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| Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com |
The opening of directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ sweeping musical drama, “West Side Story,” opens with a series of aerial shots that gaze down at the expanse of New York City, showing a place that’s full of stories, but will soon just focus on one. However, that story will find a way to relate to any viewer, just as how it continues to impact audiences who watch it for the first time and experience its exuberance, just as it has recently done for me.
In the summer of 1957, in the West Side’s Lincoln Square region of Manhattan, there’s a rift between the Jets, a white American gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang. When a young Puerto Rican woman named Maria (Natalie Wood) and Tony (Richard Beymer), a former Jet, fall in love, the adversity between the two gangs will reach a breaking point as they try to keep Maria and Tony apart.
There’s a reason why the bond between Maria and Tony is one of the greatest screen romances, and that’s because the chemistry between Wood and Beymer exhibit the power of a love that transcends the boundaries that are imposed between them. Between Wood’s performance of “I Feel Pretty,” Beymer’s performance of “Maria,” and their duet for “Somewhere,” the affection that they have for each other couldn’t feel more magical as they commit themselves to their relationship and vow to defend the other. Wood and Beymer have a strength in their characters that has them show how much they love one another, even when they’re separated, showing a longing for each other that’s seen in their eyes and expressed in their voices, immersing us in a romance with a heart that’s bigger than the city in which in unfolds.
Rita Moreno, who plays Maria’s best friend, Anita, brings a spirited performance as the voice of both reason and support for Wood’s character. Moreno expresses Anita’s difficulties in being happy for Maria finding someone who she loves, while also trying to keep her from running into any mistakes that may come from Maria and Tony’s relationship. This back-and-forth in Moreno’s character is encapsulated in the moving rendition of her duet with Maria, “A Boy Like That/I Have a Love,” creating an emotional look into Anita’s views towards her friend. While this is the most intriguing aspect of Moreno’s character, we can never neglect to mention her iconic scene where she performs “America” with various cast members, providing a joyous sequence that will garner one of the biggest smiles that you’ll have while watching this movie.
George Chakiris portrays Bernardo, Maria’s suave, abrasive, and overprotective older brother and leader of the Sharks. Chakiris shows the toughness and street smarts that come from his character’s knowledge of roaming the streets, thereby helping us understand that he’s trying to protect his sister from the danger that he knows all too well, but also making us oppose his unwillingness to let Maria break free to make her own choices. The core of Chakiris’ performance is his ability to have us both sympathize with and disapprove of Bernardo’s overprotectiveness, and the passion and quiet furiousness within his work adds considerable tension to the film.
The screenplay by Ernest Lehman, which is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sodheim, and Arthur Laurents, which itself is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” creates a narrative that invites us into the humorous, poignant, and volatile world of the Jets and Sharks. Between the musical sequences and the dialogue-driven scenes, Lehman delivers fleshed-out characters and situations that not only present a heart-tugging romance, but also a look into the racial tensions between the Jets and Sharks that continue to escalate and place the characters under threats of violence that could damage them forever.
The dance numbers, which are choreographed by Robbins, are a superb expression of the animosity between the Jets and Sharks, such as in the prologue, a balletic battle as the rival gangs confront each other in a nearly wordless 10-minute sequence that brings us through the streets of their neighborhood and introduces us to the feud that propels the story. Between the prologue, the famous scene with the dance at the gym, the “America” sequence, and others, we’re presented with these musical numbers through full-scale views, thanks to the cinematography by Daniel L. Fapp. Through his camerawork, he brings us images that allow us to see the scenery in their entirety, showing the many details of the settings and delivering an epic sense to the story. The large scope of the cinematography also lets us see and appreciate the intricacies of the dances as they come to life with a limitless energy that has us marvel at what Wise, Robbins, and their performers are able to accomplish.
While Robbins excels in bringing us memorable choreography, Wise is able to deliver the superb drama in between those sequences. The work that he’s able to evoke from his cast does wonders in displaying the emotion of the story through their dialogue, so that by the time the songs and dances come around, those musical numbers are able to act as an effective continuation of the thoughts that the characters have expressed with spoken words, and this is because how beautifully the non-musical sequences are directed and acted, capturing the fullness of the stakes that keep us enthralled in the hopefulness of the central romance.
In the sequence where Tony sings “Something’s Coming,” some of the lyrics go, “Could it be?/Yes it could!/Something’s coming/Something good.” Right from the opening shots of “West Side Story,” you’ll feel the same way.
Grade: A
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