In 2019 I blogged my 50 favourite musicals and WEST SIDE STORY was #8, largely due to the unshakeable memories of this film which won 10 Academy Awards - the only nomination it lost was for Ernest Lehman's screenplay, unsurprising as it's the weakest element.
Tony and Maria's love across sectarian divides in Manhattan actually only lasts two days but thanks to director Robert Wise and choreographer Jerome Robbins they give Shakespeare a run for his money.
Robbins was hired to direct and choreograph his first film but Wise was signed to co-direct to give him support with the dramatic scenes; but perfectionist Robbins pushed the filming into delays so he was removed but not before filming the iconic PROLOGUE, AMERICA, I FEEL PRETTY and COOL.
Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer don't have the best screen chemistry but Rita Moreno, George Chakiris and Russ Tamblyn's performances still defy the years.
Shelf or charity shop? Leaping and twirling along the shelf. It's pure musical cinema but filming wasn't easy: Richard Beymer soon discovered that Natalie Wood disliked him for some unknown reason and this reflects in their on-screen partnership; Wood's contract included that she would record her vocals - and she mimed to them while filming - but ultimately it was decided her voice was too thin and they were replaced by ghost-singer Marni Nixon. Beymer was dubbed by singer Jimmy Bryant throughout, Russ Tamblyn's vocal for the THE JET SONG was dubbed by Tucker Smith who ironically plays his deputy Ice and who sings COOL, while Rita Moreno was dubbed by singer Betty Wand in A BOY LIKE THAT as she could not not manage the range. In an even more bizarre twist, Betty Wand was meant to sing Moreno's last note in the QUINTET but she and Moreno both had a cold that day so Marni Nixon was brought back in after dubbing Wood's vocals - in essence harmonizing with herself! Composer Leonard Bernstein criticized the orchestrations for the large studio orchestra as "overbearing" but did help Marni Nixon when she realised that her contract did not include getting paid for her vocals on the soundtrack album; Bernstein signed over a percentage of his profits to her - not bad as it became the best-selling album of the 1960s in America. The sense of sharing extended to Robert Wise insisting on Jerome Robbins being billed as co-director despite him beng fired from the project. The only person happy it seems was lyricist Stephen Sondheim who finally got his wish in having the comic song GEE OFFICER KRUPKE moved to before the Rumble; in the stage version it had come after the murderous fight where he argued it made no dramatic sense - he still hated his lyrics for I FEEL PRETTY however! But despite all this... the glory endures.
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