West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961): USA
Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.
Historically, films can initially be overrated, but time will usually put films in their proper place. However, some films are so beloved for one reason or another that their flaws continue to be overlooked rather than acknowledged. One film in which this is the case is West Side Story. Its reputation is tremendous to the point that you would feel as though your cinematic life were incomplete until you watched this film, yet the film is full of flaws and the failure or reluctance to acknowledge them raises the viewer’s expectations of this film so high that the viewer is bound to be disappointed. The truth is the film comes dangerously close to greatness, but can never quite hold on to it. How this film acquired the praise it initially did is understandable, it was something akin to a phenomenon when it was released, but how it has held onto this reputation through these many years in spite of its many obvious and acknowledged flaws is dumbfounding. If anyone is to enjoy this film they must have realistic expectations going into it.
Loosely based on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the film opens with a confrontation between rival New York street gangs, The Jets (white), and The Sharks (Puerto Ricans). The cops arrive and the gangs disperse, but things have reached a point where Jets leader, Riff (Russ Tamblyn), thinks something needs to be done. He decides they will challenge The Sharks to one all out rumble to decide once and for all who controls the turf. Riff asks former Jets leader and co-founder, Tony (Richard Beymer), to back him as he takes this challenge to The Sharks at the dance that night. However, Tony meets and falls in love with Puerto Rican girl Maria (Natalie Wood) who is also the younger sister of Sharks leader, Bernardo (George Chakiris).
For a musical to succeed I feel it must meet two criteria, good songs and good choreography. Critics in general have commonly praised it to the skies on both fronts, overlooking some of the film’s annoying, banal songs, and there is no other choreography whose flaws have been so easily ridiculed in our popular culture.
Choreographer Jerome Robbins has several moments of brilliance during the film, however, his choice to largely employ a balletic style to depict two rival street gangs simply looks ridiculous at times. It is hard not to laugh or simply be annoyed when a supposedly tough street gang member majestically glides across the screen in grand jete, or as the same tough gang members in another scene struggle to keep their emotions in check as they burst out in jazz hands every few seconds. A more feminine spectacle could hardly have been achieved, putting the choreography in direct opposition to what it is trying to depict. This is not an attack on ballet, a very skilled and beautiful form of dance, but an attack on the choice of this style of dance to convey a tough street gang. It simply does not work and looks ridiculous in the process. Masculine choreography suitable to a more masculine subject matter has often been achieved in musicals by Gene Kelly, Michael Kidd and others. Robbins does achieve a masculine choreography here, especially in the brilliantly staged opening sequence and the equally impressive rumble between Bernardo and Riff, but only sporadically before regressing back to a more feminine ballet style. I think it is time to acknowledge this tremendous fault. While the choreography is brilliant at times there are too many moments where it does not work at all.
Next, the Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein songs have similarly received incredible praise, yet the best of them are hardly anything you would desire to hear again, and isn’t that the point? The worst of them is possibly “Gee Officer Krupke” which is completely unlistenable despite its socially informative lyrics. The insipid “Maria,” has been praised as some great ballad, yet you just wish Tony would stop singing her name just as he tells you he won’t. The song “America” does have some witty lyrics and is the centerpiece of one of the better scenes in the film as it discusses the pros and cons of the Puerto Ricans’ life in America, but it is hardly a toe tapper. Admittedly, there is a good deal of wit to the Sondheim lyrics, but there is nothing catchy about them while Bernstein’s melodies are sometimes excessively cute to the point of being irritating, as in the annoying “I Feel Pretty.” Bernstein succeeds better in is incidental music. His jazz heavy score is a great compliment to the characters and the scenes, but even this has moments where it becomes too blaring and musically busy, distracting more than complimenting.
Besides some dated dialogue in an otherwise solid script from Ernest Lehman, the film’s other great flaw is the miscasting of Natalie Wood as Maria. Her attempts at pulling off a Puerto Rican accent are laughable which really hurt the scenes where we are not supposed to be laughing. Neither she nor costar Richard Beymer did their own singing, but Beymer is still a good if not great Tony and the two are an attractive enough couple that many have forgiven or ignored the flaws of their performances.
Also helping and hurting is the film’s ambition. It reaches too high, adapting Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and trying to address ethnic tensions, as well as youth problems. The film’s ending seems contrived, certainly displeasing purists, and there are those who would feel the film did not do enough by taking a soft Hollywood approach to the problems of racism and youth, yet its lofty aspirations help convince you that the film is more important than it is and it does earn points for trying.
All my berating aside, the film is not without several good points. The supporting cast shines, headed by George Chakiris and Rita Moreno who both give commanding, convincing, energetic performances as the Puerto Ricans, Bernardo and his girlfriend Anita. Russ Tamblyn is also very good as Jets leader, Riff.
Technically, the film excels with fast paced editing that keeps the action and movement exciting. The urban sets and locations, and opulent, garishly bright colors add to the visual splendor and give the film a kind of surrealistic look and feel.
Though not all film critics have praised this film, (Pauline Kael ripped it to shreds) but largely it has been passed on as a classic, anointed in best of lists by AFI and Entertainment Weekly, as one of if not the best musical ever. The film does have several memorable scenes, and its stylistic and expressionistic bravura are so abundant that many have historically ignored the films flaws altogether. Alas, the film is an incredible achievement, but heavily flawed as well and has a tendency to make you cringe nearly as often as it awes you.
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