Watched it last night, first time in years. It is an incredible piece of American theater and film.%0D %0D Anyone else feel the same way? Any insight into to the making of it (yes, I know parts were filmed on the site of what is now Lincoln Center), the actors, or just opinions of it?%0D %0D Two things I noticed this go-round...the intro is very similar to The Sound of Music...floating over Manhattan with minimal sound, like the floating over the Alps in TSOM (both were directed by Robert Wise), and how the "Play It Cool, Boy" number was a transition to maturity.%0D %0D These are concurrent to the things that are taken for granted about the story/movies...gangs, immigration, the romeo and juliet story, young love, ghetto kids, family dysfunction.%0D %0D Everyone involved blew it out of the park! Chita was incredible!
| by Anonymous | reply 138 | February 12, 2018 7:49 PM |
OP, I agree that it is a great movie. But you lose tons of credibility with your last sentence. Chita Rivera is not in the film, Rita Moreno is.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | September 10, 2010 3:38 PM |
I thought it totally sucked, dated, doesn't resemble NY gang life in the slightest, boring, downer of storyline, Natalie Wood is miscast and it's obvious she's lipsynching.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | September 10, 2010 3:41 PM |
R2 is right. They NEVER do ballet during gang fights.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | September 10, 2010 3:43 PM |
Jerome Robbins was "co-directing" but was fired at some point.
Rita Moreno's finest hour.
And although Natalie Wood is about as convincing as a Puerto Rican teen-ager as Princess Marie Christine of Romania would have been, I always find her incredibly touching in the film.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | September 10, 2010 3:45 PM |
Credibility? How does this come into play?%0D %0D I loved the movie tremendously! Sorry, I got the name wrong, big whoop in the scheme. Does that mean I love it less or can't talk about how much I enjoyed it or how brilliant a movie it is.%0D %0D I guess I lost credibility with you, something tells me that this doesn't really matter much.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | September 10, 2010 3:47 PM |
I saw it at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. when I was ten years old.
I was totally mesmerized by the male dancer's baskets and butts.
Especially by the skin tight pants on the Sharks.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | September 10, 2010 3:47 PM |
One of my favorite films, OP. Amazing that it makes me cry every time it gets to the end. I've seen it a million times, but whatever.
The weakest link are the leads. Natalie was OK at best, but Richard Beymer...wow. I just find it laughable that he was once one of the leaders of the Jets.
You should look for the boxed, re-release of the movie, which came out a few years ago. There's a behind the scenes shots and interviews from the cast and crew. Much was learned when I viewed it.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 8 | September 10, 2010 3:49 PM |
Saw this movie on television when I was in 6th grade, and living in hell -- or at least what I imagine hell to be: Beavercreek, Ohio.
It changed my life.
Of course it is flawed but it is still an amazing piece of movie making.
Rita and George save the movie from Natalie and Richard who are as still as girders.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | September 10, 2010 4:07 PM |
[quote] It is an incredible piece of American theater and film.%0D %0D %0D Well, duh. Aren't you the genius for finally figuring that out?
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | September 10, 2010 4:33 PM |
I like the isle of Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | September 10, 2010 4:35 PM |
[quote]Rita and George save the movie from Natalie and Richard who are as still as girders.
Richard Beymer has noted that Natalie thought he was all wrong as Tony and never spoke to him at all when the cameras weren't rolling.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | September 10, 2010 4:44 PM |
Thanks, Mia, I will buy the boxed set. I just find it amazing how it all comes together...music, lyrics, and dancing. I agree with you, the secondary players are much stronger and engaging then the leads. %0D %0D R5, I read that Robert Wise is a gentleman by nature, butted heads with Jerome Robbins on the first day of shooting and fired him. Many of the dancing numbers were choreographed by Robbins' assitants. Wise still insisted that Robbins be given co-director credit.%0D %0D R2, it is well known that Natalie is lipsynching. It was done by Marni Nixon. Also, it is Marni's voice you hear whenever Audrey Hepburn sings in My Fair Lady. I guess back then it was about the story not the actors.%0D %0D Pretty amazing that Sondheim wrote the lyrics when he was 26 or so. %0D %0D R7, Smith Tucker (Ice) has a pretty nice basket in the movie version. It kept catching my eye.%0D %0D What flaws?
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | September 10, 2010 4:53 PM |
Flawed, but still a great movie.%0D %0D The "Quintet" is one of the best scenes in America film.%0D %0D One of the great "what-ifs"...what if Warren Beatty had played Tony. He and Natalie Wood were having an affair at the time and had a great deal of chemistry. I think she would have been a much better Maria with him.%0D %0D Why did they cut so much of "A Boy Like That"? Maria convinces Anita so quickly after her bf is killed?%0D %0D And Ice!! What a package!! Sadly, several of the Jets died of AIDS in the 80s.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | September 10, 2010 4:53 PM |
[quote]Sorry, I got the name wrong, big whoop in the scheme. Does that mean I love it less or can't talk about how much I enjoyed it or how brilliant a movie it is.
