SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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How many of you have done what I did today? I saw Stephen Spielberg’s ‘reimagining ‘ of West Side Story, which had been a hit 1957 Broadway play and an iconic 10-Oscar 1961 film. When I got home, I got out my DVD of the 1961 film and watched it. I thought the 2021 film was great but was impressed at how well the 1961 film still held up. I give them both ‘10’s, which is less a measure of perfection than of impact. The differences are not large but interesting.
The biggest one is in the character of Tony. The thing that bothered me the most about the 1961 film was that Tony seemed to me to be rather soft and dreamy to have been the co-founder of the Jets with Riff. Early in the 1961 film he’s described by a bang member as a ‘legend’ but he never seems like anyone gang members would respect. In the 2021 film, it’s made clear that Tony is a dangerous guy, capable of violence – he’s spent a year in prison and nearly beaten a man to death there. But there’s something inside him that suggests that he could be much better than that and that the world can, too. That’s created a split between him and the world of the Jets, but he’s still a very big man in that world.
Then there’s the character of Valentina, created for Rita Moreno. She memorably played Anita in the 1961 film, (and got one of those Oscars). Amazingly the only one of the principal players from that film who is no longer with us is Natalie Wood. Rita is about to turn 90, (but is as sharp and spry as ever). Richard Beymer, who played Tony is 82 and was active as recently as 2017. Russ Tamblyn, Riff is 86 and his last appearance was in 2018. George Chakiris is 87 and was in a film this year. It might have been fun to give all them roles. But it also would have cluttered up a film that’s about young people. Perhaps Beymer or Tamblyn could have played ‘Doc’, who is still alive and his Puerto Rican wife Valentina runs the candy shop with him. But it’s better to focus on Moreno, who might actually win another Oscar for West Side Story, 60 years later. He character remembers the struggles she and Doc had when they were a Tony and maria of a previous era. Tony sings “Something’s Coming” to her rather than to himself. And She sings “There’s a place for us”.
Spielberg changes the order of some of the numbers. One that works well is changing “Cool”, (or “Be Cool”) back to it’s original spot, (from the play) before the rumble and incorporating Tony and Riff into it. It’s not about maintaining control of yourself after a tragic confrontation. It’s about doing it prior to the confrontation. And it further establishes the Tony character as a tough guy who’s trying to become something more than that. By ‘cool’ he means non-violent, not unemotional. One that doesn’t work is putting “I Feel Pretty” right after the rumble. It’s supposed to be tragically ironic because we know that Tony had killed Bernardo but Maria doesn’t know that yet. But the lightness of the number makes it feel insubstantial after such an emotional fight scene.
Spielberg adds some background: the neighborhood the Jets and Sharks are fighting over is about to go away anyway to build modern places like Lincoln Center. 1957 is the era of Robert Moses slicing New York City’s neighborhoods up for projects not designed to benefit the people currently living there. But the jets and the Sharks care only about their own conflict, not the real threat to them both. It’s not a stretch to see modern issues like climate change in this and the inadequacy of our modern politics to deal with it due to our petty conflicts. At the same time, the timeless story shows how rivalry and prejudice can ruin the lives of the individuals they impact.
The musical numbers are superior in the 1961 film, even though Spielberg breaks them out of their stage origins by having the whole neighborhood join in. ‘America’, in particular, is better with the men and the women in a confined space, directing all their energies at each other. I agree that the fight scenes in the current version are more realistically violent, as if the combatants are really trying to hurt each other instead of simply dancing with each other but some of Jerome Robbins’ masterful choreography is lost in the process. The iconic love songs, ‘Maria’ and ‘Tonight’ sound better in the original because they were recorded in a sound studio rather than on the set. Also, Jimmy Bryant, who did Richard Beymer’s singing, has a better voice than Ansel Elgort, who did his own signing in the new one.
Elgort, who looks like a young Val Kilmer, is a good actor and brings together the two conflicting aspects of Tony’s personality: His street toughness but increasingly optimistic spirit very well. Beymer’s Tony lacks the street toughness. Rachel Zegler is beautiful and talented, both as an actress and a singer and, despite her name, more Hispanic, (sorry, Latinex), than Natalie Wood. (Rachel has a Columbia mother.) Mike Faist makes a tougher but less acrobatic Riff than Tamblen did. David Alvarez gives a strong performance as Bernardo but lacks the elegance of George Chakiris, although I’m not sure how elegant the head of a street gang should be. Ariana DeBose makes a good Anita but doesn’t dominate the screen the way Rita Moreno did.
People are wondering why Spielberg felt the need to re-make this. Was it the product of his own ego? Did he think he could top it – or ‘fix’ it? He puts a lot of interesting touches in it: the opening, where we stare down at New York from a wrecking ball and see the Jets poor out of a hole in the ground and Tony finding it hard to overcome the bars of the fire escape to get to Maria stand out. But the staging and filming of the 1961 film is every bit as inventive. He makes it relevant to modern audiences, largely because we have the same or similar problems. Both films were the best thing out there in their times. Frankly, considering that seven ‘Saw’ movies were made in seven years, I think it’s OK to do ‘West Side Story’ every 60 years.
