West Side Story (1961) Full Movie
Summary
West Side Story directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise in 1961 focuses on the romantic relationship between Maria and Tony. Although the two are in different gangs who want to dominate the streets, they hope that they can overcome the difficulties that are between them to live happily ever after.
The story takes place in Manhattan, New York where the Jets, a group of Americans who are led by Riff, and the Sharks, a group of Puerto Ricans who are led by Bernardo, are facing off against each other to assert control on the streets. There are high tensions between the groups as they continue to fight. However, the authorities quickly come and resolve the situation. Since they attack each other often, the two groups are given a warning stating that if they fight again, there will be consequences.
Separating and going to their own turf, the Jets have a meeting and decide that it would be beneficial to end the fighting with one final war. The other members are in unison and to accommodate customs, the Jets will invite the Sharks to have a war council to determine the terms for it. Riff goes to meet Tony, the previous co-leader who now works at Doc’s candy store. He attempts to convince Tony to go to dance to help settle the matters and Tony reluctantly agrees. Maria, Bernardo’s younger sister, will also attend the dance and is ecstatic to go since it will be her first time.
At the dance, the two groups meet and refuse to dance with each other. They have a dance battle to display their skills. However, when Maria and Tony meet, they become infatuated with each other at first sight and kiss. Bernardo slaps Tony and tells Chino to bring her home. Tony also leaves and follows Maria. Bernardo and Riff get together and set an appointment at Doc’s store to discuss the details of the war. When Bernardo meets up with the Sharks, Anita, his girlfriend and Maria’s best friend, argues with him about how Maria should live her life independently. Since they are in America, she should be given freedom here. Bernardo counters with how they are treated poorly because they are Puerto Ricans and does not want Maria to face these injustices. Tony reunites with Maria and they discuss their love and promise to reunite where Maria works the day after.
The Jets prepare to go to the war council but are questioned by the authorities who know that something is going on between the two groups. They attempt to get information about what will happen but to no avail. The Jets and Sharks finally meet and discuss what weapons to use. They name numerous items such as knives and bricks but Tony suggests that it should just be a fair fight with skin between the two strongest members in the groups. Bernardo and Riff concur to these agreements and arrange a time and place for the war. Suddenly, the officers come in and the two groups act like they are on good terms to avoid going to jail. The officers flaunt their authority by throwing insults at both groups while the groups can not do anything without being arrested.
Maria and Anita are closing the store together and Anita accidentally gives Maria information about the war that will occur tonight. When Tony arrives at the store, he meets Maria and Anita. Anita realizes the relationship between the two immediately. Although she is wary, she believes that Maria will be able to make the correct decision for herself and leaves the two alone. The two daydream about their future wedding and how wonderful it will be if everyone got along. Maria pleads Tony to stop the fight and he agrees to do so.
When the two gangs start the brawl, Tony makes it in just in time before any injuries occurred. Bernardo takes this as an act of aggression and starts to provoke Tony since Tony continues to interrupt. Riff, who could no longer stand Bernardo’s insults at Tony, also starts to get involved in the fight against Bernardo and the two pulls out knives to fight each other. Havoc erupts between the two groups and everyone starts to attack each other. The fight ends with Bernardo killing Riff and Tony killing Bernardo. The two groups start escaping as the police start to arrive at the scene.
Maria is waiting for Tony to deliver the news about stopping the fight but is informed by Chino that Bernardo was killed by Tony. She does not believe it and waits for Tony to confirm this. When Tony meets Maria at her apartment, he discusses the situation and tells her everything that happened. The two console each other for the night until Anita comes to deliver the news. Tony and Maria arrange a meeting place to escape to live their own lives before Tony escapes down the fireplace to gather money for their departure.
While Tony is going to Doc’s store, the Jets were informed that Chino has a gun and will kill Tony. The Jets roam the streets looking for Tony to protect him from Chino. When they find him, they hide him in Doc’s basement.
When Anita comes into Maria’s room, she knows once again what Maria and Tony have been doing. Anita scolds Maria but realizes that Maria is desperately in love with him and allows her to escape with him. However, their plans are delayed when a police officer wants to question Maria about Bernardo. Maria tells Anita to relay the message to Tony that she will be late. Anita heads to Doc’s store when she encounters the Jets. The Jets harass her because they believe that she is Chino’s ally. The attacks do not stop until Doc comes in to stop it himself. In spite, Anita tells the Jets that Maria is dead because the Sharks found out about her relationship with Tony.