No, but it means you shouldn't. At least not on DL.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | September 10, 2010 5:07 PM |
Awful film, not visually or narratively compelling in the least. And the songs are so overplayed, BLECH! Hate it. Prefer "Phantom of the Paradise" or "Xanadu!!!"
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | September 10, 2010 5:17 PM |
Wise did not butt heads with Robbins; the studio did, and eventually had him fired, but not for that reason. He kept falling way way way behind shooting schedule because of the perfection he demanded. I believe it's correct that it was Wise who insisted he be given credit, and tried to be true to JR's vision, working closely with the latter's assistants through the remainder of the production.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | September 10, 2010 5:20 PM |
Rita Moreno said that by the time they filmed the dance at the gym that Robbins had been fired. She says the result certainly looks fine technically but it's missing a certain something which would have been there if Robbins had still been there.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | September 10, 2010 5:36 PM |
Dayglo painted, bodega nightmare. MY EYES! MY EARS!
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | September 10, 2010 5:45 PM |
Really dated. Really corny. But still oddly loveable. The "America" sequence is great.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | September 10, 2010 5:51 PM |
OP, I had the pleasure of meeting David Winters, who played A-Rab. Very nice man who now directs and produces films overseas. This was one of the stories he told me (which was mentioned on the DVD):
They shot "Cool" so many times that Eliot Feld, who played Baby John, passed out from exhaustion. That heavy breathing was real (and the take used after shooting it 3 or 4 times)
When that take was done, they took off their knee pads and burned them in a bonfire so they would be unable to do it again.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | September 10, 2010 6:00 PM |
Why DID Richard Beymer get the part? WTF were they thinking?
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | September 10, 2010 6:05 PM |
The whole thing was woefully miscast (except Rita Moreno). All the gang members looked 35.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | September 10, 2010 6:21 PM |
"Saturday Night Fever" is a way better film. And holds up better than this Glee-ky claptrap!
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | September 10, 2010 6:26 PM |
[quote]I like the isle of Manhattan. Smoke on your pipe and put that in.%0D %0D Surely the line is I like the ISLAND Manhattan.%0D %0D I can't imagine Sondheim would sacrifice the inner-rhyme that occurs with 'island' and 'pipe and.'
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | September 10, 2010 6:29 PM |
I like the island Manhattan, / Smoke on your pipe and put that in.%0D
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | September 10, 2010 6:33 PM |
For hard-core movie and NYC movie history fans only: watch the aerial shots during the opening of WWS again. You can not only see the destruction of The Roxy (look for the rows of movie seats at an angle to the block its on) but, several avenues east and up a few blocks, also Loews Lexington, where Marilyn Monroe's skirt billowed up, in The Seven Year Itch.
1960 was a bad year for movie palaces!
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | September 10, 2010 7:08 PM |
R2: Tell us what you really think, Arthur.
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | September 10, 2010 7:19 PM |
The leads actors suck, but it must be said that so do the lead characters.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | September 10, 2010 7:29 PM |
[quote]Why DID Richard Beymer get the part? WTF were they thinking?%0D %0D He was under contract, he looked the part and the studio was trying to build up his career. Same deal with Natalie Wood even though neither of them could sing. I was surprised to see on imdb.com how many film and TV credits he has right up to the present.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | September 10, 2010 7:40 PM |
Unlike other classics....%0D %0D WEST SIDE STORY grows younger!
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | September 10, 2010 7:41 PM |
Some of the songs are good, and I enjoyed the last 45 minutes, all the rest, SUCKED!
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | September 10, 2010 7:43 PM |
What perplexes me is that Natalie Wood did THREE big musicals. She was pretty good in Gypsy, but Daisy Clover... bleugh.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | September 10, 2010 7:45 PM |
HDNet Movies ran this a year ago in 1080. Looked incredible. As pristine as a 70MM print. Isn't it time for the blu ray?
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | September 10, 2010 7:46 PM |
How do you fire this leetle gun, Chino?
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | September 10, 2010 7:48 PM |
I did, R30 ("Dayglo bodega nightmare").
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | September 10, 2010 8:03 PM |
In the stage version "America" was sung only by Anita and the other PR girls.
I think they cleaned up the lyrics to "Gee, Officer Krupke" for the film as well.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | September 10, 2010 8:41 PM |
It may not be the best musical ever made, but the choreography is brilliant. I can never take my eyes off the screen.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | September 10, 2010 8:59 PM |
[quote]In the stage version "America" was sung only by Anita and the other PR girls.%0D %0D %0D I LOVE the movie and have seen it many times. I was so surprised when I saw it on stage and "America" was performed only by the girls. That's one of my favorite scenes in the movie and, IMO, much better with girls vs. boys.%0D %0D A little tidbit: my mom had a few innocent dates with Tucker Smith in high school. She had no idea he was gay then, but maybe he didn't either.
