Genre:
Musical
Description:
West Side Story follows two rival street gangs in the late summer of 1957 in Manhattan:The Jets, second generation American teenagers, and the Sharks, Puerto Rican immigrants. But problems arise when Tony (Richard Beymer), a co-founder of the Jets, and Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks’ leader, fall in love.
Cast:
Natalie Wood – Maria
Richard Beymer – Tony
Russ Tamblyn – Riff
George Chakiris – Bernardo
Rita Moreno – Anita
Ned Glass – Doc
Simon Oakland – Schrank
William Bramley – Krupke
The original trailer of West Side Story:
Facts:
– West Side Story is a film adaption of the popular Broadway musical, which opened in 1957.
– The storyline was based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Originally it was intended to be about a Catholic boy who fell in love with a Jewish girl. But after a boom of Puerto Rican immigration to New York in the late 1940s and 1950s, the storyline was changed.
– A lot of the original stage actors were considered too old to play teenagers in the film adaption. Although some did make the cut, they often played different parts. For instance, George Chakiris played Riff on stage, but he played Bernardo in the film.
– A lot of actors and actresses were considered for the two leading roles. The most famous ones being Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn. Elvis was advised by his manager to turn it down and Audrey Hepburn had to back out when she got pregnant.
– Rita Moreno, as Anita, was the only actual Puerto Rican among the principal cast members.
– The film initially had two directors: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Robbins directed the musical numbers, but got so over budget and behind schedule, that Wise was asked to complete the film by himself.
– This was Natalie Wood’s first musical and she was excited to sing. But what she did not know was that most of her singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon. She learned this only after the film was completed.
– West Side Story was the first film to feature street gang life and the first musical without a lighthearted and happy storyline.
– The film won ten Oscars, making it the biggest Oscar winning musical of all time.
Awards:
Wins:
Best Picture – West Side Story – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – George Chakris – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Rita Moreno – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Art Direction – Boris Leven and Victor A. Gangelin – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Cinematography – Daniel L. Fapp – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Costume Design – Irene Sharaff – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Director – Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Film Editing – Thomas Stanford – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Music – Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green a.o – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Sound – Fred Hynes and Gordon Sawyer – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Musical – West Side Story – 1962 Golden Globes
Best Supporting Actor – George Chakris – 1962 Golden Globes
Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno – 1962 Golden Globes
Best Soundtrack Album – West Side Story – 1962 Grammy Awards
Best Written American Musical – Ernest Lehman – Writers Guild of America
Nominations:
Best Writing – Ernset Lehman – 1962 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Best Film – West Side Story – 1963 British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Best Motion Picture Actor in Musical/Comedy – Richard Beymer – 1962 Golden Globes
Best Motion Picture Director – Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins – 1962 Golden Globes
Influence:
The stage musical was seen as innovative and influential and the film gave a whole new audience a chance to enjoy West Side Story. It remains loyal to the original storyline and immediately became a huge success. Not only did the film win ten Oscars, but the soundtrack album sold more copies than any soundtrack album before it, and more than the original cast album did. It proved to be popular overseas as well: it ran in Paris for a total of 249 weeks, making it the longest running film in French history.
Furthermore, it made an even bigger star of the already popular Natalie Wood. West Side Story is probably the film she is most remembered for.
But not only the film is iconic, the songs are as well. ‘Tonight’, ‘Maria’ and most notably ‘I Feel Pretty’ are tunes that practically everybody knows, even if they have not seen the film.
Still, fifty years after the fact, West Side Story is one of the most popular musical films, if not thé most popular musical film, ever made
What a great essay about a great, golden oldie-but-keeper of a Classic film. West Side Story is my all time favorite movie, hands down. I admittedly can’t get enough of this great film, and I’m keeping my eyes and ears peeled for another screening either here in the Boston area, or in an area that’s reasonably close by. A friend and I attended the 50th-year Anniversary screening of the film West Side Story here in Boston…and loved every minute of it!
I also attended the Tanglewood Boston Symphony Orchestra/West Side Story concert last month, which played to a full house! (20, 000 people were at Tanglewood for this fabulous concert!. West Side Story being West Side Story, the concert, not surprisingly, completely sold out, despite the addition of afew more lawn seats!) It was so worth everything…even the dying of my ten year old Honda Civic Hybrid en route…to see this terrific concert.
Boston Symphony Orchestra/West Side Story (film) will be playing again, here in Boston, at Symphony Hall, in mid-February… and I’m looking forward to that, also!
I attended all three Boston Symphony Orchestra/West Side Story (film version) concert performances at Symphony Hall, here in Boston, over Valentine’s Day weekend, with friends and other people….and also loved every minute of every performance.
I’ve also seen the film West Side Story at the Brattle Theatre here in Cambridge, MA, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, and, more recently, at the Luna theatre up in Lowell, MA. It’ll be playing here at the Coolidge Corner theatre for one night next month, and I’ve got my ticket for that.