When Tony learns about her death, he roams the streets screaming for Chino to kill him too. However, he reunites with Maria at the park where the fights started in the beginning of the film. When they embrace each other, a gunshot is heard. Tony dies because of Chino and as a result, Maria takes the gun and threatens everyone that she will kill them. She informs them that because of their actions, all these deaths occurred. She breaks down crying about her loss. The two gangs work together to bring Tony and have a funeral.
Production and Reception
The film adaptation of the Broadway musical saw the transition of many original dancers from the Broadway stage to the silver screen, but the producers resolved to not cast established actors because they were confident that the story would be able to bring in a big audience without the help of big names in the industry. The lead actress, Natalie Wood, did not get along with the actor playing Tony, and his subpar vocals and dancing were her reasoning for wanting him fired, which was ironic considering her own mediocre performance.
While they were filming in the location of what is now Lincoln Center, the cast and crew were struck with rocks, but the police officers stationed in the area were of little help. Left with no other choice, the production manager hired a street gang in the area to protect them for the duration of the filming process.
The stage choreographer and co-director Jerome Robbins was a perfectionist to the core, and he was very specific with his vision, even adding his own instructions to writer Ernest Lehman’s script that were ignored for the actual filming. His choreography, while spectacular, was extremely demanding and the dance sequences were never filmed in a single take. Eventually, Robbins was taken out of production as a result of going over budget and scheduling issues, but he still received credit for choreographing the dance numbers and shooting the “Prologue,” “America,” “Cool,” and “Something is Coming.” The other director, Robert Wise, took over the shooting of the sequences, aided by Robbins’ assistants.
West Side Story was nominated for eleven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Color Costume Design, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film won all in ten of the eleven categories, losing the last one. The film secured a relatively high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, receiving several glowing reviews from critics and casual audience alike. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times regards the film very favorably, highlighting the emotion and energy of the dance sequences as a high point. Similarly, Roger Ebert praises the dancing in the film, but he critiques the unoriginal dialogue, and he gives the film four stars.
Seminar Themes
A seminar theme that was prominent throughout West Side Story was immigration. The Sharks are a group of Puerto Ricans who immigrated to America in hopes of obtaining better opportunities. Contrary to their expectations, they were treated horribly the moment they arrived. As Bernardo stated, he was jumped the first day he moved. Bernardo and the other men in the Sharks have a pessimistic view of America after arriving. The job opportunities are limited and they usually serve as busboys or shoe shiners. Additionally, it is clear that the authorities also despise the Puerto Ricans because they have caused a lot of trouble in Manhattan. They provoke them to a point where the immigrants want to fight back but unfortunately can not.
The film also deals with the morals and norms of their society. Maria and Tony come from different backgrounds, and their relationship is frowned upon beyond the fact that their families are rival gangs. They are essentially taking a stand against their families and the established status quo in order to pursue their forbidden love. The gender roles are also highlighted in the film, as the women work in a stereotypically female industry as seamstresses, and they largely associate with other females. Furthermore, the issue of peer pressure is demonstrated with the members who have no desire to fight with weapons, but are forced to do so as a result of their loyalty to the gang.
Works Cited
Crowther, Bosley. “West Side Story.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 1961,
www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF1739E774BC4152DFB667838A679EDE.
Ebert, Roger. “West Side Story.” RogerEbert.com, 15 Feb. 2004, www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-west-side-story-1961.
Nixon, Rob, and Jeff Stafford. “West Side Story (1961) – Articles.” Turner Classic Movies, Turner Classic Movies, www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/23623/West-Side-Story/articles.html.
“West Side Story.” West Side Story (1961) – Rotten Tomatoes, Fandango, 7 Nov. 2017, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_side_story/.
By Stephanie Tam and Joyce Chan
December 18, 2017 at 12:49 am
I enjoyed West Side Story when I first watched it and I learned a lot about it from your presentation. The theme of “star-crossed” lovers id evident in many films and novels. When I was in middle school, my school district actually had one of the schools do West Side Story as their play that year. Being able to see different interpretations of the play on stage and further influence from Romeo and Juliet in other films shows how much this storyline is loved and appreciated. Leonard Bernstein actually wrote the musical score for West Side Story and I think that it fits the play very well. I can’t imagine it being directed with anything else.