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | September 10, 2010 9:12 PM |
Oh, Tucker Smith, my big crush. RIP.%0D %0D "In Gilda Radner's autobiography "It's Always Something" she mentions her excitement as having Tucker Smith, her heartthrob from when she was a girl, in her cancer support group."%0D %0D %0D %0D %0D
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 42 | September 10, 2010 9:36 PM |
Barkley...You are obviously an idiot.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | September 10, 2010 9:38 PM |
the thing is, OP, the difference between Chita's performance and Rita's peformance really is big in the scheme of things. Rita is an ok dancer doing simplified choroegraphy, Chita is an explosive dancer who did the complicated choreography Petter Gennaro (NOT Jerry Robbins) set.
I love West Side Story, even with its racist handling of the sharks, most of whom ere painted up white folk. And they really only get one song!
| by Anonymous | reply 44 | September 10, 2010 9:51 PM |
Justin Bieber would have been mroe convincing former gang leader than Richard Beymer. That being said, the character of Tony in WSS is perhaps the worst written character in musical theater. All of his dialogue and songs indicate a major wimp, a Harry Reid of theater. There is no way anyone would have followed him, as his character lacks any charismaor leadership skills. It's a poorly writen character, one which had defeated just about any person who takes it on.
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | September 10, 2010 9:56 PM |
I only dislike the "When You're a Jet" number-- ballet leaps in real streets and cutesy bad boy hijinx. It makes me cringe. The rest is pretty great.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | September 10, 2010 9:56 PM |
R44-- simplified choreography?? I know a little something about that!
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | September 10, 2010 10:00 PM |
Tucker Smith was a hottie. He was also in HOW TO SUCCEED the movie. His last movie was AT LONG LAST LOVE that flop musical with Cybill Shepard and Burt Reynolds.
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | September 10, 2010 10:02 PM |
DANCE AT THE GYM!! Exciting mambo music and dance.. just thrilling. I like the Somewhere Ballet which was not filmed. It's in the stage version.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | September 10, 2010 10:04 PM |
Add me to the Tucker Smith crush list. He really caught your eye when he was on screen. Ice was one of the best characters in that cast, as he pretty much was the most stable one out of the group. Quiet and cool.
FYI, that's Tucker Smith's voice when Russ Tamblyn/Riff sings WHEN YOU'RE A JET.
| by Anonymous | reply 51 | September 10, 2010 11:00 PM |
I never understood how Tony and Riff could have been the leaders of ANYTHING. They seemed to be the least charismatic and least macho members of the whole bunch.
| by Anonymous | reply 52 | September 10, 2010 11:09 PM |
A stagy mess featuring attention-starved show-offs.
| by Anonymous | reply 53 | September 11, 2010 12:25 AM |
In the 1970s, Smith owned and operated a bar named %C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CTucker%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s Turf%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D in North Hollywood.%0D %0D
| by Anonymous | reply 54 | September 11, 2010 12:54 AM |
R44, but it's the trade off. Rivera is the better dancer, Moreno the better actress. I love Rivera....on stage. On film, she has a brittle, unpleasant quality that can turn any character unsympathetic. She looked like a failed drag queen in her cameo on "Chicago", which I guess some thought was the joke.
| by Anonymous | reply 55 | September 11, 2010 1:01 AM |
Read somewhere that Tucker Smith's nascent film career was derailed after he was caught in the "wrong" (gay/drag) party in the Hollywood Hills during the early '60's.
Look for another of the Jets in "How To Succeed" as well (can;t remember which one).
OP, another one of Wise's films starts out the same way as WSS and SOM. Starting out at a great height, then zooming down to start the action. It's...The Day The Earth Stood Still.
| by Anonymous | reply 56 | September 11, 2010 1:10 AM |
I met Action when my ballet teacher introduced me to him backstage along with Robert Joffrey. He was very nice, cute and short.
| by Anonymous | reply 57 | September 11, 2010 1:17 AM |
Debating the merits of "West Side Story" as a film is as silly as arguing about the logic of "All About Eve" or the plot in "Gone With The Wind." Who cares? There is a transcendent quality about "West Side Story" that overwhelms the drawbacks. You have love, betrayal, hope, and despair. I could care less whether or not Natalie can act. All I know is that the final scene--with her pointing the gun, and asking "is there a bullet for me?"--is one of the most moving endings in any film. Tony has died. Maria will live. The Jets and the Sharks finally come together.%0D %0D Contrived. Sure. Visionary? Yes. When they pick up Tony's body and leave together at the end of the film there is a message, however sentimental. "West Side Story" hits a nerve that very, very few Hollywood musicals reach. Let's face it. No one after almost 50 years is posting about "The Barklays of Broadway."%0D %0D And the men...the men...I have never met a gay guy over 40 who did not mention this film as one his "dialing with a pencil" experiences.
| by Anonymous | reply 58 | September 11, 2010 1:25 AM |
Richard Beymer agreed most of you here. He said when he saw the completed film he was so horrified by his performance that he spent most of the movie crouched down in his seat and promptly threw up when the movie ended.
