West Side Story: Review

I‘m sorry, I cannot find myself to like this movie at all. As an adaptation from stage to film, all it seems to do is replace the set with a nicer outdoor one but keep the raw and unpolished feel of live theater. I personally don’t like Broadway-style musicals and this film made me like them less. This sort of interpretive/ballet dance that involves dramatic leaps and the emphatic jutting of arms into the air with a loud grunt doesn’t speak to me. And to see this done by clownish “gangsters” twirling about just doesn’t work.

Speaking of choreography, what the hell was that fight scene? They push and pull in a sloppy dance number and then Riff runs straight into the dagger with his arms raised from like 30 feet away. Then when the white gangsters get together to talk themselves up, they punctuate the dialogue with stuff like “You are cuttin’ a hole in yourselves for them to stick in a red-hot umbrella and open it wide!” 🤔 And “You done good buddy boy,” “Thanks daddy-o.” “POW!” Then they start randomly doing the splits. “POW!”

Can’t forget to mention the classic 60s racism too – actors with painted brown skin, the on-screen treatment of the white gangsters vs brown gangsters, and having actress Rita Moreno sing about how bad her home island was. Ok, it’s old, but is that really an excuse for this? 

It should be obvious but you can’t take this film seriously. The story actually reworks its Shakespearean source quite well to fit the gang war theme, and the leads Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer (cool to see him in his younger days!) do a terrific job. But to have it told in such a ridiculous fashion made it hard to watch.