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West Side Story (1961)
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West Side Story is the 1961 film adaptation of the landmark 1957 musical romance West Side Story scored by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, which in turn was a Setting Update of Romeo and Juliet. The film, a largely faithful adaptation of the stage show (though with minor changes to suit the film format), was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins.Two gangs, the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks, have a constant turf war in New York City's Upper West Side. At a dance after which the gangs are scheduled to rumble, Tony (Richard Beymer), best friend of Jets leader Riff (Russ Tamblyn), meets and falls in love with Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of Sharks leader Bernardo (George Chakiris). Bernardo and his girlfriend Anita (Rita Moreno) protest this new relationship. Tony and Maria reaffirm their love, but when tragedy strikes during the rumble, their conflicting loyalties to their respective gangs are challenged.The film won a whopping 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a record beaten only by Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, all of which won 11 Oscars. A second film adaptation of the stage musical, directed by Steven Spielberg, was released in December 2021, close to sixty years after the 1961 film's premiere. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_113480b7 | type |
Canon Foreigner | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_113480b7 | comment |
Canon Foreigner: Ice, Riff's lieutenant, was specifically invented for the film. In the original show it is Diesel who is chosen to fight Bernardo one-on-one and Action who becomes the new leader after Riff is killed. | |
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Mythology Gag | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_26ac510e | comment |
Mythology Gag: Tony and Maria's doomed romance taking place over essentially one weekend seems ridiculous unless you recall that "Romeo & Juliet", the source material, took place over roughly the same time frame (three days). | |
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Limited Wardrobe | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_2a7e7af1 | comment |
Limited Wardrobe: Even at the dance, Anybodys wears the same outfit throughout the movie: a yellow t-shirt with blue sleeves and a pair of jeans. | |
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DirtyCommunist | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_3696f538 | comment |
And in "Gee, Officer Krupke", the line "My father is a bastard / My ma's an SOB / My grandpa's always plastered / My grandma pushes tea" is changed to "My daddy beats my mommy / My mommy clobbers me / My grandpa is a Commie / My grandma pushes tea." | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_382a6399 | type |
The Hero Dies | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_382a6399 | comment |
The Hero Dies: Tony at the end is shot to death, and Maria laments how hatred killed him. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_401d4116 | type |
Broken Aesop | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_401d4116 | comment |
Broken Aesop: "America" is in part about the difficulties faced by Puerto Rican immigrants in the United States, including lines like "Life is alright in America / If you're all white in America!" In the movie, all but twonote Rita Moreno and Jose De Vega of the actors playing the Puerto Ricans are white performers in brownface, with even the one actress who was ethnically right for the role being put in the same makeup. All the actors singing about how life is easier if you're white are themselves white. | |
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Call-and-Response Song | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_43c4002a | comment |
Call-and-Response Song: "America". In the film, the women sing about America's positive qualities and the men sing about its xenophobia. | |
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Brownface | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_5dc04c4e | comment |
Brownface: They really broke out the shoe polish for this one. Most of the Sharks were played by non-Hispanic white actors. Maria was played by the American (of Russian descent) Natalie Wood, and Bernardo by the Greek-American George Chakiris. Even Rita Moreno (Anita), the only legit Puerto Rican in the cast, is slathered in brownface and forced to put on an over-the-top accent. Natalie Wood didn't use makeup. According to the biography by her sister Lana Wood she "was always outside sunbathing so she'd be tan and look appropriately 'outdoorsy'." | |
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One-Book Author | |
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One-Book Author: Despite winning an Academy Award for his work, this was the only film that Jerome Robbins ever directed. | |
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Creative Closing Credits | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_5f91efd9 | comment |
There's also a five-minute-long Creative Closing Credits sequence, also by Saul Bass, depicting the credits on wall graffiti and street signs. | |
