Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Even in its day, West Side Story had a befuddling list of problems, but in addition, this once great film has not withstood the test of time, to the point that it is at times downright laughable to modern audiences.

The musical was cast with leading characters, Natalie Wood as Maria and Richard Beymer as Tony, neither of whom is a singer or dancer. Although the dubbing is pretty good, the film goes to great lengths to hide the dancing shortfalls of both of them.

What about the supporting cast? No doubt, there were plenty of aspiring Puerto Rican (or at least Latino) actors in 1961, but most of the Puerto Rican roles are played by non-Latinos. It's inexcusable that the role of Maria was not played by a Latina. In fact, Rita Moreno, who plays Anita, would have done a far superior job than Wood, who continually muffs her accent and brings no real passion to the role. Moreno's fiery performance won the Oscar for best supporting actress, while Wood was left out in the cold by Oscar.

Street gangs that do nothing worse than dance and occasionally take a basketball away from little kids, only to hand it back seconds later, don't create much of a sense of menace. To top it off, they hang out in a candy store and agonize over the idea they might have to use knives in a rumble with the rival gang. Guns are so far off the page, they're never even mentioned. It's a Leave it to Beaver version of Boyz N the Hood.

Maybe the dancing was state of the art in 1961, although I doubt it, but you can see more accomplished dancers and more interesting choreography in almost any good music video. And you can see a far more menacing balletic gang confrontation in Michael Jackson's Beat It.

West Side Story is a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette. The one thing that makes the deaths at the end of Shakespeare's play plausible and acceptable to the audience is the certainty that Romeo's and Juliette's attraction to each other is powerful beyond all reason, and Shakespeare's words leave no doubt about that. On the other hand, there's never any real chemistry between Tony and Maria. Their initial attraction must be signaled by slow motion and spotlighting, and their courship is so chaste that they seem more like brother and sister than lovers. Their duets are supposed to "prove" their relationship, and although pretty, they never achieve the passion that drove Romeo and Juliette to distraction and doom. When Tony agrees at Maria's behest to go stop the rumble, it's difficult for me to understand his motivation. I find myself asking "why would I risk my life, or even a punch in the face, for her?" For Juliette, I would have walked into the jaws of hell.

The best thing about this film is the Leonard Bernstein score, much of which, I fear, is a bit too schmaltzy. At least half of the songs are instantly recognizable today, and a few have become elevator music: Tonight, Maria, I Feel Pretty. Many of Bernstein's melodies are quite beautiful, but the numbers I like the most are the jazzier gang songs like When Your a Jet and especially the after the rumble adrenaline charged "Boy, boy, crazy boy: stay cool boy."

You'll probably find yourself laughing a lot at things that weren't supposed to be funny when the film was made. My favorite occurs when Tony, already smitten, ventures into the alley between two apartment buildings in the Puerto Rican barrio, and trying to conceal himself, softly calls out "Maria" to the dozens of open windows. It just doesn't get any better than that.


Recommended: No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12