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Van Sant's Psycho...Spielberg's West Side Story?

posted 5 years ago by ecarle (14979)
17 replies | jump to latest

With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman and (above all?) Joker successfully launched as good-to-great mainstream movies in 2019 (with Parasite and JoJo Rabbit and a few others covering the "indie/foreign" side of the street)....

...look what's sneaking into view with a December 18 debut:

Spielberg's West Side Story.

And...has much of ANY buzz attached to it? Has anybody SEEN it? I've gotten wind of no advance reviews. To my knowledge, there have been no film festival showings (as with OAITH and The Irishman) that gave us "advance notice."

Its just ...hiding. Even "Cats" has had more advance notice.

Thoughts:

ONE: West Side Story(1961) is perhaps the biggest classic this side of Psycho(1960) to get a full-on remake. Should we be outraged?

TWO: But wait...BROADWAY stages "revivals" of classic old musicals all the time: we've had "new" versions of Oklahoma and South Pacific and Damn Yankees and...well, I'm pretty sure that West Side Story has had a re-do or two. So all that Spielberg is REALLY doing is "Broadway revival on film."

THREE: But yet....movies are DIFFERENT than stage productions, they are seen by millions (at the time) and live on(as West Side Story has; as Psycho has) in their original, perfected form.

FOUR: There were calls to boycott Van Sant's Psycho in 1998. I didn't; I saw it the first night it came out. I figured: "Its been made, I couldn't stop that...I'd like to see what they do with it." But still...the movie pretty much flopped in and out of theaters in a few weeks, no big money earned. Still: was this a boycott that worked? Or simply that the "shocks" of Psycho 1960 were no longer very shocking and took WAY too long to arrive. WSS was a huge hit in 1961, and got a re-release or two( the tag line for one of them was "unlike other movie musicals, West Side Story gets younger.") But is it too much the "period piece" now -- gang members die in it , but in rather quaint and romantic ways. Will that play in 2019?

FIVE: Within bounds, the original West Side Story had one bona fide movie star in it: Natalie Wood. She wasn't terribly big at the time; and I think her OTHER big launch("Splendor in the Grass") came out the same year, but she had been in movies like "Cash McCall" with James Garner making a name for herself as a young star. And she was in The Searchers before that(as a teen star) and Miracle on 34th Street before that(as a child star.) West Side Story has no such star -- just the guy from Easy Driver. Plus the original had big star-making, Oscar-winning performances from Rita Moreno and George Chakiris. I hear no such buzz now(though Moreno returns in a sex-flipped version of Doc, the Ned Glass role.)

SIX: Spielberg. Quite a history, quite a name to reckon with...but not in awhile. Not that I think it bothers him -- and his "press" probably lies ahead on WSS, but Scorsese sure is getting all the ink this late fall, HIS movie has stars and meaning and up-to-the-minute relevance(Netflix = movies?.) It will be interesting to see if Spielberg pulls things out of his hat.

SEVEN: The original WSS won Best Picture, two acting Oscars and what...7 or 8 more? Big winner. One of the biggest in terms of how many Oscars it won. I doubt that is going to repeat. (Though musicals used to have a leg up in the score and art direction categories, sometimes song.)

All that said, I suppose Spielberg's WSS MIGHT pull the rabbit out of the hat. A new cast of unknowns (maybe a star among them); undeniable classic songs(though: how relevant in 2019?) that Baby Driver guy WAS pretty good in that movie. ...eh, I dunno.

But honestly..I hear no buzz. Nada. Spielberg's West Side Story isn't turning up on any "Best Movies of the 2010's" lists that I can see.

We shall see.

PS. Simon Oakland, the controversial psychiatrist of Psycho in 1960, was the non-controversial cop of West Side Story in 1961. Robert Forster tackled Oakland's Psycho role for Van Sant; comes now Corey Stoll in Oakland's WSS role for Spielberg.

[–] swanstep (2715) 5 years ago

But honestly..I hear no buzz. Nada.

That's because, notwithstanding its wrapping shooting in NYC six weeks ago, Spielberg's WSS's release date is still a year away: Dec 18, *2020*.

