West Side Story (1961)

Jerome Robbins (top) and Robert Wise

Jerome Robbins (left) and Robert Wise

Jerome Robbins working with George Chakiris

Jerome Robbins working with Russ Tamblyn

The Jets on the set

Jerome Robbins with the dancers

Rita Moreno working with Jerome Robbins

Rita Moreno having a moment

Jerome Robbins (left) and Robert Wise with their Oscars

Chakiris, Robbins, Wise, and Moreno (left to right)

Stephen Sondheim (left), Leonard Bernstein, and Robbins

Stephen Sondheim

Sondheim and Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEST SIDE STORY             A                                                                                                      USA  (152 mi)  1961  ‘Scope  directors:  Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins                                                                                                                                                         “Things are alright in America / If you’re all white in America.”

As Allen Ginsberg was constructing the beat imagery from Howl (1956), “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness,” some of the generation’s better minds were working on this film which followed the 1957 Broadway production, including exquisite music from Leonard Bernstein several years after composing the music for On the Waterfront (1954), his only two film scores, socially relevant lyrics from Stephen Sondheim in his first assignment, the brilliant Jerome Robbins doubling as the choreographer and co-director along with Robert Wise, who worked as Orson Welles’ film editor on CITIZEN KANE (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942).  This collection of artistic forces, like the perfect alignment of the stars, defines what’s so special about this film, creating an abstract, thoroughly modern work that brilliantly synthesizes artifice with social realism through dance movement, amusingly clever lyrics, gorgeous melodic tone, excellent camerawork that creates pace through kinetic energy, and a heartbreakingly sorrowful story that parallels the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, but with a different outcome.  Noted for its shifting rhythms, spectacular music and unusual economy, one of the shortest books in musical theater, it brilliantly intermingles lyrics and dance to provide marvelous insight into character, where we become intimately familiar with the leads.  The sheer magnificent beauty of this ‘Scope film is undeniable from the quiet opening aerial shots over Manhattan to the Saul Bass designed end credits.  In terms of both historical timing and political messaging, West Side Story responded to the Civil Rights Movement by putting race and immigration on center stage.  With its bold artistic vision and unflinching engagement with social concerns of the day, like racial unrest, urban gang violence, immigration, and altercations with the police, the Broadway production opened at the exact same time as the forced racial integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, a landmark moment in the Civil Rights Movement, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower dispatched federal troops to force an all-white school to enroll nine black students.  In his personal copy of Romeo and Juliet, now housed at the Library of Congress, Bernstein wrote that West Side Story was “an out and out plea for racial tolerance.”  As this is largely a clash of cultures, where whites feel threatened by the Puerto Rican Spanish invasion into their neighborhood, the warring gangs represented immigrant groups at different stages of assimilation, as the Sharks were newly arrived Puerto Ricans, derided for their distinct differences, while the Jets were initially identified as “Polacks” in the theatrical show, having arrived in the U.S. a generation or so earlier.  Racism was rampant in New York City, much as it was across America when this movie took place, where the police are white and blatantly favor the Jets over the Sharks.  Realistic casting might have helped delineate the differences between the rival gangs that share the same turf, instead Natalie Wood, fresh off her Academy Award nominated performance in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961), plays Maria with a fake accent, the young Puerto Rican girl who falls for Tony, Richard Beymer (Benjamin Horne on Twin Peaks thirty years later), an ex-Jet, where time literally stops when their eyes meet across a dance floor.  Looking back, what work against it are the limitations of its own era, where whites were typically cast as the leads even when portraying other ethnic backgrounds, more egregious was the despicable practice of brownface, darkening the faces of Puerto Ricans, including Rita Moreno who is Puerto Rican, along with various racist stigmas, such as the prevalence of inaccurate accents and offensive remarks, with the movie as well as the Broadway version exporting dangerous stereotypes.  Most Puerto Ricans who grew up in America find the musical outdated, like something their grandparents may have liked, finding the dialogue reprehensible, something no self-respecting Puerto Rican would ever say.  While the musical is supposed to be a representation of the Puerto Rican experience, unfortunately the storyline relies upon stereotypes, with some believing it’s a betrayal of their culture.  There was a massive Puerto Rican exodus from the island in the postwar period of the late 40’s and early 50’s, many moving to Spanish Harlem in New York, presumably in search for a better life for their families, immigrants who have their own national identity, defined primarily by their Hispanic roots and values, and by having Spanish as their language. 