| by Anonymous | reply 59 | September 11, 2010 1:41 AM |
[quote]I love West Side Story, even with its racist handling of the sharks%0D %0D It's actually more racist toward the Jets. White people lived and inter-married freely among Puerto Ricans on the West Side of NYC fifty years ago. No one thoguth anything of it. Making the Jets a bunch of segregationists (as if they were Southern bigots) just because they were white was racist. %0D
| by Anonymous | reply 60 | September 11, 2010 3:54 AM |
The other major difference between the show and the film is the transpositioning of Officer Krupke to before The Rumble and Cool to after The Rumble in the film version. It makes far more sense.%0D %0D
| by Anonymous | reply 61 | September 11, 2010 5:03 AM |
I remember when it was first broadcast on TV. Just the teaser commercials (starting with a tight crotch shot of three finger-snapping Sharks) got me excited as a five-year-old.
Mom says I would dance around the living room every time it aired. When it was broadcast, I was mesmerized.
Got the album for Christmas that year; a no-brainer for a parents.
Years later, as a young arts writer, I got to attend a screening at Lincoln Center in 1988, with Robert Wise sitting right in front of me. Afterward, I shook his hand (a bit too vigorously) and thanked him (a bit too effusively).
Oh, the countless nights my artsy pals and I spent, slightly drunk after parties, exuberant about life, doing that opening number arms-spread jete in the streets of Manhattan!
| by Anonymous | reply 62 | September 11, 2010 5:33 AM |
I love the opening shots of Manhattan, the choreography, and the more "modern" sounding songs, such as "America," the dance at the gym, and "Cool."
I HATE with a passion the more romantic songs, like "I Feel Pretty," "I Have a Love," and especially "One Hand, One Heart"... as Pauline Kael rightly noted, they all sound like they were written by Rudolf Friml or Sigmund Romberg. (Maria's operatic singing part in the "A Boy Like That" duet is the most appalling music Bernstein ever wrote.)
I am rare in liking Natalie Wood in this part, despite the awful songs Maria sings and despite the fact that she doesn't look Puerto Rican, but then I always love Natalie Wood in her musical roles, because every single time she thought they would really use her voice even though they never did (she was always dubbed afterwards, which broke her heart each time)--so she conveys so much happiness and passion when she sings.
I agree Beymer is awful, Moreno is wonderful, and Tucker Smith is hot. The Anybodys role is bizarre and should have been left out of the movie, as is the ridiculous scene of the attempted rape.
| by Anonymous | reply 63 | September 11, 2010 5:46 AM |
Wait until you get a load of our remake, FUCKERZZZZ!
| by Anonymous | reply 64 | September 11, 2010 5:46 AM |
So am I the only one who thinks Richard Beymer was sexy and beautiful in the movie?%0D %0D I understand the feeling that he wasn't a leader type, but I remember swooning for him when I saw WSS years ago, and I swooned when I watched it again last year.
| by Anonymous | reply 65 | September 11, 2010 5:48 AM |
"so she conveys so much happiness and passion when she sings."
I mean, she conveys them in her face and body--of course we don't get to hear her actual voice.
| by Anonymous | reply 66 | September 11, 2010 5:50 AM |
"that opening number arms-spread jete in the streets of Manhattan!"%0D %0D That is how so many things got broken in my mom's living room.%0D
| by Anonymous | reply 67 | September 11, 2010 6:57 AM |
I was a youngster when it came out but I sat through two showings of it in a small movie theater in Virginia. I knew for sure that I no longer loved Buster Crabbe. It was Russ Tamblyn from then on.
| by Anonymous | reply 68 | September 11, 2010 7:25 AM |
Richard Beymer is still beautiful, R65.
Three years ago he was at a screening of "The Diary of Anne Frank" (he's the cute boy in that one too) in NYC and we hooked up. For a man close to 70, I can tell you Tony's still got it.
Sperm to womb, womb to tomb.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 69 | September 11, 2010 7:45 AM |
Ranger at R58, a very eloquent tribute, but you do realize the plot was lifted from Shakespeare?
You have to give the old guy credit. He knew a good story when he saw one. And his fecundity of language is unparalleled.
| by Anonymous | reply 70 | September 11, 2010 7:50 AM |
Am I totally wrong in thinking that Rita Moreno got to act in the film but as a concession Chita Rivera's voice was dubbed in?
| by Anonymous | reply 71 | September 11, 2010 7:57 AM |
Yes, you are wrong, R71.
Rita's singing voice was partially dubbed by Betty Wand, partly by Marni Nixon, and partly by Rita herself.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 72 | September 11, 2010 8:11 AM |
"island/pipe and" isn't a rhyme. It's the kind of thing Sondheim says he hates Larry Hart for.
| by Anonymous | reply 73 | September 11, 2010 9:40 AM |
[quote]Natalie Wood is miscast and it's obvious she's lipsynching.
EVERYONE in the film is lip-synching. Some of them are doing it to their own voices, others aren't.