There *is*, however, a new Broadway production of WSS opening in previews on Dec 10 *2019*. It has new choreography by the splendid modern dance choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, e.g., here's some of the piece that made her name back in the '90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCTbCcSxis
De Keersmaeker's so good and accessible that Beyonce completely ripped that signature piece off for one of *her* best videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XY3AvVgDns
Here's a split-screen comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj5Kp38Oz04

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

But honestly..I hear no buzz. Nada.
That's because, notwithstanding its wrapping shooting in NYC six weeks ago, Spielberg's WSS's release date is still a year away: Dec 18, *2020*.

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In the immortal words of Gilda Radner's Emily Litella on SNL back when it was funny: "Never mind."

Or in the words of Homer Simpson: "D'oh!"

Ok, I'm a little embarrassed over here, but mainly I'm laughing.

And "angry": "Heh, Spielberg...what's with dropping promos for a movie ain't even comin' out for year yet! Wastin' your time and our attention!"

Yes, the modern way: blame someone else.

All this said, I trust my questions and comments above will still be relevant in one year when Spielberg's WSS story comes out(and it IS relevant to Van Sant's Psycho.)

There *is*, however, a new Broadway production of WSS opening in previews on Dec 10 *2019*. It has new choreography by the splendid modern dance choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, e.g., here's some of the piece that made her name back in the '90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCTbCcSxis
De Keersmaeker's so good and accessible that Beyonce completely ripped that signature piece off for one of *her* best videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XY3AvVgDns
Here's a split-screen comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj5Kp38Oz04

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

There *is*, however, a new Broadway production of WSS opening in previews on Dec 10 *2019*.

---

Aha. Perhaps Spielberg wanted to "ride its coattails this year" and I rest my case about Broadway revivals.

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It has new choreography by the splendid modern dance choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, e.g., here's some of the piece that made her name back in the '90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQCTbCcSxis
De Keersmaeker's so good and accessible that Beyonce completely ripped that signature piece off for one of *her* best videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XY3AvVgDns
Here's a split-screen comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj5Kp38Oz04

---

I'll take a look. Thank you, swanstep.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

And a few more observations on West Side Story 1961 and ties to Hitchcock:

ONE: Simon Oakland. 'nuff said.

TWO: Credits by Saul Bass. 'nuff said.

THREE:

In North by Northwest, when Roger O. Thornhill is kidnapped at the beginning , he points out to his kidnappers that he has theater tickets that very evening for "the Winter Garden" theater.

"In the know" researchers tell us, in 1958 and first-half 1959(when the fictional NXNW might have taken place)..Roger and his mother were going to see: West Side Story.

FOUR: The screenplay(original) for NXNW was written by Ernest Lehman. The screenplay(adapted) for West Side Story was written by Ernest Lehman...perhaps for some of the "New York" ambiance OF NXNW, and Sweet Smell of Success. But then I think Lehman also adapted another musical The King and I. Note in passing: Ernest Lehman was far more of an established big star screenwriter than Joe "Psycho" Stefano...Lehman negoatiated Hollywood's pecking order into writing AND producing some big hits(The Sound of Music, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf) and some big flops(Hello Dolly and Portnoy's Complaint -- the latter of which Lehman directed, his only such job.) After all that, Lehman ends up as a writer again -- on Family Plot. And Black Sunday.

AND THIS:

Of all the musical numbers in West Side Story, my favorite is the rousing male/female group fandango dance and singing duel "America." Its exciting, thunderous and it sounds a great deal like the opening Bernard Herrmann fandango that launches North by Northwest. They are "peas in a pod" -- and "America" is very relevant to today in its comparison of racial equality in ...America.

[–] Doghouse (447) 5 years ago

...and:

Ned Glass - Suspicious ticket agent in NXNW, Doc in WSS

When Spielberg's WSS was first announced, my reaction was one I imagine was shared by many: "Umm...why?" There were two things favoring a "hope for the best" (as opposed to an "expect the worst") outcome. First is the sacrosanct nature of the material: you don't f--- around with Bernstein and Robbins. Second is Spielberg's reverence for cinematic heritage. Still, there's much that could go wrong.

Your raising the topic got me curious, and I started nosing around to see what I could find. Most of what I came across was fan-type video from locations, including this tantalizing snippet of "America:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xGIhp1aQI

Look at that: real choreography! Most of what passes for it today, if bits that I catch from music video or concert performances are any indication, appears to be cross-pollination of vogueing, kick boxing and inept Martha Graham aping. I revere show dancers, and great ensemble work is often enough to actually bring tears of appreciation to my eyes, and I got an encouraging twinge of that from this half-minute sample.

