So great on so many fronts. Singing, dancing, originality, humour, sadness...anything less than 8.5 is a disgrace.
BTW...how is it that Russ Tamblyn was not in more movies? He was awesome in this.
"Paging George Kaplan..."
I agree, it's a beautiful movie.
I have been enjoying it for forty years now, and one thing I've noticed in recent years is that quite a number of movies don't stand up to earlier opinions I've had. 'West Side Story' is one that easily impresses my as much as it did way back when, partly for different reasons.
You're right on the money, jackjom. Most of the older classic films, even the ones that I've liked well enough to see more than once, seem to be a little bit frayed around the edges, despite still being enjoyable, but West Side Story has aged the most gracefully of all, at least in part because of the very story behind it, if one gets the drift.
shareSolid 9.
One thing I think that downgrades it nowadays: it is -always- introduced to kids now as a Romeo/Juliet knockoff. Which annoys me deeply. I -wish- they would let kids watch and judge it on its own. The moment kids hear 'based on Shakespeare' it immediately colours their perspective.
It is true, however, that West Side Story is based on Romeo & Juliet. I wonder if that could be explained to kids in a way that is more subtle, so that they won't be so turned off by it.
shareNot possible.
The moment you mention 'Shakespeare'... I don't care what technique you use... it automatically colours their expectations. It's the same anytime you do -any- setup for -any- work of art. It's like giving kids a sandwich and telling them BEFORE they take a bite that "it's got broccoli in it.. but you'll like it!". Game over, dude.
My point is this: it's completely unnecessary to do a setup. Why explain it if you don't have to? Just let 'em watch it and THEN do the whole Shakespeare talk if you feel the need to 'broaden their minds'. Why do 50 year old adults always feel the necessity to explain to kids 'THE WONDERS OF CULTURE!'?
Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement... Listen, kid, we're all in it together.
I don't think the problem is saying that West Side Story is based on Shakespeare. (Telling them something about it taking place against the backdrop of a street gang war would also set up problematic false expectations.)
I think that the problem is how kids are introduced to Shakespeare. They're plays. They're not meant to be read. They're meant to be seen enacted. Most kids wouldn't be too thrilled with modern movies either, if they were allowed only to read the scripts.
When you see Shakespeare's plays performed well, the bits of unfamiliar language aren't much of a problem. When you can see what the characters are doing and hear the intonation of their line delivery, the meaning is clear even if you don't catch some words or understand the reference of some metaphors. *After* the kids have the connection of having seen the story and understanding the relationships and actions, *then* you can go back through the script with them to explain some of the archaic language and less-well-known-than-they-used-to-be metaphorical references.
In my high school, all freshman English classes had "Romeo and Juliet" on the syllabus. I was lucky that during my freshman year of high school a local second run movie theater was showing the 1968 Zeffirelli movie version of Romeo and Juliet. So the high school's entire freshman class got loaded onto buses one day for a matinee showing field trip. It really did help engage a much higher percentage of those 9th graders with that play. When I took the Shakespeare semester as one of my junior / senior elective English classes (after the 9th & 10th grade standard English classes that everybody took, my school had a bunch of different optional one semester English classes of which you had to take at least 2), we saw on videotape in class a couple of the plays that we read (I remember a "Shakespeare in the Park" production of "King Lear" starring James Earl Jones). Those, too, helped make the plays feel more immediately accessible.
Russ Tamblyn was also in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", and at least one or two other movies (one of which was a Western.), the names of which escape at the moment.
Russ Tamblyn should've also gotten an Academy Award. He was excellent as Riff. He had the looks and the personality for the role of Riff, as well.