 |
|
|
|
West Side Story (1961)
 email this review to a friend
Movie Review by Thom
May 4th, 2008
|  |
Another Classic Blunder
Favorite Movie Quote: "Tony? When you come, use the back door."
Alas, it has fallen to me to balance the scales once again. I saw West Side Story for the first time tonight... tonight... and it was, overall, a true film tragedy with the majority of the entertainment coming from unintentional humor.
For those that don't know - I didn't before I watched it - West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet set in '50's New York City as a musical. The film starts with about ten minutes of a color balance check and then shifts into a very long dance number that would've set up the conflicts of the story a lot better if I'd known who anyone was at the time. Character introductions take place a bit later - if at all - when the white boy Jets want their old reformed bad-ass, Tony (Richard Beymer as Romeo), to join them in setting up a once and for all rumble with the Sharks, the newer Puerto Rican element. The current head of the Jets, Rif (Russ Tamblyn as Mercutio), intends to approach the leader of the Sharks, Bernardo (George Chakiris as Tybalt), during a dance at which Tony meets Bernardo's sister, Maria (Natalie Wood as Juliet).
I'm not partial to musicals, but there are musicals that I've liked; in West Side Story there are only parts. As for the song and dance numbers, there was only one that I enjoyed - and I enjoyed it greatly - the routine between Bernardo and his spicy spitfire Anita (Rita Moreno) as they sang about what it meant to them to be American, the good, the bad, and the funny. It's an inspired bit of witty writing and character development that is sadly lacking in the rest of the numbers.
One of the things that irritated me is that for a musical there was a ton of dancing without a whole lot of dialog or singing; most of the time the dancing is just there for the sake of dancing, much like modern special effects driven pictures are criticized - and rightly so - for having effects for effects sake. Too often the story isn't moving forward and the songs and acting performances weren't enough to keep me riveted. It's almost more a ballet than a musical.
I have to pay homage to one of the most hysterical moments - unintentional though it may have been - when the quote I listed is innocently voiced from Maria; I was in tears I was laughing so hard, and it made the enitre movie worth the watch. And I must confess - though I got used to it - the first 'tough' that dropped a pirouette into his strut inspired me to intone, "what kind of neighborhood is this?"
I appreciate the complexity of the subject matter and I thought that it was great that it was still applicable today, but the narrative just came to a dead stop too often, the acting was largely terrible, and the dancing was often without purpose. I don't see why you'd make a movie about this; I think it would be impressive to see all the choreographed dancing live on stage but less so in an edited film.
email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.
Join or Login. |
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS
|
