West Side Story (film)

Plot

In the summer of 1957 in the West Side's Lincoln Square neighborhood in Manhattan, there is tension between a white gang, the Jets, led by Riff, and a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, led by Bernardo. After a brawl erupts, Lieutenant Schrank and Officer Krupke arrive and break it up, ordering both gangs to cease all fighting, or face the consequences. Despite their warning, the Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a rumble for neighborhood control, at an upcoming dance.

Riff decides that his best friend Tony, the co-founder of the Jets who left the gang, and works at Doc's drug store, should fight. Riff invites Tony to the dance, but Tony is uninterested. He tells Riff that he senses something important will happen, which Riff suggests could have a correlation with the dance.

Bernardo's younger sister, Maria, tells her best friend and Bernardo's girlfriend, Anita, how excited she is about the dance. At the dance, the gangs and girls refuse to intermingle. Tony arrives and he and Maria fall in love. However, Bernardo angrily demands that Tony stay away from her. Riff proposes a meeting with Bernardo at Doc's drug store.

Maria is sent home; Anita argues that Bernardo is overprotective of Maria and they compare the advantages of Puerto Rico and the United States.

Tony discreetly visits Maria on her fire escape, where they reaffirm their love. Krupke, who suspects the Jets are planning something, visits them and warns them not to cause trouble. Doc, the owner of the drug store also discourages fighting, but no one listens. When the Sharks arrive, both groups agree to have the showdown the following evening under the highway, with a one-on-one fist fight, under the suggestion of Tony. When Schrank arrives, the gangs feign friendship. Schrank does not buy it, and orders the Sharks out and unsuccessfully tries to get the Jets to divulge the location of the fight. After everyone else leaves, Tony tells a concerned Doc about his love.

The next day at the bridal shop, Anita accidentally tells Maria about the rumble. Tony arrives to see Maria, which shocks Anita. They profess their love and Anita warns them about the consequences if Bernardo learns of their relationship. Maria has Tony promise to prevent the rumble. Tony and Maria fantasize about their wedding ceremony.

The Jets and Sharks approach the area under the highway. Tony arrives to stop the fight, but Bernardo antagonizes him. Unwilling to watch Tony be humiliated, Riff initiates a knife fight. Tony tries to intervene, which leads to Bernardo killing Riff. Tony kills Bernardo with Riff's knife and a melee ensues. Police sirens blare and everyone flees, leaving behind the bodies of Riff and Bernardo. Tony lingers a moment realizing in horror what he's done, and barely manages to escape himself.

Maria waits for Tony on the rooftop of her apartment building when Chino arrives and tells her what happened. Tony arrives and explains what transpired and asks for her forgiveness before he turns himself in to the police. Maria confirms her love for him and asks Tony to stay with her.

The Jets have reassembled outside a garage, with their new leader, Ice having them focus on their reaction to the police rather than their rival gang. Anybodys arrives and warns them that Chino, armed with a stolen handgun, is searching out Tony for revenge, so Ice sends the Jets to warn Tony of the danger.

Maria and Tony arrange to meet at Doc's, where they will pick up getaway money so they can elope. Anita spots Tony leaving and chides Maria for the relationship, but Maria convinces her to help them elope.

Schrank arrives and questions Maria about the rumble. To cover for Tony, Maria has Anita tell him that Maria is detained from meeting him. When Anita reaches Doc's, the Jets, refusing to believe that she's not helping Chino, harass her, until Doc intervenes. Anita declares that Bernardo was right about them and that Chino killed Maria. Doc banishes the Jets and gives Tony his getaway money in the basement and delivers Anita's message. Tony runs into the streets, shouting for Chino to kill him as well.

In the playground next to Doc's, Tony spots Maria and run toward each other, only for Chino to arrive and shoot Tony. The Jets and Sharks arrive to find Maria holding Tony, who dies. Maria stops the gangs from fighting and takes the gun from Chino. She threatens to shoot everyone, blaming their hate for the deaths, before dropping the gun and breaking down in tears. Schrank, Krupke and Doc arrive on the scene, but do not intervene, and the gangs form a funeral procession, apparently setting aside their differences, with Maria following. Once they are gone, Schrank and Krupke take Chino into custody.

Cast

Uncredited

Production

Veteran director Robert Wise was chosen to direct and produce because of his experience with urban New York dramas such as Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Since he had no experience directing a musical, Wise agreed that Jerome Robbins, who had directed the stage version of West Side Story, would direct the musical and dance sequences. After about one-third of the movie had been shot, the Mirisch Company, concerned that the production was running over-budget, dismissed Robbins. According to Saul Chaplin, Robbins nearly suffered a nervous breakdown during the time he worked on the film. The remaining dance numbers were directed with the help of Robbins' assistants. Recognizing Robbins' considerable creative contribution to the film, Wise agreed that Robbins should be given co-directing credit, even though Wise directed the greater part of the film. The opening titles and end credits sequences were created by Saul Bass, who is also credited for "visual consultation" on the film.

