West Side Story 1961

The Film:
     
The poster calls it "The Most Acclaimed Musical of all Time". There have been a lot of acclaimed musicals since, on stage and screen, so maybe it isn't that any more. However, it is still the one that has won the most Oscars (take that Gigi!) and it is still one of my personal favourites - both on stage and screen, but just as much (maybe even more so) as one of the greatest pieces of American music ever written.

Leonard Bernstein did a re-recording of the whole score in the mid 80s with Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras and there was a documentary shown on BBC2. My Dad recorded it (Deo Gratias!) and twelve-year-old me watched it over and over and became quite obsessed with the whole thing. (It's on Youtube, and worth checking out!) I don't think I'd seen the film before then - but I've certainly watched it several times since. It's one of my favourites and I've been looking forward to us getting here so I can watch it again, after several years.

Andy, on the other hand, is quite ambivalent about the whole thing. He's seen a few dodgy live versions (all scaffolding and screeching) and is not that keen on the slower numbers in the soundtrack (I blame The Pet Shop Boys for that!). I am hoping that the film will win him round......

The Ceremony:

Santa Monica, April 9th 1962, Bob Hope again.

Nothing else particularly memorable to report, except for a stage invasion from a New York cabbie called Stan Berman who slipped through security and went on stage to present Bob Hope with his own homemade Oscar!

The ceremonies are noticeably starting to get longer at this point, with this year's broadcast reaching the 2 hour mark - clocking in at 2 hours 10 minutes. (By comparison, 2017 was 3 hours 49 minutes - and the record is 4 hours 16 minutes in 2000)


Other Notable Winners That Night:

George and Rita with their Directors

Most of the awards went to West Side Story. The two notable exceptions were Best Actor (Maximilian Schell for Judgement at Nuremberg) and Best Actress (Sophia Loren for a non-English speaking part in Two Women). Making the acting winners as multi-cultural as they ever have been - Swiss/Austrian, Italian, Greek/American and Puerto Rican!

George and Rita were not favourites to win, and their awards were seen as big upsets at the time - particularly Rita beating Judy Garland. Poor Judy - lost her first Oscar to someone playing a serious role, then got nominated for a serious role and lost out to a musical performance.

As with Ben Hur two years earlier, the only thing West Side Story was nominated for that it didn't win was the Screenplay award - which went to the other film that had 11 nominations, Judgement At Nuremberg.

Best Song:

Nothing from West Side Story - because none of it was originally written for the film. So that's one Oscar they missed out on (that otherwise would have put them level with Ben Hur and co). The good news is that this left the way open for one of the loveliest songs in a film ever - Moon River from Breakfast At Tiffany's. This is another example (like Que Sera a few years back) of a song having a really important and well constructed part to play in an otherwise non-musical film. It's also actually Audrey singing here (more on that in a few years' time) and her voice suits the song and acts the part perfectly.

The Unsung Singers:

Jimmy Bryant

As with all our musical winners from the "golden age" of musicals, not everything is quite as it seems. As a film West Side Story is stunning and superb in so many ways - but it is written for talented and highly skilled singers, who can also act (both comedy and drama) and can dance (with the possible exception of Tony, who can get away with just moping about a bit instead). Basically, you need at least three (and preferably five) triple-threats in there.

(Indulge me here, dubbing of musicals is a bit of pet subject of mine!)

However, a big movie also needs big stars - and they have to look good too. And that's where Richard Beymer (who never did become the mega star that some people were expecting) and Natalie Wood come in. Beymer couldn't manage those songs (not many people can - watch Jose Carreras making a meal out of Something's Coming on the Bernstein recording documentary to see how tough it is!) and they held extensive auditions before casting Jimmy Bryant to do the singing. He has the most beautiful, understated voice and it is very difficult to see the join - he sounds exactly as you'd imagine Beymer to sound.

The great Marni Nixon!

With Natalie Wood it was trickier, as she believed she was up to the singing, so they let her record everything. They suggested that maybe someone would come in to touch up a few of the high notes but, in the end, the legendary Marni Nixon did the lot. Nixon is the undisputed queen of dubbing - she had an amazing ability to act like the person she was dubbing for when she sang, meaning she could blend so well (spot the join in "Getting To Know You" in The King and I, or in "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" where she does Marilyn's high notes). She's superb in West Side Story - particularly in I Feel Pretty where her voice matches perfectly with everything that Wood is doing in the scene. Brilliant!

