Classical tales of forbidden romance. Great stuff.
You guys should see the marathon I did for this one. It's called When Society Fails On Love. You can check it out here on my blog.
http://mbmb14.blogspot.com/2015/05/when-society-fails-on-true-love.html
West Side Story is just epic.
West Side Story, imho, is far superior to the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet.
shareI will say that my favorite version of Romeo & Juliet IS the 1968 version. IT is far superior to the 1996 version with Leonardo DiCaprio.
shareIt depends on what you're in the mood for.
Romeo and Juliet (68) has the poetry of Shakespeare's language (which is generally quite well delivered), some pretty decent rapier - main gauche fight choreography (whereas West Side Story's fights tend more toward dance; nothing wrong with that, it's just different), and a certain youthful approach to instant passion that can never quite be replicated by somewhat older lead actors.
West Side Story has the music and the dance, more interesting camera work, and a few stand-out (to the point of scene stealing) supporting performances. Also a large extra dose of social commentary.
Personally, I'll re-watch West Side Story more often, but they're both quite good.
This piqued my interest since these are two of my favorite movies of all time; both are easily in the top ten. Probably because I've always been drawn to stories about forbidden love. Romeo & Juliet are the original star-crossed lovers. In terms of film adaptations of R&J, the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli version is the best - it includes the authentic Shakespearian dialogue, but it's more concerned with capturing the passion of the characters than capturing every passage or soliloquy from the original text. It also helps that the two leads were close to the actual ages of R&J.
West Side Story is an updated version of the classic story set in New York, and it's a musical to boot (I love musicals, especially from the 1960s). It's hard to say which is better since they're both fine films in their own right. I guess it really just boils down to personal taste. I've watched both more times than I can count.
"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart" - Finnick Odair