West Side Story is one film that I never, ever tire of seeing over and over again.
The film West Side Story will be coming to the Coolidge Corner theatre, in Brookline, MA (which is just a stone’s throw from downtown Boston.) a week from this coming Monday (April 11th), and I’m looking forward to seeing it once again.
The film West Side Story was shown at Somerville Theatre, in Somerville, MA, as part of a 10-day 70mm Film Festival, two times. I got to go to both showings of this film, both solo and with family and friends. It was great, as usual!
The original 1961 film version of West Side Story will be coming to the the Somerville Theatre, in Somerville, MA, again, as part of the theatre’s annual 70mm film Festival, for two days: Friday, May 17th, at 8:00 p. m. and on Saturday, May 18th, at 1:30 p. m.
I’m excited, as usual.
I attended both screenings of the 70mm version of the 1961 film version of West Side Story at the Somerville Theatre with friends, and we all had a wonderful time! The Somerville Theatre showed a beautiful new print of the 70mm version of the movie West Side Story, which was fabulous to see.
Not only was the print really pristine, and the film restored to its former color and glory, but the soundtrack to the 70mm version of the 1961 movie version of West Side Story was pristine, punchy, and in one’s face, like it’s supposed to me.
Oh, how I wish that the original 1961 film version of West Side Story would come back again to the movie theatres. The search engines ought to give more weight to the original 1961 film version of West Side Story and provide fans with a choice of watching either the original film version of wEst Side Story, or Spielberg’s upcoming reboot/remake of it (the latter of which I’m NOT about to run out and see when it hits the movie theatres at around Christmas time of this year.)
I was first introduced to West Side Story through the music of the original late-1950’s Broadway Stage production, during the summer of 1962, while at day camp out west, in Tucson, AZ. One girl in the group I was with, who’d just received a copy of the LP album of the soundtrack to the original 1957 Broadway stage production of West Side Story for her birthday, brought the record to day camp one morning and played it for the rest of our group. My love of West Side Story, the music, and the story behind it took off instantly.
West Side Story-mania was in the air that summer. Kids roamed the halls in packs, snapping their fingers and singing all the songs to West Side Story. It was cool. The songs from West Side Story also rang through the bus to and from day camp five days a week. How neat that was.
When I came home, I played my parents’ copy of the LP album of the soundtrack to the original Broadway stage production of West Side Story on my parents’ Hi-Fi whenever I could. I also liked to bang around with the songs of West Side Story on the piano, much to my parents’ chagrin, since they’d given me piano lessons for the purpose of learning classical music.
Although I did not get to see the film version of West Side Story until around Christmastime of 1968, as a high school Senior, during a big national re-release of it, I fell in love with the original 1961 film version of West Side Story immediately. Since I was still a teenager in high school when I first saw the film, 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 it on independent repertory movie theatres in and around Boston (most of which have long been defunct), I began to appreciate the film version of West Side Story as the piece of art that it really is, in addition to the story and the musical score behind it.
Although I have seen other films that I’ve liked a great deal (some even more than once), the 1961 film version of West Side Story is a film that I cannot resist going to see whenever it comes to an independent movie theatre in our area, or an occasional national re-release in select movie theatres, or even on TV. I never get tired of seeing it over and over again, but it’s more of a treat on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, and to share the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether I know them or not.
I know the movie theatres are closed, so that we can’t go to see any movies, but I sure hope they open again at some point.
Not long ago, I, along with some friends, and also solo, I attended both evening showings of the 60th Anniversary screening of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, at a theatre here in Boston. It played at selected theatres here in the United States, courtesy of fathom events.com and Turner Classic movies. The print was really, really stellar, and the soundtrack really pristine. What a treat, seeing this great golden oldie-but-keeper of a classic movie-musical on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie, with the lights down low, and sharing the experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not. More than anything else, as a devout fan of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, I missed going to a movie theatre,. It was a real treat! I’m so glad I and my friends went, and that I went solo to the other evening screening.
What a wonderful story! It’s great that you were able to enjoy your favorite film on the big screen once more, especially as such a devout fan. I always enjoy reading your comments. It’s lovely that the movie has been in your life since its release. You are a true West Side Story fan indeed!
Thank you very much for your compliments. I never get tired of watching the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, which is such a great golden oldie-but-keeper of a classic movie-musical. It’s still my favorite film, hands down. Late this past fall, I had the great opportunity to view the 60th Anniversary screening of the original 1961 film version of West Side Story on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre here in Boston, courtesy of fathomevents.com and Turner Classic movies, both with friends, and by myself. We all had a wonderful time. The print was absolutely stellar, with not a scratch on it anywhere, and the soundtrack was absolutely pristine. I and my friends, some of who’d never seen it before, or had only seen it on television, all had a wonderful time.
Here’s hoping that the original 1961 film version of West Side Story is played in movie theatres, at least periodically.