West Side Story
1961 Directed by Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Synopsis
"BEST PICTURE!" Winner of 10 Academy Awards! - 1961
In the slums of the upper West Side of Manhattan, New York, a gang of Polish-American teenagers called the Jets compete with a rival gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans, the Sharks, to "own" the neighborhood streets. Tensions are high between the gangs but two kids, one from each rival gang, fall in love leading to tragedy.
Cast
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It is the personal and humble opinion of this writer that West Side Story is the best movie musical (I know these things get contentious). AFI (and many people) would disagree, in favor of Singin' in the Rain, but I am going to let my opinion fly and say this one, this one is the greatest.
It has the pedigree - a story based on Romeo and Juliet and written by Arthur Laurents, a score from Leonard Bernstein, lyrics from Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins, and visual consulting from Saul Bass. It has the performers - yes, Natalie Wood and even Richard Beymer (although I had a hard time getting Benjamin Horne out of my head), but ESPECIALLY Rita…
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Movie #15 in my Journey Towards Entry-Level Cinephilia
West Side Story is the classic musical. Singing, dancing, and all that jazz. It is a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which should be interesting in an urban setting like this.
The problem I had with this film is that none of the characters are resonant. Sure, their singing is good, but they’re unbelievably flat. No effort is put into expanding the characters, which I find to be problematic in most Sondheim musicals which is a shame.
That being said, I loved the cinematography in this film. Apparently Saul Bass had a consulting role in this film, which explains a lot. The use of color is beautifully vibrant and reminiscent of…
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i noticed some interesting parallels with william shakespeare's play "romeo and juliet". also, that officer krupke song is the best one.
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The most complete musical that I've seen so far. Excellent acting, the songs are resonant, without question, and the choreography is captivating. I was mesmerized throughout by the drama, the tensions, and the romance. What a masterpiece, and rightfully won best picture, and all the awards it swept.
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Watching this film, forced me to think back on all the times I've seen other versions of Romeo and Juliet.
Did I imagine that there was an engaging story in there? Because this re-telling was so dull.
RIght off the bat, the gang of youths pirouetting through the streets. Seriously? As much menace as a marshmallow.
The songs were as sketchy as hell. Sure, there were a few, good well known ones, but the rest...
And was it me, or was a large portion on the troupe singing flat?
Three hours! Three excruciating hours of my life I won't be getting back!
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Stop what ever you are doing and go watch WEST SIDE STORY. I'll bet it is better than whatever it is you have going on at this moment.
This is the kind of movie that make people who love musicals say "See! This is what I am talking about"! It is also the type of movie that makes people that hate musicals say "This is exactly what I was talking about".
If you can escape into the world of musical theater for a while, a world where people sing their thought and feelings, a world where knife fights are choreographed, a world where Puerto Rican's and Polish and Italian immigrants are all equally tan, then this may be your favorite…
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Craziest opening to a movie ever, 5 minutes of some image on the screen slowly changing colors while music plays... wtf? The movie felt really long, characters seems really forced into pigeon holes, not sure if the movie says anything beyond it's main theme, racial tensions, etc.
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Musically inspired by a performance of the Northern Ballet's production of The Great Gatsby last night, I felt compelled to revisit West Side Story, a respected classic that I had only seen once before.
Not being a big fan of musicals, I couldn't say that this is really my cup if tea but it's very good! The gang posturing is perfect 50s/60s 'cool' and there are some genuinely great musical themes.
I also love that Riff and Tony went on to play Dr Jacobi and Benjamin Horne in Twin Peaks - my favourite TV show of all time... -
Still has to remain one of the best movie musicals ever. The songs of course are classic, the dancing fantastic, everything is filled with so much emotion.
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The leads are pretty weak, but every time I watch this movie I just get completely swept up in it.
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Yes, I cried again.
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The most complete musical that I've seen so far. Excellent acting, the songs are resonant, without question, and the choreography is captivating. I was mesmerized throughout by the drama, the tensions, and the romance. What a masterpiece, and rightfully won best picture, and all the awards it swept.
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A flawed but ambitious and deeply moving adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim musical which is in turn based on Romeo and Juliet. Rita Moreno makes this movie.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.