The Oscar Project #34: West Side Story (1961)

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.

The first thing that stuck out was how well I knew most of the songs, and I don’t think that’s a function of having seen it before; it’s been eleven years since I took General Music in high school, after all. I’m not exactly sure where else I’ve heard them in that time, but I suppose it’s a testament to their osmotic power that they’ve implanted themselves in my brain so firmly. “America” in particular is a devious earworm, and I’ve found myself spontaneously spitting out the words several times in the past few days.

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!

The biggest problem I had with the plotting in West Side Story is that they nerfed the ending. In the original, of course, both parties meet their untimely demise due to some failures to communicate[3]. There are similar problems here after Tony dies, but they just lead to Maria waving a gun in the air like a feather duster. Sure, she threatens to use it, but we all know better. There’s no way Natalie Wood would come to such a tragic, early death.

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.

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[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.