But, uh-oh, a red flag: a steadicam operator being guided right through the center of the ensemble. Many a dance sequence has been diminished by distracting editing and cinematography, and by the time of films like Flashdance and Stayin' Alive, to the point where those aspects themselves became the choreography.

Granted, apprehension based on so little seems alarmist. So, in the interest of "hope for the best" optimism, I'll try to suppress "expect the worst" pessimism occasioned by too many latter day singers who can't, dancers who don't and directors who dazzle more than depict, and look forward to opening up to the experience a year-plus hence.

[–] Doghouse (447) 5 years ago

Another Hitchcock connection:

Arthur Laurents - WSS book, Rope screenplay.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Another Hitchcock connection:

Arthur Laurents - WSS book, Rope screenplay.

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Yes! I forgot.

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Ned Glass - Suspicious ticket agent in NXNW, Doc in WSS

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Yes! I forgot. Though truly , NXNW seemed to have every familiar character bit player in Hollywood in its huge cast(the guys having drinks with Roger; Ed Platt, the judge and the doctor at Glen Cove; the various cops in the film, the auctioneers, etc.)

A few years after NXNW, Ned Glass got a much larger supporting part opposite Grant in "Charade"(Glass was one of a threesome of baddies that also included James Coburn and George Kennedy.) I do like seeing Ned Glass as Cary Grant's "companion" across Grant's two greatest thrillers(all due respect to the artful Notorious and the sleek To Catch a Thief.)

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When Spielberg's WSS was first announced, my reaction was one I imagine was shared by many: "Umm...why?"

--

Umm.."why?" was the big question that led off a lot of reviews of Van Sant's Psycho...and an interview with Janet Leigh.

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There were two things favoring a "hope for the best" (as opposed to an "expect the worst") outcome.

---

First is the sacrosanct nature of the material: you don't f--- around with Bernstein and Robbins.

--

I hear that Spielberg has dropped one key song. I don't know which one. You prove below that it ISN'T America, thank god.

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Second is Spielberg's reverence for cinematic heritage.

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Well, I DID like how Van Sant made Psycho as close to the original as he could. Meanwhile, Jonathan Demme TWICE wrecked the originals by totally re-writing(having his writers re-write) Charade and The Manchurian Candidate.

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Still, there's much that could go wrong.

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Possibly. I really think what's waiting in a dire way -- just like with Psycho from 1960 -- is that West Side Story is very much a movie OF 1961. Its from back there with JFK and Castro and Hitchcock and Elvis and Duke Wayne.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9xGIhp1aQI

Look at that: real choreography! Most of what passes for it today, if bits that I catch from music video or concert performances are any indication, appears to be cross-pollination of vogueing, kick boxing and inept Martha Graham aping. I revere show dancers, and great ensemble work is often enough to actually bring tears of appreciation to my eyes, and I got an encouraging twinge of that from this half-minute sample.

--

Yes, and the MUSIC! You could hear it being played via "playback"(yes?) and its near the end when the fandango reaches its most thunderous and exciting climax. Brings it all back for me though -- I went and looked at the same dance from the 1961 original and it seemed -- more colorful? (Also the original is staged on a "fake" rooftop whereas this new one looks more "realistic" on street level.) Still, you can't beat that number and the dancers look pretty good(if more "real" than in the original.)

---

But, uh-oh, a red flag: a steadicam operator being guided right through the center of the ensemble.

---

Oh no. Look at the original, big static wide screen captures of movement. I guess SS is going for "realism" here.

--

Many a dance sequence has been diminished by distracting editing and cinematography, and by the time of films like Flashdance and Stayin' Alive, to the point where those aspects themselves became the choreography.

--

Yep.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Granted, apprehension based on so little seems alarmist. So, in the interest of "hope for the best" optimism, I'll try to suppress "expect the worst" pessimism occasioned by too many latter day singers who can't, dancers who don't and directors who dazzle more than depict, and look forward to opening up to the experience a year-plus hence.

---

Well the key is...its Spielberg. I'm intrigued. For decades now, he has gone on and on about how Lawrence of Arabia (from 1962) is his favorite, and you can see some of its sweep in the Raiders movies.

But...he never told us about his love for West Side Story. Van Sant had the same love(as I do) for Psycho...and yet the love seemed poisoned in the execution.

