West Side Story -- Spielberg Edition

[Mark Lensenmayer]

I went to see a real movie. At a theater, even. The movie was WEST SIDE STORY and it was seen at the Lennox 24 Phoenix Theater (formerly AMC) in the Laser Imax room. 1 other couple and ourselves made up the audience (The room seats 443.)

The movie is half good and half not so good. The singing and dancing are excellent, reminding of the original choreography but extending it and making it more modern. The songs are intact from the original, even using most of the original orchestrations. The biggest change has RIta Moreno singing SOMEWHERE, instead of Tony and Maria. Actors are very good, and have good voices. The one actor who really stood out was Ariana DeBose as Anita.

Not so good was the new dialogue from Tony Kushner. It is flat and often laughable. The end of the story drags terribly, and when there is no singing and dancing going on, the movie seems very flat.

There are some odd points in the direction. Parts of the movie reminded me of SOUTH PACIFIC, with some strange colored lighting on Tony. This was an IMAX presentation, and the movie seemed to have a very soft image, near out of focus at times. Trailers were sharp as could be, so I'm guessing the softness is in the source. There was also a lot of grain in some of the scenes. (Credits claim the movie was shot in 35mm).

So, to Steven Spielberg, I say "Nice Try" but that is all. Rated 2.5 out of 5. Recommended only for fans of Musicals. Don't see this making much money.

[Frank Angel]

OK, I know I would be coming into seeing this with some bias and probably some tendency to unfair comparisons, but let's face it,l Spielberg knew this was going to be the case as well. I mean who has seen the original and in 70mm Roadshow engagements isn't going to make those comparisons....ESPECIALLY if, I me, you loved the original? I still think I can be fairly objective enough to say it was not as strong as the original and it had some gratuitous violence that I didn't think was necessary. I mean, if you are making a fantasy and can accept thugs breaking into ballet and song in the middle of the slums of NYC, then there is no reason that necessitates suddenly switching to hyper-real graphic violence. The beautifully simple effect of a light shining off the switchblade in rubble and the motion going into a stacatto frame rate/so motion was all that was needed in the original to convey the violence, not punch after punch after punch and punch....etc. ,

I agree with Mark, the choreography was updated a bit to look more modern, some of the more ballet-like moves were cut back. The dialogue did get to seem just lines to get to the music, but thankfully some of the silly and forced "jive" words like Daddy-o were eliminated. Where Mark gives this half good and half not so good, I say maybe 1/3rd good and 2/3rds not so good. I felt the orchestration wasnot nearly as full and robust as the original film score, and 1) it had no intermission or entr'acte music. The fact that it was letterboxed throughout in this Regal theatre I saw it in -- although not the fault of the filmmakers -- certainly didn't help the feeling that this was just any other movie...nothing special about it at all. I missed the magnificent medley of all the songs for the end credits as in the original, with the camera panning over street signs and graffiti to cover the music and with name repeated more than once just for the timing. Somehow whereas the original had the feel of an EVENT film with Roadshow treatment, this film started like any other with the Fox logo recorded at such an anemic level that I thought if this is what I am going to be listening to throughout, I am going to get up and look for a manager. Luckily the sound of the film itself was louder but certainily not where I knew it should have been. In short, it seemed like any other "it will be gone from theatres and on video in the blink of an eye" movie; just another common film of little consequence that you'll get like the hundreds of thousand others, for '"free" with your subscription to any number of streaming services.

I disagree with Mark about Ariana DeBose -- while she certainly is so slouch in the role and perfectly watchable, I've seen Rita Moreano's Anita, and she's no Rita Moreno! I was happy to see Ms. Moreno used in a new role as homage to her electrifying performance in the original for which she took home that Oscar. Thank you Mr. Speilberg for that!

Let's say just a bit about the finale -- that big, powerful and emotional sequence that ends the 1961 version, here, sad to say is pretty much a total mess -- an unfocused, much weaker ending that seem not to know what the tragedy is where as the 1961 version was laser focused to the point where no matter how many times I've run it over the years, there were always a number of people leaving the theatre in tears. This ending had no such power. In fact, it seemed like Spielberg was consciously trying to do everything that could be done NOT to duplicating the original either in shot for shot or overall emotion content. The original was so tight and emotionally focused that any tampering would certainly diminish that scene, and here, sad to say, it does, and badly. In my opinion the ending sequence is a failure. Leaving Doc's wife Valencia (Rita Moreno) standing there with Bernardo in hand in that final shot totally distracts from the impact of the scene because it leaves the audience focused on them and not the procession led out of the park by Maria which should be the only emotion at that moment before the final fade-out. Also speaking of Maria, in my mind, NO ONE can touch Natalie Wood as Maria, yes, there was no dubbing in this new version (or at least so they claim now -- we may hear differently 5 years down the road when truth leaks out). And yes, Marnie Nixion dubbed Ms. Wood's vocals...who cares?! No one also cares when stunt doubles do actor's stunts -- as long as the illusion is maintained, that is all that matters -- you know...it's a MOVIE..

Lastly, there are a few more groups of friends and family who want to see this remake, so I probably will go see it again -- how can you not love that Bernstein score? (Oh sweet Lenny...how New York misses you!)

2/5 - Overall
3/5 - Singing
3/5 - Orchestral score mix
Regal Presentation - 1/5 (letterboxed)