West Side Story (Full Screen Edition)
by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
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Actor: George Chakiris, Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, Russ TamblynDirector: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Brand: West
Writer: Jerome Robbins
Producer: Robert Wise
Producer: Saul Chaplin
Writer: Arthur Laurents
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Writer: William Shakespeare
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 152 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-10-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of West Side Story (Full Screen Edition)
DVD Review: Classic Musical, and Look Out for Tucker Smith
Summary: 5 Stars
What can I say that already hasn't been said by more eloquent reviewers already about West Side Story the movie? It deviated a bit from the original Broadway musical but the movie here still wack a wallop in terms of Jerome Robbins' groundbreaking choreograpny, Robert Wise's direction, and Leonard Bernstein's music. The movie is presented in widescreen of course, and as it should be, so the entire scope of the amazing and exhiliariting dance numbers can be seen as it was originally intended.
West Side Story traced the rivalry between two gangs, the native born Americans Jets and the Puerto Rican born Sharks. The Jets and Sharks turn out to be more alike than unlike and had the capacity to be friends, yet ethnic differences and the stubborness of both sides eventually leads to the deaths of both gangs' leaders and destroyed a relationship between the sister of the leader of the Sharks and an ex-Jets member which could have unite the two together.
The bonus second disc has a very informative and enlightening documentary on the making of the film, including clips featuring Natalie Wood and Russ Tamblyn's own vocals before they were dubbed in. In fact, Wood's vocals were not that bad, but her voice do quiver when she have to hit the high notes. Russ Tamblyn's original vocals for the Jet Song was also featured on the bonus disc, his voice was alright too, but has to be replaced by Tucker Smith due to contractural reasons.
The piece de resistance of the set is the booklet that came with it. The booklet first have a timeline that traced West Side Story's origins from Broadway smash to cinematic legend. Then the entire screenplay is included, with pictures from the movie inserted at key sequences in the script. The screenplay followed, for the most part, the original Broadway prodcution with the addition of the character Ice (Tucker Smith) and the elimination of Diesel. Ice would went on to assume Diesel's role and also many of Action's lines. After that is a reproduction of the original lobby brochure and finally, newspaper clippings reviewing the movie and of the premiere of the movie (get your magnifying glass out!)
Casting wise, the male Jets are more distinctive in terms of their individuality and characterizations. While their rivalry with the Sharks are based in no small part to racism, they are still likeable....until they assaulted Anita. With the exception of Anybodys, the Jet girls for the most part are undeveloped (pow, poo, ooblee-pooh). This trend is reversed in the Sharks, where the female characters turn out to be more interesting than the guys, with the exception of Bernardo. Despite incorporating the Shark guys in the song "America", most of them remain undistinctive.
While everyone seem to mention the usual suspects: Moreno, Wood, Beymer, Tamblyn, etc, etc, another cast member that also deserved to be mentioned is the late Tucker Smith, who played Ice, the second-in-command of the Jets. The last time I saw "West Side Story" in any form was when I was grade school, which was in the late 70s. Perhaps it is because of the widescreen, and that my sense of perception has matured, watching the movie I found myself constantly drawn to Tucker Smith. This often overlooked dancer/singer/actor, in my humble opinion, steals just about every scene he was in, especially the mambo dance sequence in the gymnasium, where he clearly was the best male dancer in the cast (he can clearly throw his legs much higher and arch his back more than even the "epitome of masculine grace" George Chakiris). He exuded charisma and star quality and certainly danced and looked better than any of the male leads. For whatever reason his career seem to have stalled in Hollywood. Although there were some rumours on why he didn't go on to bigger things but that is a matter to be discussed someplace else.
DVD Review: The Way this is to be
Summary: 5 Stars
Some DVD box sets are complete and utter over blown wastes of money. Like of both How the West Was Won (Ultimate Collector's Edition) and The Searchers (Ultimate Collector's Edition) which were over padded and miscolor films. This film box set isnt that at all.
The normal DVD is in full screen. This collection is in wide screen format and a great digital transfer. The soundtrack is tweaked upward in sound quality.
This multi Oscar winning, musicial adaptation of Romeo and Juliet is a winner. You will see more and more details with every airing of this modern day classic
What amazes me is this film from the early 1960's is still timeless. The second disk has trailers and documentaries on this film.
What also comes in this collection is a film book that reprint the film book that you bought at the theater in the 1960's with a press book that newspaper would have and a history of the film. This book alone is worth the price of this collection for any film fan
Worth the money for any film fan on your list. Its a FIVE STAR hit
Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD
DVD Review: Why Only Four Stars? Read on . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me state up front that I adore this film and, having grown up in New York City, and lived for years on the west side of Manhattan where the film's now iconic opening sequences were shot, I feel a special connection with it.
Groundbreaking in its transfer from the Broadway stage, and in its production values and design, featuring (among other virtues) a matchless score by Leonard Bernstein, brilliant choreography by Jerome Robbins, costumes by Irene Sharaff, and a fantastic supporting cast, the film is a treat for the eye and ear.
And, having said all that. . .the film also has some huge flaws that leave it disappointingly short of the greatness for which it was surely originally destined.
The greatest of these flaws is its two leads, Natalie Wood as the Latina Maria, and Richard Beymer as her Anglo love, Tony. The very beautiful Wood gave it a solid, professional try, and was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, but she was, although only 25, already a bit too glamorous and too much the Hollywood star to persuade as the slum-dwelling, fresh-to-the-world, dewey Maria. Her Spanish accent slips noticeably in several places, and she could not sing; that stalwart of non-singing actresses in the 1950s and 1960s, Marnie Nixon, was brought in to dub Wood's songs, further depriving Wood's performance of the somewhat stronger gestalt it needed. You can see this amply demonstrated in the duet between Maria and Anita, "I Have A Love". Moreno, doing her own singing, totally eclipses Wood, only mouthing hers, in passion and commitment. One is totally in character; the other is striking a pose and comes off pallidly in comparison. Wood had some nice moments, but the performance overall is not as strong as it needed to be.