And the reason it's so obvious that Natalie is, is because she filmed to her own tracks. Nixon recorded her tracks at the same time as Wood, but they filmed to Wood's.
| by Anonymous | reply 74 | September 11, 2010 9:42 AM |
Beymer walks like he's wearing a butt plug the entire film.%0D %0D And the film really loses steam once Maharis and Tamblyn are killed off. It's more their movie (and Moreno's) than Beymer or Wood.
| by Anonymous | reply 75 | September 11, 2010 10:21 AM |
uh, r73, the rhyme in that couplet is not "island/pipe and", it is "ManHATTAN/put THAT IN". Surely you were joking?
| by Anonymous | reply 76 | September 11, 2010 11:20 AM |
I love Jose De Vega. Maria was nuts. I would've gone for Chino!
| by Anonymous | reply 77 | September 11, 2010 3:00 PM |
sperm to worm%0D %0D womb to tomb
| by Anonymous | reply 78 | September 11, 2010 3:02 PM |
[quote]"island/pipe and" isn't a rhyme. It's the kind of thing Sondheim says he hates Larry Hart for.
Sondheim has been quoted many times as saying he's embarrassed by some of the lyrics in "West Side Story", especially the internal rhymes in "I Feel Pretty". He's said on more than one occasion that he made a Puerto Rican girl sound like Noel Coward.
He also acknowledges the problem of the line "for a small fee in America". Due to the tempo and rhythm, it's almost impossible for a singer to get this out cleanly, so the initial audience reaction was "What?".
Not all of this was Sondheim's doing. Also Sondheim has sole credit for WSS's lyrics, Bernstein initially worked on both music and lyrics, and Sondheim was brought in a bit later to help out. I don't think I've ever seen a breakdown as to who actually wrote what, so some of these howlers may ahve been Lennie's doing.
| by Anonymous | reply 79 | September 11, 2010 3:20 PM |
all true r79, but the words r73 is pointing to aren't an attempted rhyme, they are just the words in sentences that proceed the rhyme.
| by Anonymous | reply 80 | September 11, 2010 3:26 PM |
You're correct, persnickety R76. If memory serves, "isalnd/pipe and" is an association, not a rhyme.
| by Anonymous | reply 81 | September 11, 2010 3:56 PM |
WSS leaves me cold. The dancing and the cinema magic are there for sure... but that fucking asinine fake street lingo that Laurents made up just chills my bowels.
"Pow pow!" "Cracko jacko!" "Pam pam!"
And, yes, Wood and Beymer bite.
R79, I believe that Sondheim was originally billed as co-lyricist, but as a boost to his career, Bernstein offered him full lyricist billing, a gesture which Sondheim has called the single most generous act he's ever seen in Show Business.
Bernstein also offered him the additional percentage of royalties he would have made as full lyricist, but Sondheim couldn't being himself to take it. He has joked over the years about how that one moment of humility has lost him millions of dollars.
By Gypsy, Sondheim was gaining steam, writing not only all the lyrics, but some of the music as well. Rose's Turn, for example, is Sondheim's creation based on the other themes in the show.
| by Anonymous | reply 82 | September 11, 2010 3:59 PM |
Got to meet lovely Rita a few months ago. She signed my "West Side Story" special edition DVD. She told me her Christmas movie tradition is the film she made with Alan Alda and Carol Burnett, "The Four Seasons" a great, little remembered film she made in '81. Told her I would too would watch it this year, but with her beloved husband of 45 years passing away a few months ago, it won't be the same for her.
| by Anonymous | reply 83 | September 11, 2010 4:02 PM |
The "America" sequence always fascinates me in a weird way because all of the Sharks' girls are wearing these dresses with big floofy swirly skirts...except one poor girl, who is working some kind of a skin-tight sheath dress. The choreography pretty much demands big swishy skirts, but she doesn't have anything to swish around. And the leg-kicking moves are just painful to watch, she looks like she's trying to escape from an Ace bandage.%0D %0D Wonder what inspired that costume directive - or did she just piss off somebody in the wardrobe department?
| by Anonymous | reply 84 | September 11, 2010 5:06 PM |
Didn't they tear down all of the buildings a few years later for Lincoln Center?
| by Anonymous | reply 85 | September 11, 2010 5:17 PM |
[quote]"island/pipe and" isn't a rhyme. It's the kind of thing Sondheim says he hates Larry Hart for.%0D %0D Of course they are a rhyme. They're even a double-rhyme. Don't look at the words, listen to the sounds: EYE-LAND -- PIE-PAND. Where there are no rests in between notes in the music the sounds of two adjacent words elide in the listener's ear. %0D %0D Of course we are apt to pronounce "island" more like "eye-lend" but the girl singing the song uses a Hispanic accent, so the way she pronounces the word "and" pretty much rhymes with "lend" anyway.%0D %0D What Sondheim thinks of Larry Hart has nothing to do with the matter.
| by Anonymous | reply 87 | September 11, 2010 6:19 PM |
R84: true, that Shark girl does stand out in her sheath dress, but I'd always assumed that's precisely why she's wearing it ... to give her a different visual flair from the other fringe/petticoat/swirling girls.
