Racial prejudice, gang violence and even murder may have seemed like strange bedfellows for the musical genre before West Side Story (1961) hit Broadway. Afterward, audiences would never look at either in quite the same way. This contemporary spin on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in the ghetto was fleshed out on stage by scenarist Arthur Laurents. Coupled with an electric Leonard Bernstein/Jerome Robbins’ score and scintillating choreography, West Side Story became an exuberant showcase for social commentary. Regrettably, the stage show did not garner the respect it deserved. In fact, reviews were mixed. West Side Story was not even nominated for a Tony Award! But in the four years between its Broadway debut and the cinematic experience a strange thing happened. A few of the show's songs were picked up by pop singers and turned into hummable hits on the juke box. The net result was that by the time West Side Story made its way to the screen it was already an instantly recognizable commodity.
After purchasing the rights to produce West Side Story as a film for a then staggering $375,000, the Mirisch Company was taking no chances. In translating from stage to screen co-directors Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and screenwriter Ernest Lehman resisted the urge to ‘open up’ the story. Save the mesmerizing opening overhead shots of New York City and the prologue dance sequence (both shot on the location now occupied by Lincoln Center) the rest of the film was made entirely on back lot sets and soundstages.
Ernest Lehman restructured the narrative and song order considerably in his revised screenplay while producer Saul Chaplin made the executive decision to dub over the singing vocals of virtually everyone in the cast. The producers eventually fired Jerome Robbins mid-way through filming because they felt he had been neglectful in allowing the production to go over budget and over schedule. Hence, Robert Wise completed the last third of the shoot alone.
The story opens with a conflict between rival gangs the Sharks and the Jets on New York’s west side. The Jet’s leader, Riff (Russ Tamblyn) wants a 'war council' to settle their battle over turf rights once and for all, a request that Shark’s leader, Bernardo (George Chakaris) is only too happy to oblige. To garner support for his rumble, Riff decides to look up Tony (Richard Beymer) who has left the gang to work in Doc’s (Ned Glass) Drug Store.
Although Tony refuses to re-enter ‘the life’ of a gang member he does agree to attend the local high school dance in order to exercise his solidarity with the Jets. At the high school gym he meets, and inadvertently falls in love with Bernardo’s sister, Maria (Natalie Wood). Their brief introduction is interrupted by Bernardo’s threats. But Tony can’t help himself. Neither can Maria. They secretly meet under Bernardo’s girlfriend, Anita’s (Rita Moreno) watchful eye. The union, however is doomed when Tony, in an attempt to stop the rumble between the Sharks and Jets, accidentally murders Bernardo after Bernardo has already killed Riff.
Tony returns to Maria and confesses his crime. However, her bitterness does not outweigh her love for him. Sympathetic to Maria, Anita's heart is turned to stone after the Jets taunt and nearly rape her inside Doc's Drug Store. As retaliation Anita tells the Jets to inform Tony that Maria has been murdered by her jealous boyfriend. The message brings Tony out of hiding. He and Maria are briefly reunited in the playground before Tony is shot and killed by an avenging Sharks' gang member.
West Side Story is iconic in every sense. It's Leonard Bernstein score soars, yielding a rich melange of melodic - almost operatic - social commentary that stings as much as it inspires. Robert Wise's direction is brilliantly on point - effortlessly blending together the light fantastic with hard hitting melodrama and coming up a winner on both fronts. Even today, West Side Story's curious union of street violence and musical ballet never seem strained or out of place. Wise is one of a handful of truly great directors from the 20th century.
Although hardly Puerto Rican, Natalie Wood makes the most of her divinely innocent portrayal of Maria. If somewhat stilted, the film is not particularly hindered by Richard Beymer’s wooden interpretation of Tony either. But in retrospect the most exciting bits of casting remain George Chakaris and Rita Moreno. When the two take to the roof tops to stamp out the defiant and controversial ‘America’ their taut atmospheric sexuality is palpable and electric.
Were it only the case with MGM/Fox Home Video's new Blu-ray we would truly have a reason to stand up and cheer. Sadly, a few faux pas prevent West Side Story from attaining brilliance on home video in this latest 50th Anniversary incarnation.
For starters, the opening Saul Bass credits inexplicably fade to black just before we get the title credit that dissolves from Bass' impressionistic lines to the helicopter shot of Manhattan. This is an unforgiveable screw up and one that further suggests the team responsible for mastering Fox/MGM's classic library don't know what they're doing or, for that matter, simply don't care. It would have been so easy for them to pull a reference print off the shelves to see that NO fade out/fade in is present in the original camera negative.
The next glaring mistake involves the overhead shots of New York City. These are plagued by severe edge enhancement and moire patterns, rendering their once breathtaking vantage utterly moot. This sort of artifacting is incomprehensible. The studios have had a long enough gestation period in the art of digital mastering in the home video market place to eliminate ALL edge enhancement issues - PERIOD!
Throughout West Side Story there are many 'optical' SFX shots - artistic dissolves and scene changes that continue to look grainier than the rest of the film stock. These have been ever so slightly tweaked but still look problematic compared to the rest of the video transfer.
Now for the good news. Apart from the aforementioned errors in this transfer, West Side Story has never looked more vibrant on home video. The 1080p scan exhibits a vibrancy and faithfulness to its 70mm colour film stock that is breathtaking. Details in flesh, clothing and background information have a dimensional feel. Occasionally, contrast levels appear slightly bumped up, but if you can wrestle your way through the other problematic issues described herein, there is much to appreciate.
Unfortunately, the soundtrack presents yet another short sightedness on the part of MGM/Fox. The original six track stereo masters were discovered last year and completely restored. But these elements were not used for the mastering of this Blu-ray release. Instead, the studio resorts to giving us a repurposed DTS-HD audio using the same four track elements they employed on their previously issued DVDs. What?!? Yes, sad but true.
Are the results of this repurposing better than on the DVD? Absolutely and without question. Are they the absolute best that they can sound on home video? Arguably, and emphatically, NO! For a 50th Anniversary release one expects more!
MGM/Fox have taken the time to produce two brief featurettes on the cultural impact of West Side Story - cumulatively clocking in at around 40 min. For the rest, extras are all directly imported from the DVD release of a few years back and include 'Memories of West Side Story'. There's also theatrical trailers and a rather ineffectual commentary track to wade through.
MGM also pads out this box set with a CD 'tribute soundtrack' that has tracks from various artists singing some of the songs from the film. Aside: it would have been so much more meaningful if MGM/Fox had given us a remastered CD of the film soundtrack instead! There's also a hard cover booklet that is short on 'making of' info, and glossy reproductions of poster art. Ho-hum!
My advice - wait! MGM/Fox has recently announced that they intend to address at least some of the issues in their Blu-ray mastering and re-release West Side Story at a later - as yet undisclosed - date. I know, with Christmas just around the corner it would have meant so much to have this perennial and immortal movie classic as a stocking stuffer.
But the disc as it currently stands isn't all that impressive. So my advice is to wait and set an example for MGM/Fox. Send the message once and for all that substandard Blu-ray releases of classic movies will NO LONGER be tolerated!
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+
VIDEO/AUDIO
3
EXTRAS
3
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