I feel it may be sacrilegious to admit that I didn’t care for West Side Story, but, uh, I didn’t. Like God might smite me or something. My mom loves the film though. Maybe I should’ve made her write this blog. (If only she knew what a blog was…)
The dancing and choreography were top notch, kiddos, OK? I won’t deny that these “thugs” can shake it. They frolic around as if they’re floating on air and held up by wires (which I bet if this movie was remade nowadays, it’d be supported by wire work. Or maybe the first-ever CGI Musical! I’ll take “Bad movie ideas” for $500, Alex.)
What was I saying? YEAH – dudes can PRANCE.
I didn’t connect with anything else. The music was entirely unappealing to me. The love story is completely ripped off from Romeo and Juliet (and many of the characters are even counterparts to specific R&J characters). I’m not a huge Natalie Wood fan (She didn’t even SING in the film! It’s a musical. Did. Not. Sing.) I’m not a huge Richard Beymer fan either.
Rita Moreno was a little firecracker though! Moreno played Maria’s closest gal-pal Anita (and also Bernado’s lady). Not only was this little sexpot super saucy, but she was a scene stealer, too! She added a lot of appeal to a 2.5 hour film that I was desperately struggling with.
Also, for being a bunch of gangsters, these guys were pretty sissy, man. I don’t know many gang members, but I can almost guarantee that they rarely break out in song. JUST SAYIN’.
(Oscar fun fact: West Side Story has won more Academy Awards than any other musical film, unless you count the Honorary Award given to Maurice Chevalier for Gigi in 1959. Then, the two films would tie at 10 wins each.)
Oh, Oscar fans, Epic Film Quest followers, Musical geeks – this one let me down in a major way. Or maybe it was I that let it down. Either way, it just wasn’t my cup o’ Earl Grey.
i am going to see this film and All the King´s men soon, I just rented them from the library. I would assume that I will like this since I usually like musicals at least a little, but it does not seem that interesting. But you did not grade this!
But it annoys me that I have still not seen all the Best Picture winners, I tried to watch them before Oscars last year. Probably I will not have seen them all for a while. There are some films I can not rent anywhere and I do not feel like buying them so I have not had the energy to watch the rest. But I try to see a couple now that I have some time.
For some reason I still do not get new post notifications from email, so I have not been visiting for a while (I have been busy as well).
That’s the thing – I do love musicals! I loved The Broadway Melody, Sound of Music, Chicago…and of course the Buffy musical and Dr. Horrible! So I don’t shun musicals, by any means – it’s just this one I didn’t care for. But it’s worth a viewing for the choreography alone!
I didn’t rate it because I am the minority on this one! This movie won an INSANE amount of awards, and just because I didn’t care for it doesn’t mean it lacks any merit whatsoever. You may love it, who knows!
If you ever have questions as to where I track movies down, just ask! Netflix is great, both instant and the DVD service. I also get a lot from my local library. Maybe your library would have a State-wide catalog you can search through!
How many films do you have left? I’m also going WAY slower than I originally planned. It’s tough though – I’m a big TV fan, and I weave these Best Pics in between TV, New Releases, and other movies in my queues…I need to up my game.
Lastly, I always post new posts on my Facebook page and Twitter. The links are on the homepage!