Oh the YEARS I spent trying to memorize the Mambo from the "Dance at the Gym" sequence. That and the "Birdie Dance" from Bye Bye Birdie.
| by Anonymous | reply 88 | September 11, 2010 6:20 PM |
At the link, footage from WSS with Natalie's own voice. She's not bad at all singing "I Feel Pretty," but completely inadequate on "Tonight."
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 89 | September 11, 2010 6:40 PM |
"East Side Story" was more realistic.
| by Anonymous | reply 90 | September 11, 2010 7:46 PM |
I was ten when WSS, the film, opened in NYC. In those days films like that were a very big deal and only opened up in one theater and it was reserved seats, like a play. My mom took me and we were all dressed up just like the other patrons. It was very different than today. It was movie premiere kind of dressed up but with nice clothes like someone would wear to go to work or church. There was even an intermission where everyone went out to the lobby if they wanted an orange drink or something. This was not a hot dog and popcorn kind of movie/theater. %0D %0D I was 11 by the time WSS opened movie theaters all over and that was the very first movie I went to by myself. I was obsessed with it. I had already dragged every friend I had that was willing to see it to the theater with me and my dad had already taken me twice. So finally I was allowed to go see it in the afternoon, in the children's section by myself. In those days they had matrons with flashlights dressed up like nurses only without the old style nursing caps going around and shining the light on the children's section like every 5 minutes to make sure nothing bad was going on. Smoking was allowed in the balconies. Theaters had one screen, one glorious large screen. Once everything was okay going to the movies by myself I was allowed more often. I think in addition to the first time at the fancy uptown theater with my mom and the times with my few friends and my dad I must have seen it 2 dozen more times on my own. %0D %0D Of course I knew it by heart and acted out all the parts in my room including the singing and the dances for years. I wore a wig my mother had when I was Maria and if I must say so I think I made quite the pretty Maria and quite the dashing Tony, at least in my fantasies. %0D %0D PS, I think I was a very hot Anita too, complete with my version of the accent. It's a good thing I never did it in front of any real Puerto Rican kids. They probably would have thought I was making fun of them and busted my little ass.%0D %0D Oh and thanks for that link R89. I think all the actors' voices were just fine and they should have let them be used. What they lacked in perfection they would have made up for in realism.%0D
| by Anonymous | reply 91 | September 11, 2010 8:08 PM |
Tucker can be seen in this number from How to Succeed...
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 92 | September 11, 2010 8:20 PM |
R91- The beautiful Rivoli Theatre in NYC!%0D Years later I saw THE SOUND OF MUSIC at that theatre. In Todd AO. And a few years after that, GONE WITH THE WIND when it was reissued in 70MM. That was a beautiful theatre! I miss it.
| by Anonymous | reply 93 | September 11, 2010 8:33 PM |
Info about the Rivoli Theatre (where West Side Story played) in New York.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 94 | September 11, 2010 8:38 PM |
Thanks, R92! I just noticed. Tucker isn't the only WSS alum in that clip. The guy in the light colored jacket at the very beginning and then at the 2:05 point, sitting on the stairs, wearing glasses is a former Jet, too. He's a cutie. His hair was lighter in WSS.Wish I knew his name. %0D %0D Tony Mordent, who played Action, went on to do a lot of choreography. Don't know if he's still around.
| by Anonymous | reply 95 | September 11, 2010 8:53 PM |
He is,R95. And he was married at one time to Chita Rivera.
| by Anonymous | reply 96 | September 11, 2010 9:25 PM |
Isn't that Scooter Teague playing Bud Frump in the lighter jacket and eyeglasses in r92's clip? And didn't he play Lizzie's younger brother in the Broadway show 110 in the Shade, singing Little Red Hat with Lesley Anne Warren?
| by Anonymous | reply 97 | September 11, 2010 9:28 PM |
Yes, R97- Scooter Teague was in WSS the movie, played Bud in HOW TO SUCCEED movie and was in 110 IN THE SHADE. When he was in 110 he was known as Anthony Teague.%0D Harvey Evans was also in WSS movie as a Jet. He was known as Harvey Hornecker. This was before he changed it to Evans.
| by Anonymous | reply 98 | September 11, 2010 9:50 PM |
And like Tucker, we lost Scooter much too early.
| by Anonymous | reply 99 | September 11, 2010 9:51 PM |
And Tony Mordente who played a Jet in the film played a Shark in the show and was married to Chita Rivera through all of it. The filming must have put quite a strain on their marriage.
| by Anonymous | reply 100 | September 11, 2010 9:56 PM |
Now At Popular Prices! Let's go to the Drive-In!