How many of you have done what I did today? I saw Stephen Spielberg’s ‘reimagining ‘ of West Side Story, which had been a hit 1957 Broadway play and an iconic 10-Oscar 1961 film. When I got home, I got out my DVD of the 1961 film and watched it. I thought the 2021 film was great but was impressed at how well the 1961 film still held up. I give them both ‘10’s, which is less a measure of perfection than of impact. The differences are not large but interesting.
The biggest one is in the character of Tony. The thing that bothered me the most about the 1961 film was that Tony seemed to me to be rather soft and dreamy to have been the co-founder of the Jets with Riff. Early in the 1961 film he’s described by a bang member as a ‘legend’ but he never seems like anyone gang members would respect. In the 2021 film, it’s made clear that Tony is a dangerous guy, capable of violence – he’s spent a year in prison and nearly beaten a man to death there. But there’s something inside him that suggests that he could be much better than that and that the world can, too. That’s created a split between him and the world of the Jets, but he’s still a very big man in that world.
Then there’s the character of Valentina, created for Rita Moreno. She memorably played Anita in the 1961 film, (and got one of those Oscars). Amazingly the only one of the principal players from that film who is no longer with us is Natalie Wood. Rita is about to turn 90, (but is as sharp and spry as ever). Richard Beymer, who played Tony is 82 and was active as recently as 2017. Russ Tamblyn, Riff is 86 and his last appearance was in 2018. George Chakiris is 87 and was in a film this year. It might have been fun to give all them roles. But it also would have cluttered up a film that’s about young people. Perhaps Beymer or Tamblyn could have played ‘Doc’, who is still alive and his Puerto Rican wife Valentina runs the candy shop with him. But it’s better to focus on Moreno, who might actually win another Oscar for West Side Story, 60 years later. He character remembers the struggles she and Doc had when they were a Tony and maria of a previous era. Tony sings “Something’s Coming” to her rather than to himself. And She sings “There’s a place for us”.
Spielberg changes the order of some of the numbers. One that works well is changing “Cool”, (or “Be Cool”) back to it’s original spot, (from the play) before the rumble and incorporating Tony and Riff into it. It’s not about maintaining control of yourself after a tragic confrontation. It’s about doing it prior to the confrontation. And it further establishes the Tony character as a tough guy who’s trying to become something more than that. By ‘cool’ he means non-violent, not unemotional. One that doesn’t work is putting “I Feel Pretty” right after the rumble. It’s supposed to be tragically ironic because we know that Tony had killed Bernardo but Maria doesn’t know that yet. But the lightness of the number makes it feel insubstantial after such an emotional fight scene.
Spielberg adds some background: the neighborhood the Jets and Sharks are fighting over is about to go away anyway to build modern places like Lincoln Center. 1957 is the era of Robert Moses slicing New York City’s neighborhoods up for projects not designed to benefit the people currently living there. But the jets and the Sharks care only about their own conflict, not the real threat to them both. It’s not a stretch to see modern issues like climate change in this and the inadequacy of our modern politics to deal with it due to our petty conflicts. At the same time, the timeless story shows how rivalry and prejudice can ruin the lives of the individuals they impact.
The musical numbers are superior in the 1961 film, even though Spielberg breaks them out of their stage origins by having the whole neighborhood join in. ‘America’, in particular, is better with the men and the women in a confined space, directing all their energies at each other. I agree that the fight scenes in the current version are more realistically violent, as if the combatants are really trying to hurt each other instead of simply dancing with each other but some of Jerome Robbins’ masterful choreography is lost in the process. The iconic love songs, ‘Maria’ and ‘Tonight’ sound better in the original because they were recorded in a sound studio rather than on the set. Also, Jimmy Bryant, who did Richard Beymer’s singing, has a better voice than Ansel Elgort, who did his own signing in the new one.
Elgort, who looks like a young Val Kilmer, is a good actor and brings together the two conflicting aspects of Tony’s personality: His street toughness but increasingly optimistic spirit very well. Beymer’s Tony lacks the street toughness. Rachel Zegler is beautiful and talented, both as an actress and a singer and, despite her name, more Hispanic, (sorry, Latinex), than Natalie Wood. (Rachel has a Columbia mother.) Mike Faist makes a tougher but less acrobatic Riff than Tamblen did. David Alvarez gives a strong performance as Bernardo but lacks the elegance of George Chakiris, although I’m not sure how elegant the head of a street gang should be. Ariana DeBose makes a good Anita but doesn’t dominate the screen the way Rita Moreno did.
People are wondering why Spielberg felt the need to re-make this. Was it the product of his own ego? Did he think he could top it – or ‘fix’ it? He puts a lot of interesting touches in it: the opening, where we stare down at New York from a wrecking ball and see the Jets poor out of a hole in the ground and Tony finding it hard to overcome the bars of the fire escape to get to Maria stand out. But the staging and filming of the 1961 film is every bit as inventive. He makes it relevant to modern audiences, largely because we have the same or similar problems. Both films were the best thing out there in their times. Frankly, considering that seven ‘Saw’ movies were made in seven years, I think it’s OK to do ‘West Side Story’ every 60 years.
