.

NBD, you can differ with me after admitting you don't know what you're talking about

It was such a crushing disappointment that the 48FPS technology didn't catch on.
Coolest theatre experience I've ever had.

Movies themselves were okay.. but HFR 3D had me looking around in wonder.

West Side Story, a wonderfully famous late-1950’s Broadway stage musical about two warring street gangs on NYC’s West Side, and a love that developed, and then went up in smoke amid the conflict between the Ethnic American Jets and the newly-arrived Puerto Rican Sharks, resulting in the deaths of three people, yet also presents hints of possible intergroup reconciliation, as difficult as it can be, has had a powerful grip on my imagination since the summer before I entered the sixth grade. My initial introduction to this musical was through the musical score to the original Broadway stage production of West Side Story, while attending day camp out west (Tucson, AZ, to be exact.).

One girl in the group I was with, who’d just received a copy of the LP Album of the soundtrack to the original Broadway stage production of West Side Story for her birthday, brought the album in and played it for the rest of the group. My love for the music to WSS and the story behind it took off instantly.

West Side Story-mania was in the air that summer, as kids frequently roamed the halls, snapping their fingers and singing the songs from WSS. It was quite cool. The songs from West Side Story regularly rang through the bus to and from day camp five days a week. (My sister and I were staying at our grandparents’ house that summer, as well.

When I got home from day camp, I’d play my parents’ copy of that same West Side Story soundtrack LP album that they had, on their Hi-Fi whenever I could. I also liked to bang around with some of the prominent songs from West Side Story on the piano, much to my parents’ dismay and chagrin.

Four years after its first rendez-vous on stage, West Side Story came out as a spectacular motion picture, in late October of 1961, winning well-earned ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, for that year. Due to my relative social isolation from other kids I grew up going to school with, and to the fact that my parents didn’t consider West Side Story a kids’ movie (I was still a pre-teen back in 1961, when this film first came out.), I did not get to see it until seven years after it was first released, at around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, during a national re-release of the film West Side Story, at a now-defunct cinema north of where my siblings and I grew up. Little did I or any of my family know that this was the start of a love affair with this film that is still going strong today, much to the amusement, resignation and chagrin of my family!

Since I was still a teenager in high school when I saw the film West Side Story for the first time, I identified with the Jets, the Sharks, and their girls, regarding kids being kids and so on, but when I got a little older and began seeing this film in repertory movie theatres in and around Boston, I still appreciated the story behind this classic film, but I also began to appreciate it as the true work of art that it really is.

I graduated from a large suburban public high school roughly 20 miles due northwest of Boston, back in the spring of 1969, before I sort of put West Side Story on the back burner and saw other films that I liked a great deal.

Three years after I graduated from high school, the movie West Side Story came on TV for the first time, in two separate parts. Someone in my evening Jewelry-making class that I was then taking at the Museum of Fine Arts School here in Boston had brought in a small black-and-white TV, and we all gathered around to watch it, enjoying ourselves and having fun.

That summer, when I went on a six-week trip to Europe, someone in the group had brought a cassette tape of the soundtrack to the film version of West Side Story, which was played almost every evening, during free hours. It was then that my love for this classic film was re-awakened. Shortly after arriving home from Europe, I had a short conversation with my dad over dinner about my wish for West Side Story to come back again. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey! I wish the film West Side Story would come back.

Dad: You never forgot it, did you?

Me: No.

That fall, two days before Thanksgiving, I got my wish. West Side Story came on TV, so I cut my evening Jewelry-making class to stay home and watch it, on our little black-and-white TV. Need I tell everybody that I”ve been hooked on this classic film since? Now, every time it comes to one of the independent, non-profit repertory movie theatres in my area, or at least within reasonable driving distance of me (I’ve even made special road trips to neighboring states to view screenings of the film West Side Story!), I go.

As a devout fan of this Classic film, I’ve seen the film West Side Story more times than I can count, as well as several very good stage productions of the original Broadway stage production of WSS that I’ve liked a great deal. ( The more up-to-date Broadway stage revival of this musical...hmmmm..not so much!)’

Much to the chagrin, amusement and resignation of my family and friends, I love this film still, and see it every time it comes around, especially to a movie theatre. Imho, regardless of what anybody says or thinks about how wonderful these elaborate home theatre systems may be, absolutely nothing beats seeing the classic film West Side Story on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, and sharing the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not.

All I'm saying, foster, is that I prefer seeing good movies, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low. Seeing them on TV or video is never, ever the same kind of experience, no matter how many people believe otherwise, imho.

I read something somewhere else on the internet that Robert Wise had put directorial constraints on Tony, because Robert Wise wanted Tony to come off somewhat softer, because Robert Wise, as director of the film West Side Story, thought that by having Richard Beymer play a Tony with a softer edge would come off much more like a street-tough gangster who had truly reformed himself. Btw, Beymer did walk out of the Premiere of the film West Side Story.

Hi, Captain Steel!

Please read my posted thread, "How I Came to Love West Side Story", which is two thread titles below this particular thread. Hope I've been of some help here.