Exterior shots used the buildings of Lincoln Square, which were vacant and about to be torn down, allowing them to be used as a set.

Casting

Because the producers wanted actors who looked believable as teenagers, they did not consider 30-year-old Larry Kert, the first Tony on Broadway, or 29-year-old Carol Lawrence, the first Maria, but some had experience in stage productions. Tony Mordente, who played A-Rab on stage, was cast as Action in the film, and George Chakiris, Riff in the London stage production, played Bernardo in the film. Tucker Smith, who joined the Broadway production several months into its run, played Diesel, renamed Ice for the film. David Winters, the first stage Baby John, played A-Rab, Eliot Feld, an ensemble member and understudy for Baby John on Broadway, played Baby John. Jay Norman, Juano on stage, appeared as Pepe. Reprising their stage roles in the film were Carole D'Andrea as Velma, Tommy Abott as Gee-Tar, and William Bramley as Officer Krupke.

Elvis Presley was approached for Tony, but his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, strongly believed the role to be wrong for Elvis and made him decline in favor of other movie musicals. According to legend, the Colonel didn't want Elvis associated with gang warfare and knife crime, although three years earlier, Elvis' character Danny Fisher stabbed and killed the small-time gangster 'Shark' played by Vic Morrow in the movie King Creole. When the movie became a hit and earned 10 Oscars, Elvis regretted having given up the part. Others who auditioned for the part included Warren Beatty, Tab Hunter, Anthony Perkins, Russ Tamblyn, Burt Reynolds, Troy Donahue, Bobby Darin, Richard Chamberlain, Dennis Hopper, and Gary Lockwood.

Bobby Darin made a strong impression on the producers at his audition and was, at one point, in talks for the role. However, he turned it down due to his concert and recording commitments. Tab Hunter, then 30, and Burt Reynolds, nearly 26, were also considered, due to their Broadway and singing credits, but they were dismissed because of their age. Richard Chamberlain was also thought too old at age 26. The producers settled on their "final five": Warren Beatty, Anthony Perkins, Russ Tamblyn, Troy Donahue, and Richard Beymer. Although he was 28 before filming began, Perkins' boyish looks and Broadway resume seemed to make him a contender for the role, and he was trying to avoid getting typecast after the success of Psycho. Robert Wise originally chose Beatty for the role, figuring that youth was more important than experience. Ultimately, Beymer, the most unlikely of the candidates, won the part of Tony. Tamblyn, after several callbacks, impressed the producers and was given the role of Riff.

Natalie Wood was filming Splendor in the Grass with Warren Beatty and was romantically involved with him off-screen. The producers were considering her for the role of Maria. When Beatty went to screen test for the role of Tony, Wood read opposite him as Maria as a favor because she had been practicing with him. The producers fell in love with the idea of Wood as Maria but did not cast Beatty.

Jill St. John, Audrey Hepburn, Diane Baker, Valerie Harper, Elizabeth Ashley, and Suzanne Pleshette were among the many actresses who lobbied for the role of Maria in the film. However, Hepburn later withdrew because she became pregnant.

Differences from the stage show

It is Baby John who is attacked and has his ear stabbed by Sharks. In the stage show, it's A-Rab. David Winters played Baby John on stage and he played A-Rab in the film. Both times he avoided getting attacked by Bernardo.

"Tonight" takes place immediately after the dance in the stage show. In the film it was moved to follow "America".

The Sharks sing "America" along with the Shark Girls in the film, while it's only the Shark Girls on stage. Anita and Rosalia sing it on stage, while Bernardo takes Rosalia's place in the film. Therefore, the majority of the song's lyrics are changed in the film.

In the film "Gee, Officer Krupke" takes place before "Cool" and is sung by Riff instead of Action, and "Cool" is sung by Ice. On stage the songs are reversed. "Cool" comes first and sung by Riff, while "Gee, Officer Krupke" is sung by Action.

During the Quintet, Riff sings to Tony. In the film, he sings to Ice.

On stage, Action takes over as leader when Riff is killed. In the film, Ice takes over.

On stage, Velma is Riff's girl and Graziella is Diesel's girl. In the film, Graziella is Riff's girl and Velma is Ice's girl.

Reception

West Side Story holds a 94% "Certified fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 62 reviews for an average rating of 8.3/10; the site's critical consensus states: "Buoyed by Robert Wise's dazzling direction, Leonard Bernstein's score, and Stephen Sondheim's lyrics, West Side Story remains perhaps the most iconic of all the Shakespeare adaptations to visit the big screen."

Box office

The film earned $19,645,000 in North American rentals. Because of profit participation, United Artists earned a profit of $2.5 million on the film.

