Oscars Retrospective: West Side Story (34th Academy Awards Review)
Gee, Officer Krupke~Leonard Bernstein, vocals by Tucker Smith and the West Side Story ensemble - West Side Story
If you know anything about famous musical theater, particularly from Broadway, during the 20th Century, then you’ve heard of West Side Story. This is easily one of the most famous and beloved musicals ever made and helped jumpstart a new decade of musicals going into the 60s. It was the highest-grossing movie of the year that it came out, swept the Academy Awards and remains one of the must-sees of every Broadway kid’s existence. We’ll try not to hold those last 2 records against it too much, but, I digress, what’s the plot?
The film revolves around a gang of white (specifically Polish) kids called the Jets, led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn, singing voice dubbed by Tucker Smith), who have a rivalry with a Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks, led by Bernardo (George Chakiris). Riff’s best friend, Tony (Richard Beymer, singing voice dubbed by Jimmy Bryant), and Bernardo’s baby sister, Maria (Natalie Wood, singing voice dubbed by Marni Nixon), meet by chance and almost immediately fall head over heels for each other. The couple then start a forbidden romance behind their friends' backs while the two gangs’ hatred slowly becomes more and more intense, setting them on a collision course with each other.
West Side Story is basically a modernized take on Romeo and Juliet (1597) set against the backdrop of ethnic gangs on the West Side of Manhattan (which used to consist of much more blue-collar and poor neighborhoods around the piers). In fact, most of the plot is taken largely beat-by-beat from the original Shakespeare play, with almost all of the characters representing their play counterparts. The Jets are the Montagues, the Sharks are the Capulets, Riff is Mercutio, Bernardo is Tybalt, Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita (Rita Moreno, singing voice dubbed by Betty Wand and Marni Nixon) is the Nurse, the Prince is filled in by the police officers etc. The characters all do good jobs at filling in their archetypes and are easily identifiable. (This movie is also probably responsible for pop culture’s misunderstanding that Romeo & Juliet is meant to be an actual romance instead of a commentary on dumb teenagers but I digress.)
We’ll chime back into the story and characters in a bit but let’s analyze a big reason why this movie was so beloved: the music and especially the dance choreography is some of the absolute greatest in cinematic history. When West Side Story opened on Broadway in 1957, it was conceived and directed by renowned theater director, Jerome Robbins. When the play was sold to Hollywood, Robbins insisted on being allowed to direct the movie. Considering the large budget ($6.75 million), the studio instead chose veteran movie director, Robert Wise, to supervise the overall production. So Wise and Robbins worked out a deal with each other: Wise would direct the story and talking scenes while Robbins would direct the dance numbers. Robbins would later end up being unceremoniously fired when it was reported that his half of the picture ended up being 24 days behind schedule (after the principal photography had already lasted over a month-and-a-half at this point) leaving Wise to finish the musical scenes as well. Though Robbins was still able to accept the Oscar for Best Director alongside Wise despite doing less than half the movie so it looks like he ended up getting the last laugh.
As over-the-top of a production screw-up as this is, the effort is plain as day on screen for you to see. It’s going to be very difficult to not post video links to basically half of the movie because, honestly, the real attraction of West Side Story is just how excellent the dance numbers are. Musicals have been Hollywood and the Academy’s favorite genre of choice ever since they first figured out how to make the movies talk and it has been interesting watching the evolution of the medium up through this point in time.
The first major musical stars were Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who were known primarily for their tap-dancing. Aside from them, the alternatives were some big, epic musicals such as 42nd Street (1932) and The Great Ziegfeld (1936), where they were more showing off the large sets with some dancing interspersed here and there. The next generation’s star would be Gene Kelly, whose dancing abilities showed more of a full range of usage of his body, whereas Astaire and Rogers kept in mainly in the foot work. If you’ll notice closely, you’ll see that a lot of this is mostly just letting the actors (or sets) show off as the camera observes.
In West Side Story, you have about 50 people with the same level of dance talent as Gene Kelly and they own every scene they’re in. But what’s impressive is the sheer variety as the film runs the full gamut from big numbers to little numbers but they’re never not enjoyable.