There's even a bit of Betty Wand in West Side Story - ultimate triple-threat Rita Moreno didn't have the lower range needed for Anita (a contralto part) in A Boy Like That. Betty Wand came in to sing it with Marni. It doesn't show that it's not the same voice as sang America!


What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Iconic Audrey

Obviously I am of the opinion that the right film won! The other nominees were Fanny (Leslie and Maurice again, being French, naturellement!), The Hustler, The Guns of Navarone and Judgement at Nuremberg. The last of these was the other biggie in terms of nominations. I rather like The Hustler (for shallow reasons as well as slightly deeper ones....).

I think, besides West Side Story, my favourite film that year would have to be Breakfast At Tiffany's. It wasn't nominated for Best Picture (how did it lose that place to Fanny???) but did win two Oscars for Henry Mancini and a nomination for Audrey Hepburn. It's become a classic and is still watched today - despite the awful yellow-face disaster of Mickey Rooney and the straightening of Fredbaby. It's a lovely film.

Our Verdict:

"Hi-de-hi Jets!" "Hi-de-hi Riff!"

 This film isn't perfect and the story has dated slightly over the years (sometimes in unintentional ways - I entirely blame Croft and Perry for the nagging thought throughout that the Jets worked for Joe Maplin....) but the music and the dancing is as fresh as ever and it's still a great piece of film making.

I find it difficult to be objective when watching West Side Story because I have seen it so many times (including live theatre) and I know the music very well and love it. However, it was good to watch it with Andy who hadn't seen the film and wasn't too sure about some of the music. He gave it a positive review!

Dancing Sharks!

The story itself is simple - it's basically Romeo and Juliet on the streets of New York with Jets and Sharks as Montagues and Capulets. The Sharks are Puerto Rican immigrants, which lends itself to some interesting and socially relevant (certainly in the 50s, unfortunately still today) themes of discrimination, identity, racial violence etc. The film doesn't shy away from any of this. Some of the language used in the songs is softened up a bit for a film audience, but there is still a lot of grit and power in the way the characters are played. And there is no getting away from the fact that this is a musical where two of the five main characters are stabbed to death and another one is shot. (Maria escapes the fate of Juliet....just about!)

The music itself is superb - written by one of the greatest composers of the 20th Century, Leonard Bernstein. It's one of those musicals that could be argued to be closer to opera than most of what we class as a musical. I have a sort of sliding scale in my head that starts with Carmen (musical or opera?) and then Porgy and Bess - with Les Mis and West Side Story not far behind. The lyrics are early Sondheim (please don't ask me to place him on the musicals/opera scale - his stuff is often something else entirely). The whole thing just sounds so full and rich and exciting. And that comes across in the film.

Convincingly channelling Jimmy and Marni

This is also a musical where the tough guys dance. A lot. Sometimes whilst fighting at the same time. This is great! One of the many things that Gigi had wrong with it was that nobody danced. West Side Story puts that right! The Jets get the chance to show off several times, there's a scene where they are at an actual dance (doing mambos, among other things), there's a comedy performance dance (Gee Officer Krupke - a welcome bit of light relief, with satire still relevant to modern day social work!) and my favourite of all - the Sharks and their girls with the call and answer of America. It is a truly wonderful thing!

To modern tastes, the downside is that Tony and Maria aren't singing for themselves (see above). These days, the general rule is that if you're in it, you sing it (even Pierce Brosnan, unfortunately!). Richard and Natalie weren't hired for their singing ability!

Senorita Moreno - finally getting to play a Puerto Rican!

For me, the biggest upside of the film is Rita Moreno. She is superb throughout and I'm glad she won the Oscar (with apologies to all Judy lovers out there - although most of the Judy fans I know love Rita as well!). She plays a role that needs to be dark and dramatic, strong and brash but also wise and vulnerable (the scene in the cafe where the Jets sexually harass her is superbly played) - and she needs to bring a sassy comedic tone to some of her earlier scenes. Often whilst singing and dancing. There's a reason why she's an EGOT - and why she's still out there on Netflix aged 86 playing a bold Latina abuela and making us laugh out loud!

It's a great film. It's still one of the best Film Musicals (and still the one that won the most Oscars) and I'm going to have a hard time in a couple of weeks deciding whether I prefer this to The Sound of Music....both musicals, both fab, both very different. For now though, it's all about the Mambo!