I honestly don't know what to make of Steven Spielberg in movie history. Rather like with "Woody Allen and his early, funny movies"(ending with Annie Hall, pretty much), Spielberg made his name from Duel through Jaws through Close Encounters through Raiders through ET (less The Sugarland Express and 1941, lesser works) and peaked in 1982. And yet, of course...no he didn't. But the classics became more intermittent: Schindler's List and Jurassic Park(in the same year!)...Saving Private Ryan.

Since the year 2000, I can't say that Spielberg has dominated the cinema. He's made a series of "yes, but" works that are good but not great. I can't think of a classic or an Oscar winner beyond DDL's great work as "Lincoln." (I'm sure that further review of SS's 21st century filmography will prove me wrong.)

And he's made some bad ones: 1941, Always, Hook, The Terminal,two of the four Indy Jones movies(yes, I count Temple of Doom.) I don't recall Hitchcock striking out like that until he got very old and tired, and HIS late works are still interesting to me.

Meanwhile DreamWorks makes Spielberg rich, through Transformers movies and TV series as much as anything.

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

There has been a "Stanley Kramer" aspect to Spielberg's work in recent years, a kind of good liberal earnestness. I am thinking of "The Post" with Streep and Hanks rather as two national monuments telling the Watergate tale(quite dully, I thought), and perhaps Lincoln and Bridge of Spies(my favorite of his works in the last decade, also with an earnest Hanks.)

It is this "Stanley Kramer" aspect of SS that MAY be part of the reason for another "West Side Story." At the heart of the film(as in "America") is the issue of immigration to America; though the film had a pretty damn dark view of the outcome. Maybe Spielberg's looking to offer this cautionary tale one more time.

Meanwhile, back at "Favorite Fandangos" at the movies.

i sure wish I could make some links, because if I could, I'd line up:

ONE: The opening titles of North by Northwest, and IMHO, "the most exciting first 30 seconds in any movie" once you add in Leo the Lion roaring against a green background at the beginning.

TWO: "America" from West Side Story(1961)

THREE: The opening credits of ..Stanley Kramer's!...Ship of Fools(1965) starting with our view of the Columbia Lady (In some musical notes, this practically plagiarizes "America"; then retreats to a romantic "bridge" and then goes back to "America".)

FOUR: The opening credits(starting with our view of the Columbia Lady) of "The Professionals"(1966.)

Want to guarantee exhilarating excitement in a film viewer's soul? Put fandango music over your credits or in a big number("America.")

PS. Speaking of the "era" of the original West Side Story, my parents loved the Jack Benny TV show in the early sixties, so I watched it with them. He WAS funny with his deadpan slow burn and neurosis. Anyway, he had Natalie Wood on to promote WSS, and he starts asking her -- with overdone exasperation:

"Natalie...now tell me....this fellow is shot dead at your feet and you START SINGING? SINGING!! He's DEAD, and all you're doing is standing there. SINGING?!

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Meanwhile:

I went over to the 1961 West Side Story page at IMdb, and in my general readings, I find that many changes were made from the play to the movie(when songs are placed, who sings to who.) Moreover a lot of lines were changed from the play to the movie, to fit 1961 censorship.

So...Spielberg MIGHT be inclined to restore "the stage version" as a way of "fixing" the censorship that afflicted WSS in '61.

Van Sant did this with his Psycho remake by adding back in Cassidy's line about Vegas as a playground beaten by bed; and by adding the shot of a naked Marion falling to her death in the shower, as seen from above.

Also, it looks pretty clear that Spielberg has cast an actual Latino/Hispanic actress as Maria, thus avoiding the issues of having to "disguise" Natalie Wood in make-up and accent in the original.

Fair enough I say -- but I also say, if a genuine Latino/Hispanic actor had been cast as Calvera in The Magnificent Seven(1960) we would have lost Eli Wallach's great performance.

[–] swanstep (2715) 5 years ago

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

I wonder whether Spielberg will be inclined to expand on the politics of Puerto Rico & other Carribean territories of the US. There's been a lot of chat recently about Puerto Rico becoming a state, & How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr was a sensation this year. Spielberg has Tony Kushner to do the screenplay & surely he's interested in such matters.

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Kushner's involvement -- wasn't he on "Lincoln" too? -- would suggest more historical depth with this new version, that's for sure.

(BTW, I just found this post of yours, swanstep. I'm late.)

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Note too that WSS has not always been so beloved by Puerto Ricans themselves.

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Hmm...I did not know that. The casting of Wood? Too stereotypical characters?