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Pragmatic Adaptation | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_603f1a80 | comment |
Pragmatic Adaptation: The movie is a largely intact adaptation of the stage show, but song placement is shuffled around, to excellent effect. "Gee, Officer Krupke" and "I Feel Pretty" were both moved to Act I, which is lighter and more fun in tone. "Cool", an edgy and angry song, was moved into the similarly tense and dark Act II, averting the show's Mood Whiplash. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_680bb6b1 | type |
Hot-Blooded | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_680bb6b1 | comment |
There's also the line in 'Cool' about "if you've got a rocket in your pocket", which meant Hot-Blooded in the 1960s, but not anymore. | |
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Covered in Gunge | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_6c62b1a8 | comment |
Covered in Gunge: During one of the opening clashes between the Jets and Sharks, Action, A-rab, Baby John, and Snowboy chase a Shark into an alley where more Sharks pour paint on them. | |
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Adaptational Nice Guy | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_82a64c4b | comment |
Adaptational Nice Guy: Bernardo is more sympathetic here than in the stage version. He shows more affection to his sister Maria, calling her "a precious jewel" before the dance and being gentler even when scolding her for dancing with Tony (in the stage version Chino protests "Don't yell at her, 'Nardo," which here he doesn't do), and after he kills Riff, while the stage script describes him as "triumphant," here his reaction is a silent My God, What Have I Done? The altered version of "America" also makes him more sympathetic by expanding his role and giving the audience more of his point of view. | |
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Finger-Snapping Street Gang | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_8901de40 | comment |
Finger-Snapping Street Gang: The Jets, are the Trope Maker and Trope Codifier. Walking down the street while snapping their fingers is their signature trait, and they do it repeatedly, most prominently during "Jet Song"—though at that point they're literally just walking down the street, not threatening anyone. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_89102272 | type |
Artistic Title | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_89102272 | comment |
Artistic Title: A set of abstract graphics, created by Saul Bass, eventually fade into a shot of the Lower Manhattan skyline, followed by a series of overhead aerial shots of NYC streets and buildings. There's also a five-minute-long Creative Closing Credits sequence, also by Saul Bass, depicting the credits on wall graffiti and street signs. | |
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Lipstick-and-Load Montage | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_8cf75a5c | comment |
Lipstick-and-Load Montage: In the reprise of "Tonight" in The Movie, Anita beautifies herself while the gangs prepare for the rumble. | |
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Stunned Silence | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_a0797fb3 | comment |
After Tony dies, Maria chews out everyone present for letting the violence get as far as it did. The Jets, the Sharks, and the adults around it all can only watch in Stunned Silence as Maria cries over Tony's body. | |
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My God, What Have I Done? | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_a1b141f4 | comment |
My God, What Have I Done?: The gang war sees Bernardo killing Riff with a stab to the gut using a switchblade knife. In the film, Bernardo briefly registers horror at what he has just done. Immediately following this, Tony, enraged, takes Riff's knife and kills Bernardo with it. This leads to a ton of guilt on both sides, as Tony not only has to tell Maria that her brother is dead, but that he killed him. After Tony dies, Maria chews out everyone present for letting the violence get as far as it did. The Jets, the Sharks, and the adults around it all can only watch in Stunned Silence as Maria cries over Tony's body. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_a4c37cbe | type |
Mood Whiplash | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_a4c37cbe | comment |
Mood Whiplash: The movie has a little bit of mood whiplash after the rumble. It cuts from Riff and Bernardo lying dead, to Maria dancing wistfully on a rooftop. Since this dance only lasts a minute at most, until Chino appears to deliver some tragic news, the amount of mood whiplash still feels significantly smaller than it did in the play. | |
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Rule of Funny | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_a60e3252 | comment |
Furthermore, Stephen Sondheim originally wanted to end the song "Gee, Officer Krupke, fuck you!" but it was changed to "Krup you!" (In his book of the lyrics, he comments that he thought the "Krup" change was for the better.) | |
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Love at First Sight | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_a8dcb1d7 | comment |
