West Side Story review
-
West Side Story
20th Century Fox
PG-13. 158 min
Some people will complain about motives when a remake of a famous movie is produced. Well sure, desire for profit exists, instant recognition, and of course it's at least a lot less work than thinking up a new hook but moreover a great story or song is still a great story or song. Remember if you love Romeo and Juliet but didn't see it at the Globe Theater in the 14th century, well, you're watching a remake. Now don't misunderstand, there are all sorts of ways to f*** up any great production, and thousands of clowns ready willing and able to do just that. Someday I may expound on the almost endless list, but as for now I'll just say that though that nagging worry was just over my shoulder, it never showed its ugly face with Stephen Spielberg's latest rendition of WEST SIDE STORY. The Broadway smash hit the big stage in the late fifties and the silver screen in 61, garnering critical praise wherever it went. Actually I haven't watched the original film in decades, but like magic every song pops right back into my head the minute it begins. If you care about a spoiler I will give some information that you might not have known. We know that Tony (Ansel Elgort) the original leader of the Jets has gone sour on the entire idea of gang banging. He meets and falls in love with Maria (Rachel Zegler) the sister of the leader of the opposing Spanish gang just before a serious rumble between the two factions is to take place. Now in this version, he’s been given a back story to help explain his absence. Speaking of back stories all the generic dancing and singing hoodlums, or many of them, have been given one in the dance number Officer Krupke Here lines are distributed amongst them to help explain why each of the kids is where he/she is. One of the twists really touched my heart. As you recall Doc owned the drugstore where both sides, the Polish and Irish Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks could hang out in relative peace. In this version it's his widow that runs the same shop and she is played by none other than Rita Moreno from the original film. Another slight twist is that she gets to sing somewhere and it works like a charm. There's also a silly nod to the woke crowd making the “Anybody’s” Transgender, but it really means nothing to the plot. But the miter embellishments with standing everything else is pretty much the way it was over half a century ago. The tragedy is still heartbreaking the music is still great and the performance is top-notch.
A
WSS
-
Thanks for this. I ran spotlight when my school did West Side Story in the 90s, so between the tech and dress rehearsals and performances l saw it something like 10 times and absolutely fell in love with it.
I’ve been holding off on watching the remake because l’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ll move it up on the itinerary now.
-
Thanks for this. I ran spotlight when my school did West Side Story in the 90s, so between the tech and dress rehearsals and performances l saw it something like 10 times and absolutely fell in love with it.
I’ve been holding off on watching the remake because l’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ll move it up on the itinerary now.
Thanks for this. I ran spotlight when my school did West Side Story in the 90s, so between the tech and dress rehearsals and performances l saw it something like 10 times and absolutely fell in love with it.
I’ve been holding off on watching the remake because l’ve heard mixed reviews. I’ll move it up on the itinerary now.
I can't really imagine a mixed review. I'm somebody that hates woke filmmaking and the changes in this one were minor and unobtrusive.
WSS
-
Welp, over 2 years later l finally watched this and it was thoroughly enjoyable. The Bernstein/Sondheim soundtrack was always the thing that shivered my spine about West Side Story, and they didn’t dick with that too much so l was super appreciative about that. Those songs are still damn poignant even now.
The dance numbers were flashy and the plot line was basically the same with a few twists. One new twist l thought was interesting was they depicted the “turf” as a part of NYC that was basically going through a period of urban renewal, so it sort of resembled a war zone. Lots of demolished buildings and piles of rubble, and l’m not sure why that was such an overt part of the back drop other than to possibly mirror these gangs with a dying mindset fighting over a dying plot of land?
I was happy to see Anita out in front as the central character, because she is. I wasn’t crazy about some of the other prominent characters. Tony and Riff were kinda meh, Bernardo was ok, and Maria was pretty good. I consider Chino’s signature line as “this is a shop for ladies” so l was bummed that wasn’t in there.
Another twist l thought was interesting is you basically have to be bilingual to understand all the dialogue. There’s plenty of Spanish mixed in, and l had the subtitles on and l can tell you those were in Spanish too. If your Spanish isn’t so great you’ll miss out on some things.
I’ll agree it was real cool to see Rita Moreno in there, and l also saw she was credited as one of the producers so that was cool to see too.
Very enjoyable for sure. Solid A.
-
The neighborhood where grew up had gangs and they were Puerto Rican, and white. I always liked the Sharks.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login