Monday, September 20, 2021

Review: West Side Story (1961)

'Romeo and Juliet: The Musical'

Here's another musical for you, this time instead of the backdrop of the Austrian sights it's set in a poor neighborhood in New York City that tells the story of two teenagers with different ethnic backgrounds who fall in love but since they are both from rival gangs this becomes a problem for their friends. West Side Story, like The Sound of Music is another iconic musical that found its way to being made into a movie. I guess the main reason why I'm doing this is because of the new version by Steven Spielberg coming out in December and I'm preparing myself for it just as a refresher to the story. Basically, this is the story of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but instead of rival families, it's rival gangs in New York City's West Side. The movie starts out with a dance battle between the Jets and the Sharks as they each try to take control over the neighborhood. The Sharks are led by Bernardo and the Jets by Riff. Later, Riff tries to deal with Bernardo via a rumble but not before calling on Tony, a former Jet into the fold. Meanwhile, Bernardo's young sister Maria who recently moved into the neighborhood plans to have a good time at the dance the same evening. When Tony and Maria finally meet at the dance, sparks fly but their respective affiliations with the rival gangs prevents them from being together.

Richard Beymer as Tony and Natalie Wood as Maria
I don't know where to begin. For one the performances, cinematography, direction, dialogue and musical numbers are done very well but there's just something about this movie that nearly makes it collapse under it's own weight. I'm not a fan of Willliam Shakespeare and his works and this being a retelling of his play Romeo and Juliet I was kind of expecting more and it delivered in those aspects (which I'll talk more about later) but the more time they spend on the dramatic choreography the less interested I am in actually watching this one. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the effort of all those involved but there's just something about the story that I can't get on board with like Tony quitting the Jets because there's life outside of it yet the moment he finds a woman he's ready to quit everything, like is love really like that? Let alone for two teenagers? Maria just wants to have a good time and even she doesn't get to spend to much time having fun at all. Then there's the matter of Riff and Bernardo who seem to care more about the thug life than they do about their best friend and family member. This isn't just a tale of star-crossed lovers but also that of making bad decisions though that doesn't stop the performers from shining through it.
Jets
However, I do appreciate certain aspects of the movie, like how Robert Wise gave the movie room to breathe because if this had more camera shots and angles every other second I would have likely quit watching. With regards to the story, I admire how they didn't sugarcoat what America is like when it comes to race, it isn't overly done but it's there like when they sang America and while it's great to learn from movies, it doesn't go as deep as it could have gone, oh and they have white actors in brownface. If Tony and Maria's story wasn't the central focus of the story I think I would have honestly enjoyed it more, I felt like if they explored them more as individual characters I probably would have been more interested. Maybe I just don't get the love for this movie and the story, now I'm curious as to how Steven Spielberg's take is going to be like come December because the trailer is gorgeous.

3.5/5 stars

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