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Finally, it wasn't just that Wood was 'browned up' she also had to be dubbed and wasn't much of a dancer. Beymer too was dubbed & wasn't a stand-out dancer. WSS 1961 has the weird status of being the most Oscar-revered musical of all time but also has two of the most grumbled over leads of all time: the supports won Oscars, the leads rightly didn't even get nom'd!

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I never thought of THAT, and its true, isn't it? All the "heat" went to Moreno and Chakiris.

And the swarthy Chakiris didn't last long.

In "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," Leo's Rick Dalton says that he was up for The Great Escape not only against Steve McQueen, but against "the three Georges": Peppard, Maharis, and Chakiris. Except George Chakiris NEVER would have been considered for the lead in The Great Escape(too "ethnic") nor George Maharis(he never got traction as a movie star.) George Peppard, maybe.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Interestingly the dud leads *did* allow more room for acclaim to fall on Bernstein & Sondheim, Robbins & Wise which is appropriate.

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Well, West Side Story is one of those movies where the "play is the thing," and the music. Russ Tamblyn's in it, too -- and HE didn't last long. (Though he can be found in QT's "Django" alongside daughter Amber.) Only Wood had a real star career, but it collapsed in the 70's and she died young in the 80's. Rita Moreno is the long distance star from this film(and will be in the new one.)

BTW, I often liked to throw out my idea that "without Psycho on his resume, Anthony Perkins would have faded away like Richard Beymer," and I still like that. Both men were young and handsome and rather pretty and delicate, and Beymer DID fade away, but Perkins - with that shocking horror man role as his claim to immortality -- became someone entirely different as a screen personality. And yet: Perkins(unlike Lugosi, Karloff, and Price) stayed AWAY from horror roles for decades.

[–] swanstep (2715) 5 years ago

Note too that WSS has not always been so beloved by Puerto Ricans themselves.
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Hmm...I did not know that. The casting of Wood? Too stereotypical characters?

It's complicated but I think that WSS being for decades almost the *sole* representation of Puerto Rico & PRicans wore thin. PR is, after all, depicted as a a terrible place, something to be to be escaped from at almost any cost, and PRicans in NY are shown as volatile & violent. Slate had a podcast about these mixed feelings (transcript is available):
https://slate.com/podcasts/studio-360-with-kurt-andersen/2019/11/new-york-icons-west-side-story

[–] swanstep (2715) 5 years ago

The 'radically reworked' Howe/De Keersmaeker Broadway production of WSS has now opened after months of previews. The reviews both from critics and theater-goers are pretty mixed over basics, e.g. 1. the show uses large screens extensively with as many as 25 cameras capturing live feeds from both on- & off-stage to augment pre-recorded material.
e.g. 2. the show runs under two hours with no intermission & no room for fripperies such as Second Act starter 'I feel pretty'. Overall tone is intense & not fun. Bernstein's music has been rearranged & quantized in ways that lose the funk, the tricky time signatures and poly-rhythms - *this* sounds unforgivable to me!

Here are a couple of links:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/west-side-story-theater-1280016
(Free. Good photos)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/theater/west-side-story-review-sharks-vs-jets-vs-video.html
(The big one. Great comments. NYTimes gives you 1 free article per month. To get that freebee again, clear cookies for the Times in your browser.)

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

the show runs under two hours with no intermission & no room for fripperies such as Second Act starter 'I feel pretty'. Overall tone is intense & not fun. Bernstein's music has been rearranged & quantized in ways that lose the funk, the tricky time signatures and poly-rhythms - *this* sounds unforgivable to me!

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The elimination of "I Feel Pretty" strikes me as key to the enterprise: the romance is out? The grit is in?

It does strike me as interesting that this NYC Broadway production is here early in 2020...will it enhance the desire for the Spielberg version in late 2020...or detract from it? Granted, only tourists and New Yorkers will see this version -- the movies were invented to take the story to US -- but still, I wonder how Steve feels about this

I'm also reminded -- on topic -- that Universal was approached over the years to turn Psycho into a musical for Broadway. I suppose the disparate successes of Rocky Horror, Sweeney Todd, and Phantom of the Opera were inspirations but...Psycho is a much more small and sparse thing, small cast(hence, no "big numbers")...I can't see it.

Meanwhile...as I don't anticipate a trip to NYC or the money for a big play this year...I guess I'll wait for the Spielberg. Hah.