ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Today I saw Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story on HBO (courtesy of Free Preview week). I didn't know what to expect.

I was delighted that Leonard Bernstein's incredible score was re-recorded note-for-note, and (as always) it is spectacular.

Furthermore, one thing about the original which has always kept me from enjoying it as much as I wanted to is the first scene of the rough, tough street gang — the Jets — strolling down the street . . . and suddenly making dance moves like a ballet troop!

One minute they're a dangerous New York street gang, and the next they're members of the New York Ballet!

However, I compared the YouTube clips of the opening scenes from the two movies, and I discovered that in the 1963 version it was only the initial scene of the Jets who made the moves I didn't care for. But when the Sharks showed up, their dancing was more of the jazz variety, and it looks great!


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Unfortunately, Spielberg's version tried to "macho up" the whole segment by having much less dancing and more much "realistic gang violence".

In other words, Spielberg "threw out the baby with the bath water" and gave us a much less appealing sequence.

Compare the two versions below. Please note the clip from 2021 version is crudely edited, and the quick breaks are obvious and jarring.

____ West Side Story (2021) | The Opening Scene


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____ West Side Story (1963) - Official Full Number


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When I got to the famous "Everything's Free in America" number I found that it, too, was inferior to the original. Robert Wise's direction, along with the choreography itself, really shines in the 1963 version!

_____________ West Side Story 2021 - America


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_____________ West Side Story 1963 - America


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However, I'm happy to say that the "Dear Officer Krupke" number was brilliantly done in the 2021 version, an actual improvement over the original — which was actually quite good, too. Unfortunately I couldn't find a clip of the 2021 version so that guys could compare if to the 1963 version.

I also couldn't find a clip the "Cool" song in the 2021 version — which is unfortunate, because the remake worked a miracle with that one!

In the 1961 version, that sequence is embarrassingly dated and overly long, and it includes the entire membership of the Jets, plus a few of their girlfriends.

The teenagers sing overly "hip" lyrics (nobody really talked that way back in '61). It's supposed to reflect how distraught they are at the death of both Riff and Bernardo, but for some reason it all comes off as artificial and melodramatic.

Demonstrations of intense grief shouldn't be portrayed by a big production number with synchronized dancing, along with overacting and a song with archaic lyrics . . .

However, in the 2021 version, the song is relocated in the story so that it occurs at a point before the rumble!

In addition to this, it's performed by only six members of the Jets, and the song deals with a struggle over a revolver which Riff has purchased for the upcoming rumble. Tony playfully takes it away from Riff because he knows it will cause a tragic situation.

Then he and Riff struggle over the gun. But the struggle is skillfully presented with a combination of well choreographed dance moves and actual fight moves, and it only involves the two teenagers. Tony grins and sings the song playfully in an effort to calm Riff down and prevent him from getting the gun.

Furthermore, instead of being staged in an indoor parking garage (as the 1961 version was), this dance/fight takes place on a dilapidated bridge with ragged holes in the wooden surface. The two boys leap around-and-over the holes as Riff pursues Tony — all of which adds real tension to the scene.

Here's the 1961 version . . . my least favorite part of the original film, partly because of phony-sounding "teen talk".

___________ West Side Story - Cool (1961) HD


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I was also impressed by the montage scene in the 2021 version which showed the two gangs arming themselves with some truly lethal weapons. It convinces us that — gun or no gun — some of these kids will be maimed or dead when the battle is over!

This proves to be true, of course.

But unlike the 1961 version, Tony doesn't refuse to fight Bernardo after being taunted and slapped around. In fact, Tony rebels against the insults, and the two boys fight savagely until Tony looses control for a moment and pounds on the fallen Puerto Rican's face until he beats him senseless!

This was a powerful moment, because it shows us why Tony has struggled to change his basic nature and turn his back on the violent past which caused him to spend a year in jail for almost killing a teenager he'd fought with!

This aspect of Tony' character was not in the 1961 version, and it adds depth to young boy.

Another major change in the remake is the fact that the song called I Feel Pretty comes before the rumble in the 1961 version, but it comes immediately after it in the 2021 version!

This is very odd, because in the 1961 version, the song I Feel Pretty in the bridal shop where Maria works is followed by a wonderful scene in which Tony shows up, and the happy couple act out an imaginary wedding ceremony.

It's the most romantic moment in the entire movie!

And yet, for some reason that scene was omitted in Spielberg's remake! Tragically, in his version the happy moment presented by the song I Feel Pretty is immediately followed by Maria learning that during the rumble, Tony murdered her brother, Bernardo!

However, this important change does have some merit.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Steven Spielberg re-imagined the song itself so successfully that film critic Mike Shutt wrote an article about it for the website called Collider, praising him for basic "fixing" it!

Mr. Shutt pointed out that Stephen Sondheim (who wrote the song) actually hated his own lyrics simply because the snappy, clever rhymes were totally out of character for Marie, an immigrant who was not proficient in English.

Spielberg cleverly dealt with this anomaly by having Marie and her friends be employed as cleaning women in a Gimbel's department store — instead of seamstresses in the New York garment district. In the 1961 film, Maria's sudden optimism seemed unrealistic among the humble surroundings of her work place.

_________ [size=24]West Side Story (1961) "I Feel Pretty"


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Conversely, the bright surrounds and the expensive merchandise on display in Gimbel's gives Marie and her friends an elegant place to perform the song, one that perfectly suited the cheerful lyrics which expressed the hopes and dreams Maria's love for Tony had inspired!

I regret the fact that the clip below is not the full scene, because it's a wonderful musical number, as good as anything from the Golden Age of musicals.

_________ West Side Story | I feel pretty scenes


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The tragic climax is just as effective in the new version as in the original. If you get a chance to watch Spielberg's remake, remember that it has it's strengths and its weaknesses — but it's certainly well worth watching.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)