Wood, of course, got the role because the Mirisch studio wanted a bona fide star, and Carol Lawrence, who created the role of Maria on Broadway, was felt to be neither well-known enough nor gorgeous enough to carry the film - they wanted a Big Star. This is a great shame, for while not the beauty that Wood was, Lawrence was nonetheless very pretty and could sing her own songs - most of all, according to those who saw her in the original Broadway production, she was deeply moving in the role, which is more than can be said of Wood's merely adequate performance.
However, the failure to connect deeply enough with the part was only partly Wood's fault; some portion of her failure must be laid at the feet of the truly abysmal leading man she was given to play to, Richard Beymer. That Wood responded as much as she did to Beymer says something complimentary about her abilities. Many rumors abound about how and why, in a film this important, with this charismatic a leading lady, so lousy an actor was cast in the role of Tony. Neither a particularly good singer, nor particularly good-looking, and without a fraction of Wood's candlepower, Beymer was remarkably weak and looked like an understudy posing with a leading lady - not a single spark of real chemistry was struck. His unsuitability, the lopsided match, undercut Wood, I think, and made it impossible for her to reach full stature in the role. What the producers and directors and Mirisch studio heads were thinking in casting Beymer is beyond this reviewer's comprehension.
It is not surprising that neither Wood nor Beymer obtained an Oscar for their performances (Beymer didn't even get a nomination), while two of the supporting leads, the riveting George Chakiris and Rita Moreno, were not only nominated for, but won Oscars for their roles as Bernardo and Anita. Chakiris's Oscar is particularly noteworthy, for he had been recruited for the role of Bernardo from the London stage production, where he had been playing Bernardo's arch-enemy, Riff (played in the film by the energetic and insouciant Russ Tamblyn). One would never know from Chakiris's intense, bitter, and gorgeously danced performance as Bernardo, that he was fresh from playing his opposite number. Moreno was equally unforgettable as Anita.
The film's other, and less glaring flaw, is its somewhat arch "beat" script, with phrases like "Daddy-O" sprinkled liberally throughout - this has dated the film in an unfortunate way, although its script was never going to be the primary reason to watch this film. And it must be said that the slum environment here is more picturesque than anything else - you can see the difference immediately if you watch a film like "On the Waterfront" with its gritty presentation of the woeful poverty of the New York waterfront. In this sense, West Side Story hasn't held up well.
As I said, even with these exceptions, the film retains a warm and affectionate place in my heart. I was far too young to catch the original Broadway play, but fell quickly under the film's spell later on in life. The supporting cast is brilliant, with the aforementioned Chakiris and Moreno, in particular, pulling out memorable performances on both the dramatic and musical levels. Russ Tamblyn, an acrobat rather than a dancer, holds his own as Riff among the very fine group of trained dancers that Robbins gathered (a feat Tamblyn also pulled off in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, where he was also surrounded by top notch dancers). Eliot Feld, who plays Baby John in the film, went on to found his own successful modern ballet company and is now rather a Grand Old Man of the ballet scene. Many of the dancers in the film were from the Broadway cast.
The gang members glower and dance and sing up a storm - the character actors playing police Lt. Schrank (Simon Oakes), Officer Krupke, and Doc the candy store owner (the wonderful Ned Glass, who makes the most of every moment onscreen) - all serve up a delectable feast of melody, movement, color, and strong characterizations. Steven Sondheim's lyrics have become immortal, and Irene Sharaff's costumes are divine, especially those for the dance at the gym.
As for those big numbers: that amazing opening sequence, the dance at the gym, the rooftop dance by the Sharks, the dance in the garage for the Jets - you'll go a very, very long way to surpass their propulsive, irresistable spirit and beauty. The film is worth your time and money just for those sequences, and for the supporting performances. West Side Story won ten Oscars, including Best Picture.
Thus, for this ex-New Yorker, even with its flaws, West Side Story remains the greatest of the musicals of the post-Rodgers and Hammerstein era.
DVD Review: A CLASSIC MUST HAVE
Summary: 5 Stars
West Side Story (Full Screen Edition)
A great upgrade version to replace your old VHS tape of this classic Broadway (movie version) musical. I like this DVD version of the available ones best because it is FULL SCREEN (great for us that don't have the new BIG screens).
DVD Review: west side story dvd
Summary: 1 Stars
While the video was okay there was a nasty scratching sound in the audio. This was a defective dvd but as the shipping invoice was discarded I couldn't send it back. So I am very disappointed.
Description of West Side Story (Full Screen Edition)
This brilliant (The New Republic) film sets the ageless story of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in 1950s New York. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and scripted by Ernest Lehman, the film combines Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's unforgettable score ( Maria, America, 'somewhere, 'tonight ) with Robbins own exuberant choreography to achieve an exhilarating work of art (Saturday Review). A love affair is fated for tragedy amidst the vicious rivalry of two street gangsthe Jets and the Sharks. When Jets member Tony (RichardBeymer) falls for Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks leader, it's more than these two warring gangs can handle. And as mounting tensions rise, a battle to the death ensues, and innocent blood is shed in a heartbreaking finale.The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, the film stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighborhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colorful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score. --Tom Keogh
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