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 101 | September 11, 2010 11:17 PM |
Neat link R101- Thanks! I'll have fun looking at all those ads. I see someone, or some group, is trying to start a Facebook page for 70MM fans.
| by Anonymous | reply 102 | September 11, 2010 11:29 PM |
YES!!! Thank you for putting a name on the theater in my memory R93 and thank you for that wonderful link R94. %0D %0D I too saw the revamped GWTW there. I'll never forget I went with two friends. They had souvenir books there and everything. I hadn't read the book up until then but once I saw the film I read the book so often it and the two paperback copies I had after that crumbled apart. I love the film but I adore the book. For some reason I remember lying in my bed in my room reading GWTW eating a pistachio ice cream cone and being very careful not to drip. I had not thought about that in years. That was my favorite thing in those days, read and eat an ice cream cone in my bed while I read. I don't know why, but it had to be an ice cream cone, nothing else would do and a different flavor depending on what I was reading. LOL, for some reason I remember it had to be chocolate marshmallow while I read Valley of the Dolls. I don't remember my flavor connection to other books.
| by Anonymous | reply 103 | September 12, 2010 2:10 AM |
Yes,R103 I visit the Cinema Treasures site on a frequent basis. Glad you are enjoying it.%0D And I remember eating chocolate while reading Valley of the Dolls.
| by Anonymous | reply 104 | September 12, 2010 3:06 AM |
Yes r85 they tore down all the buildings used in the opening of WSS to create what is now Lincoln Center.
| by Anonymous | reply 105 | September 12, 2010 3:28 AM |
I remember coming into NYC as a young teen with my parents to see both My Fair Lady and Thoroughly Modern Millie in those reserved seat engagements with big color souvenir books. I think one or both were also at The Rivoli Theatre.%0D %0D We didn't see West Side Story until 3 years into its initial run but by then it played at the old Festival Theatre on W57th St and ate lunch at the Horn and Hardart Automat nearby. Or was it Schraffts? Now all gone!%0D %0D And when I was a real little kid my brother brought me to The Roxy to see The 7th Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor while my parents were attending the original stage show of West Side Story. But as The Roxy still had an accompanying stage show in those days, I was very satisfied and didn't realize what I'd missed at The St. James until a few years later.
| by Anonymous | reply 107 | September 12, 2010 4:22 AM |
If you go to a theatre in NYC now you'd better bring a plastic poncho thing to sit in the seats. There are bed bugs alll over NYC.
| by Anonymous | reply 108 | September 12, 2010 11:07 AM |
r108, I never leave home without a can of flyspray in my purse.
| by Anonymous | reply 109 | September 12, 2010 12:40 PM |
R107- My Fair Lady played at the Criterion. That was located where the ABC Times Square studios are now, I believe. Not sure where Millie played. I miss reserved seat engagements. Those were fun.
| by Anonymous | reply 110 | September 12, 2010 1:16 PM |
[quote]If you go to a theatre in NYC now you'd better bring a plastic poncho thing to sit in the seats. There are bed bugs alll over NYC.%0D %0D %0D The answer to the bedbug problem is to eliminate all fabric in public spaces. Just install leather/vinyl seats.
| by Anonymous | reply 111 | September 12, 2010 1:25 PM |
Off topic....but another GREAT musical movie is "little Shop of Horrors"
| by Anonymous | reply 112 | September 12, 2010 1:25 PM |
Natalie Wood must have had balls of steel to take on two iconic Broadway musical roles when she could neither sing nor dance. (Although I guess Louise is SUPPOSED to be untalentedd).
| by Anonymous | reply 113 | September 12, 2010 1:36 PM |
Yes, R77. I adore the film, but I always thought one of its flaws is that Chino is far better looking and sexier than Tony!
| by Anonymous | reply 114 | September 12, 2010 1:45 PM |
Except r113 how much of the 1960s audience could have said who played Maria or Louise originally on Broadway? The roles became far more "iconic" through the films.
| by Anonymous | reply 115 | September 12, 2010 4:32 PM |
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE was at the Criterion Theatre. Reserved seat engagement. It was playing there in Oct of 1967 when we saw it. FUNNY GIRL was the next reserved seat engagement at the Criterion.
| by Anonymous | reply 116 | September 12, 2010 11:03 PM |
Does anyone remember the Cinerama "How The West Was Won"? I think it had reserved seating for about two or three years.
| by Anonymous | reply 117 | September 12, 2010 11:26 PM |
R70: True, Shakespeare had the plot for "Romeo and Juliet," but lifted from other sources (Comp Lit person here). The story is universal, and that is why "Romeo and Juliet" endures (even though the play is no "King Lear"). Btw, Romeo is a weak character, as much as Tony is in "West Side Story." Yet, both endure in the public imagination.%0D %0D I first saw the film on a rainy Saturday afternoon in my hometown. It had been re-released and I want to say it was 1968. The screen was enormous. This is back in the days before multiplexes. I remember seeing "2001" a year later on the same screen. I was stoned and the whole thing was surreal. Lol. The age of Netflix has nothing on those old theaters.
| by Anonymous | reply 118 | September 12, 2010 11:40 PM |
Yes R117- It was reserved seating. Saw it when I was a kid at the Martin Cinerama in St. Louis on Lindell Blvd. Now long gone.%0D
| by Anonymous | reply 119 | September 13, 2010 12:30 AM |
R118- Yes, WEST SIDE STORY was re-released in Oct of 1968.
