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Movie Review: West Side Story October 14, 2009
Note: This is #41 in my 52 Classic Movies in 52 Weeks challenge for 2009.
A while back I decided to better myself by not using epithets like "super gay" to describe things. I mention this only because it makes describing my first impression of West Side Story kind of difficult.
This is a movie that starts with New York City tough guys snapping their fingers jauntily and trying to dance in an intimidating fashion. DANCE in an INTIMIDATING FASHION. Things culminate into a major dance fight between the two rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks --the latter of which are a gang of recently immigrated Puerto Ricans. I know it's a musical, but the whole effect is so risible that I just about busted a gut. Just watch the trailer below.
From there, the movie dances and sings its way to a retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story, complete with the balcony scene and the tragic ending. I had a few issues with the story, such as the drastic way that the two leads, Tony and Maria (Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood) fall head over heels in love. But okay, again this is a musical based on a stage play --Romeo and Juliet, even-- and I can grudgingly accept some shortcuts where character development is replaced by a song and soft lighting. And the songs by and large are pretty good. As has been the case with other musicals I've watched as part of this project, I found myself recognizing many of them even if I didn't know they originated with this movie.
But another complaint I have is with the slingshotting tone of the film. There's the whole dance fighting thing I mentioned before, plus there are light-hearted "Officer Krupke" songs that contrast pretty starkly with more somber themes such as race relations, bigotry, and disillusionment with the American dream. And then there's the whole murder thing and an attempted rape thrown in for good measure. It's like we're watching Archie and Jughead prance around one minute, then seeing them hurling racial slurs and trying to stab each other the next.
Again I guess they're being true to Shakespeare by throwing in some comedy with the tragedy, but it was still hard for me to get a bead on the movie. West Side Story is okay, but there have been movies where I liked the dancing better (Swing Time) and ones where I liked the songs better (Singin' in the Rain).
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Posted by bethany actually on October 14, 2009 8:19 PM:
Having seen both the movie and a stage production of this, I have to say that it's better on stage. At least the production I saw was.
Posted by Louise on October 29, 2009 4:06 AM:
As many of Musicals lovers I LOVE West Side Story! It is my favourite ever... Last year I’ve been in NY & I tried to get my ticket …guess what everything was sold out that show how great the show is. Anyhow I end up getting it from a site through Ticketsinventory.com. I’m planning to see it again this so I will just get tickets from the same place
http://www.ticketsinventory.com/theatre/west-side-story-tickets/
So I'll be analyzing as well as enjoying the show.