Love at First Sight: Just in case you didn't get it, the filmmakers made the rest of the dancers hazy, making sure that only Tony and Maria were in focus during their first meeting. They promptly fall in love. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_b02f21f | type |
Digital Destruction | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_b02f21f | comment |
Digital Destruction: To put it bluntly, every 21st-century physical release of the film has at least one flaw. Most infamously, the single-disc 2003 DVD is in Pan and Scan, the Special Edition DVD plays "Tonight" out of sync, and the 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray has the screen turn black during a few seconds of the overture. | |
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Brief Accent Imitation | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_be6f7ae7 | comment |
Brief Accent Imitation: In the film adaptation, action acts as a doctor with a German accent during "Gee, Officer Krupke". | |
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Deus Exit Machina | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_cb71c461 | comment |
Deus Exit Machina: In the film, Ice leaves Doc's to go outside and see if any of the Sharks are around right before Anita comes in. Without him around to keep everyone's heads cool, the Jets taunt and assault her. | |
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Latino Is Brown | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_d6b5e3fc | comment |
Latino Is Brown: The movie differentiates the Puerto Ricans from the white Americans by making all the Puerto Ricans dark skinned. Possibly averted with Natalie Wood as she sunbathed to be tan. | |
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Foe-Tossing Charge | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_da2b1604 | comment |
Foe-Tossing Charge: During the street fights in the opening, two Jets are lured in a dark alley and are ambushed by six Sharks charging them, leaving them with their asses on the ground. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_e540d1e6 | type |
Camp | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_e540d1e6 | comment |
Camp: Every character type is exaggerated in the movie to match a theatrical style. For one, most gangs in an inner city wouldn't go around dancing to song numbers... That aside, the wide movements, showy expressions, and witty dialogue all combine to achieve this effect. | |
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Adaptational Context Change | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_f33ff01c | comment |
Adaptational Context Change: The lyrics to "America" are almost completely rewritten from the musical to film adaptation. The original had been criticised for mocking Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. The film focuses instead on the discrimination the Puerto Ricans had suffered in America. The song is also changed from an all-female number revolving around an argument between Anita and another girl to a male-and-female number with Anita vs. Bernardo; the latter was Sondheim's original intent, only rewritten because Jerome Robbins wanted an all-female dance number in the show. In the film, "I Feel Pretty" and "Gee, Officer Krupke" happen much earlier than they do in the stage version. In the stage version, they're meant to act as a tension break after the deaths in the first act. In the film, there are now no light moments after the rumble with the songs happening earlier. In the former's case, this required changing the line "bright," rhyming with "tonight," to "gay," rhyming with "today." Similarly, "Cool" happens after the rumble instead of before it, in the scene where "Gee, Officer Krupke" was originally sung. This was all because producer and co-director Robert Wise wanted the film to have a single rising line of tension, with no lighthearted relief after the two gang leaders' deaths. | |
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| West Side Story (1961) / int_f51f4509 | type |
Tagline | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_f51f4509 | comment |
Taglines: For the movie version, the original poster boasted, "The screen achieves one of the great entertainments in the history of motion pictures", while re-release trailers proclaimed, "Unlike other classics, West Side Story grows younger." | |
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Sinister Switchblade | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_f62b8d00 | comment |
Sinister Switchblade: As was typical of real street gangs at the time, switchblade knives are a standard weapon for both the Jets and the Sharks. Riff and Bernardo both use switchblades during their fight at the rumble. | |
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Have a Gay Old Time | |
| West Side Story (1961) / int_fa6bfde9 | comment |
Have a Gay Old Time: "I feel pretty and witty and gay", for the time period of the film. This was near the end of the time when one could use "gay" in its original sense. There's also the line in 'Cool' about "if you've got a rocket in your pocket", which meant Hot-Blooded in the 1960s, but not anymore. | |
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West Side Story (1961) |
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