by Chris Marshall:
For all the mean things I’ve said about musicals in the last
few posts, I really don’t hate them. There are just plenty of other things I’d
rather be watching, especially in cases, as with West Side Story and The Sound of Music, where I’ve seen the movies before. I feel like I’m not really
adding anything to my life by sitting through them again.
But I’m no cheater, and the rules of this project state that
I have to watch every movie, even if I’ve seen it before. Early on, that didn’t
matter much, because Casablanca was
the only movie I had seen before 1950. As we get closer to the modern era, though,
I’ve seen more of the winners, and it can feel a little tedious re-watching
things.
This is doubly true when dealing with films that are almost
three hours long. I appreciate West Side
Story, but I don’t love it,
certainly not in the same way that I do The Godfather, which I’m looking forward to seeing again. Perhaps I was a
little too resentful of its existence when I watched it this time around, but I’m
trying to be fair nevertheless.
People watch West Side
Story for the musical numbers (I think), so perhaps it’s beside the point
to criticize it for anything else. Rita Moreno is excellent[1],
probably the brightest spot of the movie if you ask me, and Natalie Wood is
pretty good, despite not singing her own songs, but most of the male actors
were of the same caliber as the performances in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. I wasn’t convinced, in other words.
As for the plot, it’s based on Romeo and Juliet, which is apparently some kind of play or
something that some old British dude wrote. Call me crazy, but I actually
believe West Side Story is only the
second best musical adaptation of the Bard’s classic to be put to film[2].
I genuinely, unironically enjoyed Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. I’m not sure if that takes away all my credibility
or not.
Jazz hands! |
All that being said, I suppose I should applaud the film for
condemning (in effect) racist violence and containing whatever other important
sociological messages, but these themes are somewhat tempered by the fact that
they didn’t cast more actual Puerto Rican actors to play the Puerto Rican
characters. I mean, I’d even take non-Puerto Rican Hispanics. Instead, we got
Natalie Wood (born in San Francisco, of Russian descent) as Maria and George
Chakiris (born in Ohio, of Greek descent) as Bernardo. This practice wasn’t
new, but if racial tolerance is an overt theme in your film, maybe it would
make sense for your casting decisions to follow suit?
I’m interested to see how well West Side Story holds up in comparison to My Fair Lady and Oliver!,
the two 1960s Best Picture musical winners I haven’t previously seen. But for
now, I get a two year break, as Lawrence of Arabia and Tom Jones are
coming up, two films that have absolutely nothing in common. Except that they’re
both British, I guess.
[1] If
you’ve ever watched 30 Rock, you may
have heard Tracy Jordan talk about the EGOT: winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar,
and Tony in your career. Rita Moreno has pulled off this feat.
[2]
Incidentally, West Side Story was
itself adapted into the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Live Action Short Film, West Bank Story, which I’m quite fond
of. I used it for a lesson during my student teaching days.
[3]
Sorry if I just spoiled Romeo and Juliet
for you, but if you’re the type to be reading this blog, I’m sure you’re the
type who knows the story.
really enjoyed reading this because WSS is one of my favorite movies of all time and you weren't crazy about it. You are the first person I've heard of that hasn't absolutely loved it. But then again I am a thespian and so are most of my friends so we are biased and love musical theatre. You made great points about the casting and I've been saying the same thing for years. My friends tell me to sush because that's how casting is sometimes but they forget that this isn't musical theatre this is Hollywood. I'm so glad you also threw in a little about how fabulous Rita Moreno is. I love her to death and is a great Anita. I initially watched this movie at the recommendation of one of my directors. My director made a comment about how she could see me one day playing Anita. So because of that I saw WSS and now Anita is my dream role. I thought your whole post was cool because I love hearing non-thespians talking about these kinds of things. Great job!
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