On an interesting note, the on-location slums that were used to provide authentic backgrounds, in contrast to the dream-like atmosphere, were leveled after the film to make room for the Lincoln Center.  The street where the film was largely shot was W. 61st Street, which is where Lincoln Center is now situated, but they didn’t have a playground.  For that, they moved to E. 110th Street in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in East Harlem, often juxtaposing both neighborhoods into the same shot.  Essentially a biracial love story that takes place during an era of urban renewal and gentrification, depicting a fight for urban space, where Manhattan is divided territorially, economically, and ethnically, with different racial groups perceiving any existing space as “their” neighborhood, often breaking out into gang turf fights generated by bigotry and race hatred.  Rita Moreno as Anita plays a controversial role, as her character actually exhibits scorn for her homeland and is in support of total assimilation, at odds with her own boyfriend Bernardo (George Chakiris), who discredits her exaltation of the American dream, believing they are living a different reality.  However, she is a force of nature in this film, never anything less than superb, as if finally offered the role of a lifetime to play exactly who she is and she easily outshines everyone else in the film.  Check her out in the fabulously upbeat “America,” West Side Story(1961) - America YouTube (7:54), one of the most rhythmically energetic and vital hits in the history of Broadway musical comedy (also a racist and defamatory excoriation of Puerto Rico, with lyrics softened for the movie version), where she simply sizzles on camera, kicking those legs, strutting her stuff, and relishing her moment to shine, winning and Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress.  While this may be a racially polarizing experience, it also feels as if it’s been placed in a time capsule and we have the opportunity to look back to earlier times and revel in the extraordinary complexity of the work.  On Broadway, this number was performed only by the Shark women, but in the film, Jerome Robbins brought in the boys to elevate the material, adding a lot more pizzazz, often changing the tempo, adding complexity to their dance routines.  Why they dubbed Moreno’s voice with Betty Wand in the fiercely personal “A Boy Like That” in the “I Have a Love” duet with Maria, West Side Story - A Boy Like That (1961) HD - YouTube (4:14) remains a dubious decision as her instant shift of mood in that scene from downright hatred to sympathy is truly remarkable, as she couldn’t have been more “in her element.”  Natalie Wood’s voice was also dubbed by Marni Nixon, a professional dubber who also sang Audrey Hepburn’s part in MY FAIR LADY (1964) as well as Deborah Kerr’s in THE KING AND I (1956), while Jimmy Bryant dubbed all of Richard Beymer’s songs.  This sort of thing simply wouldn’t be done today, but that speaks to social progress within the movie industry itself.  The songs themselves are as sublime as ever, as this is one of the best scores ever written in American musicals where the range of emotion is simply outstanding, from rousing jubilation to petty humor to first love to unadorned hatred to raw, agonizing grief.  But cinematically the dance interpretations are what really excel, as the constant motion makes excellent use of the entire widescreen, and the dances are always in character, reflecting the angry sarcasm directed across gang lines, contrasted against the quieter, more personalized solo moments.  The gang leaders themselves are excellent, Russ Tamblyn as Riff, the hot headed leader of the Jets (also making his career reprise thirty years later as Dr. Jacoby in Twin Peaks) and George Chakiris as Shark leader Bernardo, Maria’s down to earth older brother and Anita’s boyfriend, a guy who previously escorted Marilyn Monroe in the “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” Marilyn Monroe Diamonds are a girl's best friend YouTube (5:35) number from GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953).  So there’s talent galore in this film and you feel it from start to finish, the top grossing film of 1961, winning 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, becoming the biggest Oscar-winning musical of all time. 

The film is as timeless as the music, as it’s a staged musical shot on location in the streets of New York that’s actually about something that remains socially relevant fifty years later.  Unfortunately, the mindset of neighborhoods still remains closed where people don’t accept outsiders, where racial hostility is rampant, and even with the election of the first black President, there isn’t an ounce of sympathy for new immigrants.  America remains divided along racial lines and still does not exactly embrace interracial romances within the family.  At the time of release, even with hatred and bigotry built into the storyline, much of the racist aspects were completely overlooked, largely by white critics who had yet to grapple with this subject, instead accentuating the urban problem of juvenile delinquency, a new phenomenon evidenced by Blackboard Jungle (1955), yet there is no presence of blacks at all in this film, with racism the elephant in the room that nobody wished to talk about.  It is the underlying current of the entire musical, responsible for the jarring events that do occur, yet if you listen to Stephen Sondheim, “Many people think West Side Story is about prejudice, and I suppose it is, if you look at the text, but that’s not really what it’s about, it’s about the theater.  It’s about how to use music and lyrics, and book, to combine in a sort of new way, not that we tried to do it new, it’s just that’s the way it turned out, because it seems to be a musical, but it’s about movement.”  According to Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book of the musical, “You couldn’t do a story where there were going to be murders, and attempted rape, where there’s bigotry and hatred, you couldn’t do that in conventional musical comedy style.”  So according to the original authors, what transformed this piece was the ballet and jazz-like dance movements that took the place of the action, as it was a stand-in for all the built-up energy and emotion, both hostile and heartwarming, with kinetic bodies in motion telling the story, providing character through their individualized dance movement.  That this film is able to deal with such complex issues through song and dance is a testament to its concept and design, brilliantly exemplified by the “Quintet” sequence that takes place before the rumble, West Side Story - Tonight Quintet and Chorus (1961) HD YouTube (3:19), which is pure Sondheim carried out to a stunning musical climax by Leonard Bernstein, where five separate characters are lost in their own thoughts, each wondering what’s going to happen, all singing various melodies and themes simultaneously in a truly bravura moment in the film.  Impossible not to have a weak spot for “One Hand, One Heart,” West Side Story (1961) - One Hand, One Heart - YouTube (3:01), which has such a sacred feel that it could be sung in church, to the whispered anthem of crushed hopes and dreams reflected in “Somewhere,” West Side Story 1961 - Somewhere - YouTube (3:19), dreaming of that mythical “place for us” where hatred subsides and everyone finally accepts one another.  What was particularly compelling was the youth of the performers, a contrast from the Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire musicals, bringing contemporary movement into the theater, creating such a wildly imaginative, wonderful depiction of youth’s idealized expectations which collide with reality at some point, sending a jarring message to those in the audience, as we’ve all been there.  We’ve felt exactly as Maria has, a girl who dreams that things will be different, and most likely never handled the situation with as much grace as she does when she discovers it isn’t.  Death is a prominent theme, foreshadowed throughout by the lyrics, especially in the love songs, “Only death will part us now,” but the integration of life and death, love and hate, and ultimately joy and sorrow is as dramatically powerful here as any other musical on record.  Repeatedly staged in high school and college productions, along with regional theater revivals, this is one of the most often-produced musicals all across America, yet it works both as a staged Broadway musical and a cinematic experience, where the striking visual originality of the film, especially blown up to 70 mm, may best encapsulate the full scope of the drama.