For example, look at the below number, entitled “America” where the Sharks and their girlfriends argue over whether life in America is preferable to having remained in Puerto Rico. Look at how fast all of them are moving, how the two groups charge forward and back as they argue, how quickly that one Shark jumps into his ten buddies’ arms at the beginning of the number. Hell, look at how their dancing matches the beat of the music, a feat that most dancers are probably accomplished at but considering how rambunctious and all-over-the-place the tempo of “America” is, it’s especially worth noting here. The camera always knows where to point to give the dancing a maximum show-off.
While that’s impressive, the movie doesn’t always need a large gang of dancers to be engaging. Another great number is “I Feel Pretty,” when Maria is singing to her friends about being in love (with them being blissfully unaware that she’s talking about one of their sworn enemies). This song lives and dies entirely on Natalie Wood and she makes it look effortless. Once again, the dancing is telling half the story. Wood already does great at selling how she’s on cloud nine, but the dancing gives the extra oomph to show that she can barely even control herself. Her big ballerina-esque dives and tiptoes show that she’s so giddy that she just has to keep moving and makes you want to feel giddy with her.
Then there’s the famous opening where the Sharks and Jets meet and menacingly snap their fingers in unison at each other. As cheesy as it is, it’s very unique as far as opening numbers for musicals go. It’s almost a full ten minutes without a single lyric; the setting and story is communicated entirely through the camera and dance. From the fact that something as innocuous as snapping can be used to communicate style, attitude and menace. The more I think about it, this has got to be one of the greatest intros in cinematic history. It immediately sucks you into the world, sets up these two rival gangs and lets you know about the world they inhabit, all without a single line of dialogue.
As good as the dancing is, West Side Story has the confidence to know that some song sequences don’t always need them. My personal favorite scene is the climactic “Tonight Quintet” which sets up the last act of the movie as all the characters’ different subplots slowly build up to a head. There’s almost no dancing here; the tension comes entirely from the acting, the story and the way the editing speeds up as they march to their rumble.
The musical numbers in this movie are simply phenomenal and the main reason why you should watch it. Yet this isn’t one of those musical movies where the film simply exists as an exhibition piece for the musical numbers; West Side Story has a pretty great plot as well. The movie has a very fairy tale-like quality about it: the characters are silly and somewhat over-the-top though it always feels like they stop right short of winking to the camera. They’re just very energetic people because they live in a world where people tend to spontaneously break into song-and-dance numbers so it would make sense if they wear their emotions a bit more on their sleeve.
Considering how the movie is about the racism of youth as told by inner-city ethnic gangs, it’s actually pretty surprising the movie has the tone it does. West Side Story has a lot of commentary regarding racism, the immigrant experience in America and ultimately the cycle of violence and how these things tend to self-perpetuate (both gangs claim that the other one started the feud). The film doesn’t shy away from some pretty dark elements as the story gets steadily darker as the movie goes on with several characters dying and one character almost getting raped. For how fluffy West Side Story can be, the finale is surprisingly very unpleasant.
The timeliness of West Side Story’s release cannot be ignored as a major reason for why it caught on. By the time this movie came out and the Academy Awards were taking place, America had entered what is colloquially known as the Camelot years. The country had just elected its first Catholic President (back when this was a very big deal) who had made Civil Rights a major part of his election platform, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were the two most famous social activists in the US and race relations were becoming the most wide-ranging political topic of the day. While West Side Story isn’t analyzing white-on-black relations, white-on-Latino relations were just as important to analyze. West Side Story is very elegant in how it distills such complex and ugly ideas into a genuinely fun musical. Plus, unlike a lot of earlier anti-racism movies which try to have it both ways by stereotyping the characters that the movie’s advocating for (e.g. Song of the South (1946), Pinky (1949), Giant (1956)), the Puerto Rican actors and actresses in this movie are excellent. Their culture is treated with the respect it deserves.
