With one epic musical directed by Robert Wise under my belt, I turned my attention to another.
West Side Story, with songs by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, adapted for the screen from a classic stage musical, inspired by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, winner of ten Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, #2 of AFI’s list of the greatest musicals of all time… and, sadly, a major disappointment.
This is a case of a movie that simply hasn’t aged very well.
Partly it’s the brownface makeup the white (and even Hispanic) actors wore to portray Puerto Rican gang members, and the thick accents actors like Natalie Wood employed. Throw in the corny “daddy-o” slang and the supposedly tough gang members prancing through city streets like unicorns, and it’s just hard to take anything here seriously.
Lead actors Wood and Richard Beymer form a black hole at the center of the film, a place where charisma and genuine emotion go to die. The film’s one true spark comes in the form of Rita Moreno’s Anita. Moreno won a Supporting Actress Academy Award for her work, becoming the first Hispanic woman to win an acting Oscar.
To its credit, West Side Story does feature some excellent songs. ‘Something’s Coming,’ ‘Tonight,’ ‘Maria,’ ‘America,’ ‘I Feel Pretty’ and ‘Somewhere’ are all deserved classics. But these are songs I’d just as soon hear on an album, because their presentation in the film is uninspired.
One exception is today’s SOTD, ‘America,’ which gives Moreno an opportunity to shine. She will appear in Steven Spielberg’s remake (in a different role). I hope she’s not the only good thing about that version.
Puerto Rico
My heart’s devotion
Let it sink back in the ocean
Always the hurricanes blowing
Always the population growing
And the money owing
And the sunlight streaming
And the natives steaming
I like the island Manhattan
Smoke on your pipe
And put that in!
[GIRLS]
I like to be in America
Okay by me in America
Everything free in America
[BERNARDO]
For a small fee in America
[ANITA]
Buying on credit is so nice
[BERNARDO]
One look at us and they charge twice
[ROSALIA]
I have my own washing machine
[INDIO]
What will you have though to keep clean?
[ANITA]
Skyscrapers bloom in America
[ROSALIA]
Cadillacs zoom in America
[TERESITA]
Industry boom in America
[BOYS]
Twelve in a room in America
[ANITA]
Lots of new housing with more space
[BERNARDO]
Lots of doors slamming in our face
[ANITA]
I’ll get a terrace apartment
[BERNARDO]
Better get rid of your accent
[ANITA]
Life can be bright in America
[BOYS]
If you can fight in America
[GIRLS]
Life is all right in America
[BOYS]
If you’re all white in America
[GIRLS]
Here you are free and you have pride
[BOYS]
Long as you stay on your own side
[GIRLS]
Free to be anything you choose
[BOYS]
Free to wait tables and shine shoes
[BERNARDO]
Everywhere grime in America
Organized crime in America
Terrible time in America
[ANITA]
You forget I’m in America
[BERNARDO]
I think I’ll go back to San Juan
[ANITA]
I know a boat you can get on (Bye Bye!)
[BERNARDO]
Everyone there will give big cheer!
[ANITA]
Everyone there will have moved here
Meet Me In Montauk 
I haven’t seen this movie since I was a child, but I remember it fondly. At its core, you have a classic story with great music. I suspect Spielberg will remedy the elements that bothered you, and I look forward to that reimagining of a 20th century musical with a 21st century sensibility.
I saw this movie so many years ago. I was a big fan of Natalie Wood so I remember liking it because she was the star. It’s not one of my favorite musicals as far as the songs but I would be interested to see the Spielberg version With Broadway shut down it’s hard to know how the new version will fare.
I agree with your assessment of the central couple, as well as your love of Moreno and the songs. Can’t wait to see what Spielberg brings to the telling of this tale.
When you put it that way I can see how you’re right about this movie but insipid and ridiculous as it was, I sheepishly admit to loving it a lot for many years. I remember my favorite professor, Dr. Robinson at UF, saying that the first shot of place as the dominant force predicts the tragic end as the people are unable to rise above their dominant circumstances. Something like that. Anyway I found that interesting. I sobbed like a loon at the ending even though it was maudlin and heavy-handed. I clearly have poor taste.
Don’t be so hard on yourself, Andie. The film did win Best Picture and is ranked among the top musicals of all time.