| by Anonymous | reply 120 | September 13, 2010 12:31 AM |
The Criterion is GONE????
| by Anonymous | reply 121 | September 13, 2010 12:38 AM |
more memories of WSS and reserved seat movies!!!
| by Anonymous | reply 122 | September 15, 2010 1:38 PM |
I was a little girl in Kindergarten and had just turned six when my mother and I went to see, "West Side Story." Watching the movie gave me, for the very first time, that longing for romantic love deep in the pit of my stomach - a feeling that lasted for days. I (blonde and blue-eyed) imagined I was Maria. Years later in the early 1980's, I was working as a stand-in on a sitcom with Tucker Smith. He was Such a great guy, kind of shy, and humble, too. He never bragged about his past accomplishments. He had the most stunning turquoise eyes I'd ever seen. Sorry he's gone.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 123 | September 2, 2013 11:39 PM |
The outfits the women wear always remind me of Joan Rivers' joke about Puerto Rican proms.
| by Anonymous | reply 124 | September 3, 2013 12:00 AM |
Beamer is the weak link and yet the film s a classic. Imagine how it would have been with anther actor.
| by Anonymous | reply 125 | September 3, 2013 12:36 AM |
How come nobody has mentioned how gorgeous George Chakiris was in this film? He sure looked good in lavender and black. And his dancing was low-keyed, but hot!!
| by Anonymous | reply 126 | September 3, 2013 12:44 AM |
"He never bragged about his past accomplishments."
Did he brag about his GINORMOUS cock?
| by Anonymous | reply 127 | September 3, 2013 12:59 AM |
It's on now on MGM HD. Just watched the "Cool" sequence. Incredible dancing. No wonder dancers hated and admired Jerry Robbins. These guys were amazing. And that Tucker Smith is packing a big rod in his chinos.
| by Anonymous | reply 128 | December 21, 2013 11:24 PM |
Tucker Smith never hit it big, and died of cancer in the 80's at the age of 52. No wife or children. Speculation that he was gay. Hot piece of ass. Wonder if Tommy Tune had him when they were both in "Hello, Dolly!"
| by Anonymous | reply 129 | December 21, 2013 11:33 PM |
The littlest lesbian!
Was she Sondheims only dyke character?
"Anybodies".
| by Anonymous | reply 130 | December 22, 2013 12:56 AM |
Watching it again now and I'm shocked at how dismally dreary and old the Jets look at The Dance at the Gym. They had nothing on the Sharks.
| by Anonymous | reply 131 | December 22, 2013 1:05 AM |
[quote]Was she Sondheims only dyke character?
Bitch, please!
| by Anonymous | reply 132 | December 22, 2013 5:00 AM |
I never liked the movie and have no desire to see it on stage. Does anyone else here agree without the fear of being burned at the stake?
| by Anonymous | reply 133 | December 22, 2013 10:44 PM |
I love the film West Side Story! It's my all time favorite movie hands down, and the various scenes make me smile, laugh out loud and even tear up. Moreover, it's a beautiful example of how various emotions can be expressed through dance, as well as the fact that a movie doesn't have to be overly graphic or awash with excessive amounts of "blue" language to be affective. West Side Story earned every single one of the ten Academy Awards, including Best :Picture, on the year it first came out.
| by Anonymous | reply 134 | January 15, 2014 10:07 AM |
[quote]West Side Story earned every single one of the ten Academy Awards, including Best :Picture, on the year it first came out.
I don't know why it won or was even eligible for Costume Design. Irene Sharaff merely rehashed the costumes from the Broadway production, which she also designed.
| by Anonymous | reply 135 | January 15, 2014 11:12 AM |
R84, that girl is Rosalia, and in the stage show she's the one who yearns for Puerto Rico. She's the only one who doesn't dance and spends the entire song seated, while the other girls (led by Anita) mock her in song and dance. In the original Broadway and subsequent productions, she's dressed in that sheath dress I guess to differentiate her from the other Shark girls. Plus, like I said, she doesn't have to dance. Her style was carried over to the movie because designer Irene Sharaff was too lazy to come up with new costumes. But in the movie, she sides with the other girls -- it's the Shark boys who long for Puerto Rico instead -- and so performs their choreography despite her constricting dress.
| by Anonymous | reply 136 | January 15, 2014 11:22 AM |
For what it's worth, I enjoy the film. Don't care for the stage version, because I think the film greatly improved on it. Until they incorporate the changes made to the film, the stage show will always pale in comparison.
| by Anonymous | reply 137 | February 12, 2018 6:44 PM |
Richard Beymer was one of the poorest choices I ever saw in a movie. He seemed more like he was the Class President and star quarterback than a former gang leader. No one gets that nerdy and sweet overnight. I do love the movie though. I never saw a live production of it but I would love to.
| by Anonymous | reply 138 | February 12, 2018 7:49 PM |