Accolades and honors

Its ten Academy Awards make it the musical film with the most Academy wins, including Best Picture. Three other films (Ben-Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) won 11 Oscars, but they were not musical films.

Academy Awards

Awards

Nominations

Others

American Film Institute lists:

The film's cast appeared and was honored at the 50th anniversary of West Side Story at the 2011 Ventura Film Festival.

Score and soundtrack

Leonard Bernstein was displeased with the orchestrations for the movie, which was the work of Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, who had orchestrated the original Broadway production. That show had been orchestrated for roughly 30 musicians; for the movie, United Artists allowed them triple that, including six saxophone parts, eight trumpets, five pianos and five xylophones. Bernstein found it "overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety."

Stephen Sondheim, who did not like the arrangement of the songs in the Broadway version, had the song "Gee, Officer Krupke" being sung before the Rumble in place of the song "Cool" which is sung instead after the Rumble; the song "I Feel Pretty" is also sung before the Rumble instead of after. In addition, the song "America" was sung in-between the two love songs "Maria" and "Tonight", instead of having the two love songs being sung consecutively. The "Somewhere" Ballet was omitted, because it slowed down the pace of the film, and was sung instead by Tony and Maria. Reprises of the lyrics were omitted as well, especially in the songs "One Hand, One Heart" and "A Boy Like That". Some lyrics were changed in order to avoid censorship, especially in the songs "Jet Song," "Gee, Officer Krupke", "America" and the "Tonight Quintet." Even the phrase "Womb to Tomb, Sperm to Worm" between Riff and Tony had to be replaced with "Womb to Tomb, Birth to Earth" between Riff and Tony near the beginning of the film and "One-Two-Three, One-Two-Three" between Riff and Diesel in the Quintet.

As provided in her contract, Wood prerecorded her songs and allowed the production team to decide whether to use her voice or not. She found the songs challenging, but was allowed to film her scenes lip-synching to her own vocals and was led to believe that these versions would be used, although music supervisors Saul Chaplin and Johnny Green had already decided to use Marni Nixon's voice. Wood's singing voice is only heard during the reprise of the song "Somewhere" when Tony dies. Though Nixon had recorded the songs in the same orchestra sessions as Wood, she had to re-record them to synch with Wood's filmed performances. Even the one song for which Wood had lip-synched to Nixon's voice, "One Hand, One Heart", had to be recorded again because Wood's lip-synching was unsatisfactory. When Marni Nixon learned that she had not signed a contract for participating in the recording and demanded a percentage of the LP record, she was told that all percentages had been allocated. Bernstein gave her 0.25% of his album royalties. This set a precedent for all future "ghost singers".

Beymer's vocals were performed by Jimmy Bryant. Tucker Smith, who played Ice, dubbed the singing voice of Riff in "Jet Song", instead of Russ Tamblyn. Tamblyn's own voice was used in "Gee, Officer Krupke" and the "Quintet". Rita Moreno was dubbed by Betty Wand in the song "A Boy Like That" because the song needed to be performed at a register that was too low for her. However, Moreno sang her own vocals in "America". Marni Nixon sang some of Moreno's parts in the "Quintet" when illness prevented Moreno from doing so. Wand was also ill on the day of final recording, and so Nixon recorded Anita's vocal line as well.

For the 50th anniversary of the film's 1961 release, a score closer to the Broadway version was created by Garth Edwin Sunderland of the Leonard Bernstein Office to be performed live at screenings of the movie with the score removed, but with the original vocals maintained. The score's New York City premiere was presented at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, built atop the original film locations, which were razed in a late 1950s urban renewal project.

The Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded Kenton's West Side Story, an entire album of Johnny Richards' jazz orchestrations based on the Bernstein scores in 1961. It was previewed at Capitol Records by the producers of the motion picture during the editing and mix down who lamented that, had they known of its existence, it would have been used as the musical foundation of the new film. The Kenton version won the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Recording by a Large Group. A still picture from the movie is the front cover of the Kenton LP.

Remakes and legacy

The 2000 Bollywood film Josh is a loose adaptation of West Side Story. In 2014, director Steven Spielberg has expressed interest in directing a remake of the film.

In 2009, photographer Mark Seliger re-created scenes from the film for magazine Vanity Fair called West Side Story Revisited, using Camilla Belle as Maria, Ben Barnes as Tony, Jennifer Lopez as Anita, Rodrigo Santoro as Bernardo and Chris Evans as Riff. Portraying the Sharks are Minka Kelly, Jay Hernandez, Natalie Martinez, Brandon T. Jackson and Melonie Diaz. Portraying the Jets are Ashley Tisdale, Sean Faris, Robert Pattinson, Cam Gigandet, Trilby Glover, Brittany Snow and Drake Bell.