West Side Story (1961 film version) out in Central Massachusetts last Thursday night:
Just this past Thursday, I had the good fortune to see yet another screening of my all time favorite film, West Side Story, at a small movie theatre out in Maynard, MA, called the Fine Arts Theatre Place, which had recently been renovated after having gone to seed years ago. Like many, if not most other movie theatres in our general area and elsewhere, the Fine Arts Theatre place had long been converted into three smaller theatres, from the single movie theatre that it had been.
After picking up my car, which I'd had serviced that morning, I left Boston and began the drive out to Maynard, MA, for the screening of West Side Story, which was playing as part of their monthly "Throwback Thursdays" program. It was in the smallest of the three movie theatres, which had 134 seatings. I had bought my ticket online beforehand. After battling the beginning of afternoon rush-hour traffic west and northbound out of the city, I arrived at the movie theatre. There was a considerable amount of traffic on the westbound side of the Mass Turnpike, and on both the north and southbound sides of Route 128, but it was not yet at the point where there were long standstills in the traffic. When I finally swung West onto Route 117, however, it was well worth the drive, since it's very pretty and scenic at this time of year. It was a pretty drive. Using the Waze GPS really helped, as well.
Since I got there quite early (The film started at 7:30 p. m.), I decided to walk around the town and finally got a bite to eat at one of the small restaurants in the downtown section of Maynard. After doing a bit more walking around town, I went into the movie theatre and waited for the movie to begin. Maynard, MA has always been an economically depressed, but somewhat quaint little town. Since Maynard is near Sudbury, I remember being a student at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and going to see movies at the Fine Arts Theatre Place on a number of occasions, even after having graduated from high school. It was not uncommon to meet up with at least one or two kids that I went to school with. It was a small world!
At around the time I went in, a number of other moviegoers bought tickets for the West Side Story screening, and roughly half the movie theatre was filled, which was a good crowd. It was on a considerably smaller screen, but there was an absolutely pristine print of West Side Story, with an equally pristine soundtrack to it. Digital, but so what? There's an advantage to having digital film and projection; it makes it possible for great films like West Side Story to be shown a bit more often than it might ordinarily would be shown. The Jets and Sharks and their girls looked way rougher and tougher. We all enjoyed the movie. I saw with several women who lived in the general area of Maynard, but didn't live in the town itself. We all had a great time seeing West Side Story, smiling or laughing out loud at the funny or exuberant parts, and even tearing up at the sadder parts, or being on the edge of our seats right before, during, and after the Rumble.
We all agreed that, no matter who tried to re-make West Side Story, that there was no way that it could or would be as good as the original 1961 film version, if it were re-made by anybody, including Steven Spielberg. I have posted a separate post on here on why I feel that West Side Story, as a classic, should NOT be touched and remade, so I won't post any of the reasons on here. I'm happy I'm going to see this same great film of West Side Story next month; two shows--one for each day, on an even bigger screen than the one I saw it on at Maynard's Fine Arts Theatre Place. When I arrived in downtown Maynard, the Fine Arts Theatre Place was totally unrecognizable to me; four years ago, it underwent a badly-needed, real renovation, both inside and out, because it had really gone to seed. It's still a cute theatre. I would not want to set up roots in a town such as Maynard, however, because it's way too far out on the frontier for my liking, plus it's sort of empty and eerie at night, but I just went for a special reason; to see my all time favorite movie, and I'm glad I did.