So, with all this in mind, are there any flaws with West Side Story? Well, the movie is pretty damn cheesy. I think anyone going into this is going to be aware of that fact right from the word go, but everyone has a limit and it might be eyeroll-worthy or unintentionally hilarious for some viewers. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t chuckle occasionally with how we’re dealing with an inner-city street gang who call each other 'daddy-o' and whose extent of swearing is the word, ‘crud.' Those are nitpicks but funny ones nonetheless. A much bigger flaw with the film is the two leads.
Now, they’re not bad but they’re also not great either. The synopsis of the film is these two star-crossed lovers whose love is ruined by the needless violence of their friends and family who can’t learn to let go of their hatred. While all of the characters are somewhat archetypal, most of the gang members do have some degree of depth to them, with some of their songs being about the cycle of juvenile delinquency or about the immigration experience in America. Tony and Maria just spend the whole movie singing about how deeply in love with each other they are: that’s it. Between these two, Maria does come off as more lovable which I think is because her character does have some depth (due to her having baby sister syndrome) and also because Natalie Wood really was just that charming of an actress. Richard Beymer, though, is such a frickin’ theater schmuck. It’s one of those performances that I didn’t realize kinda sucked until it was pointed out to me but, ever since then, I can’t unsee it.
Is this enough to ruin the movie? Certainly not. The leads do their jobs as best as they can, they’re just the weakest part of what is an otherwise stupendous film. West Side Story is one of the most classic and beloved musicals of all time, analyzing very complex themes through the lens of song and dance. The song and dance numbers are phenomenal, the characters are all lovable and, for a movie that’s 2-and-a-half-hours long, it does not feel its length. Also, for a film covering race relations, the movie is very well-aged and could be shown to a modern audience and still hold up (for the most part). If you can abide some homegrown, bona fide Broadway corniness, this is an excellent movie that is well worth your time.
But could it be called movie of the year?
In case you missed it:
1st Academy Awards (1927/28): Wings/Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans: Part 1, Part 2
2nd Academy Awards (1928/29): The Broadway Melody: Part 1, Part 2
3rd Academy Awards (1929/30): All Quiet on the Western Front: Part 1, Part 2
4th Academy Awards (1930/31): Cimarron: Part 1, Part 2
5th Academy Awards (1931/32): Grand Hotel: Part 1, Part 2
6th Academy Awards (1932/33): Cavalcade: Part 1, Part 2
7th Academy Awards (1934): It Happened One Night: Part 1, Part 2
8th Academy Awards (1935): Mutiny on the Bounty: Part 1, Part 2
9th Academy Awards (1936): The Great Ziegfeld: Part 1, Part 2
10th Academy Awards (1937): The Life of Emile Zola: Part 1, Part 2
11th Academy Awards (1938): You Can't Take It With You: Part 1, Part 2
12th Academy Awards (1939): Gone With the Wind: Part 1, Part 2
13th Academy Awards (1940): Rebecca: Part 1, Part 2
14th Academy Awards (1941): How Green Was My Valley: Part 1, Part 2
15th Academy Awards (1942): Mrs. Miniver: Part 1, Part 2
16th Academy Awards (1943): Casablanca: Part 1, Part 2
17th Academy Awards (1944): Going My Way: Part 1, Part 2
18th Academy Awards (1945): The Lost Weekend: Part 1, Part 2
19th Academy Awards (1946): The Best Years of Our Lives: Part 1, Part 2
20th Academy Awards (1947): Gentleman's Agreement: Part 1, Part 2
21st Academy Awards (1948): Hamlet: Part 1, Part 2
22nd Academy Awards (1949): All The King's Men: Part 1, Part 2
23rd Academy Awards (1950): All About Eve: Part 1, Part 2
24th Academy Awards (1951): An American in Paris: Part 1, Part 2
25th Academy Awards (1952): The Greatest Show on Earth: Part 1, Part 2
26th Academy Awards (1953): From Here to Eternity: Part 1, Part 2
27th Academy Awards (1954): On the Waterfront: Part 1, Part 2
28th Academy Awards (1955): Marty: Part 1, Part 2
29th Academy Awards (1956): Around the World in 80 Days: Part 1, Part 2
30th Academy Awards (1957): The Bridge on the River Kwai: Part 1, Part 2
31st Academy Awards (1958): Gigi: Part 1, Part 2
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