On the wall at the top of our staircase in Wales West Side Story.
I first saw the film itself 47 years ago this month, when I was 18 and had not long left school. I was working for a couple of months in a rather run-down café near the local bus station, earning the money for my fare to Hamburg Palladium
The following Saturday I went to the afternoon show and nearly 3 hours later left the cinema not quite the same person. As I came out onto the pavement it seemed as though everything was the same, yet not the same, as though I was seeing it all through different eyes. It was my first experience of the transformative power of film and I’ve never forgotten how it felt.
Being such a wide and voracious reader I already knew that books could change the way one looks at the world, but film had always seemed too slight and ephemeral to have the same effect. That was probably due to the kind of films a teenager normally went to see in those days, but it meant that I simply wasn’t prepared for the effect this particular film had on me.
The combination of music and dance, of drama, pathos and (sometimes savage) humour totally enthralled me and it is still one of my very favourite films. Add to that the way it deals with some really big and difficult subjects such as immigration and discrimination, poverty and gang warfare and the fact that it was filmed on location among the crumbling slums of New York's West Side, just before they were demolished, and you may begin to understand its hold on me.
I’ve seen it several times since that first viewing - in German with my penfriend in Hamburg, in French when I spent some weeks working as an au pair in Bourges and more than once again in English. Each time it has worked its magic and I probably know all the songs off by heart. In case you don’t, here are two which highlight the differences in background and experience between the two groups of young people who clash so tragically in this modern reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet.
One of my very top favorites also Perpetua! I believe I was around 12 or 13 when it first came out here in the U.S. As young kids we used to role play the two gangs in the streets and knew the words to every single song. Seems like I was in love with Riff, played by Russ Tamblyn. My first true crush!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the chance to see this Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the film (not least the marvellous music by the inimitable Leonard Bernstein.
I also saw the West End musical and if anything thought the dancing better than the film.
So long ago now, but seeing the two clips brought it back clearly.
The end had me in buckets of tears I seem to remember.
Note to self. Must learn how to download music.
I have a friend your age, Perpetua, who was a teenaged classically trained ballet student about to take up a place at White Lodge when she saw WSS in the West End, like Ray was lucky enough to do, about four years before the film version came out. It utterly transformed her life, in that she immediately and very bravely insisted to her parents and the Royal Ballet that she didn't any longer want to train in classical ballet - modern dance had her totally hooked.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it was nigh-on impossible to get funding to train in modern dance in the UK in the early sixties, so she studied drama at uni instead, but years later her daughter (who learnt to dance with my daughter, which is how her mother and I met) is a now a professional dancer and choreographer in a modern dance company.
Am I right in thinking the lyricist was Sondheim as well as music by Bernstein? The fairy godmother was at the side of the cradle, for sure!
Glad to find others who think this is a wonderful film, Rubye. I was 15 when it came out in 1961, but only really got to know the music 2 years later because my German penfriend played it when I stayed with her and wanted me to explain the lyrics. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt seems to have dropped off the list as far as TV showings in the UK are concerned, which is such a shame.
Glad you enjoyed revisiting it, Ray. I do envy you having seen the West End production as it was highly acclaimed. I've only seen the film so can't compare. The music is wonderful and carries the story so well. Like you I cried at the end every time I saw it.
ReplyDeletePS If you send me your email via the contact me button on the blog, I have a handy set of instructions for downloading clips from YouTube.
Hi Baby Sis. Thanks so much for that inspiring account of your friend's Damascus road experience at WSS. It must have taken real courage and conviction go turn down such an opportunity and take a different path.It's sad that she wan't able to follow it through herself but lovely that her goal has instead been achieved by her daughter.
ReplyDeleteThe lyricist was indeed Sondheim and he was only in his mid-20s when he wrote the lyrics for WSS. Such wit so young!
I've heard some of the music...but have never seen it!
ReplyDeleteClearly I've been missing something.
The America song was always mocked by my father, contrasting hope and reality.
Yes, I think you have, Fly. Like many older musicals it would look dated now, but the points it makes are still very valid.
ReplyDeleteI think the America song is a little essay in mockery itself, as the two groups sing alternately of hope and reality, as you put it. Sondheim's wit could be very sardonic at times.
Dear Perpetua,
ReplyDeleteFor me as for Rubye Jack and you, West Side Story is one of my most favorite films. I so wish that I could have seen the stage show as Ray did. I can't imagine better dancing, so what a thrill that would have been, And I didn't know that Sondheim wrote the lyrics. Thanks for providing the two videos. I need to check this movie out of the library!
Peace.
I'm thrilled to read your enthusiastic recollections of this powerful film. I saw the movie later, since I was just a tad younger when it came out, but my parents allowed me to have the album. It was the music that first captured my attention. I think I still have it. I played it over and over singing the songs and I guess imagining what they represented! Later I saw the play, the movie, and I will still seek it out any time I can. I thought Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno were the most beautiful women! Thank you for such a sweet memory, and what a wonderful poster! And I agree it is a transformative musical! Debra
ReplyDeleteLike most others commenting here, this was also one of my favourite films too. It was pretty daring for it's time...at least my parents seemed to think so!
ReplyDeleteIt's in my top ten too Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteImagine being able to write a score like that,
SP
I saw the file on TV as I was still more less in the pram when it came out but do remember my parents having the record and listening to it as a child.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree, Sondheim is a superb lyricist.
I'm someone else who has always adored the film....and was so pleased when my daughter loved it too...despite its amazing styling, absolutely setting it in a historical context, it has not dated at all. I think I might need to dig out the DVD and give it another watch..... daughter comes home today for an overnight stop.....could be a good night.
ReplyDeleteHello Dee. Glad you enjoyed the post and the clips. I spent quite a while deciding which to include, as YouTube has a good selection. I too would love to have seen the stage show, which has been revived since, but sadly never where I could see it. Enjoy the film when you get it from the library.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it so much, Debra. Though I'm sure I'd have enjoyed the film at 15, I think it had an even bigger impact because I first saw it as an almost-adult at nearly 19. I too have the CD and DVD and know not only the words but the music almost by heart.
ReplyDeleteI must tell you that this is not my poster, as mine was for the Italian language version of the film and I can't find an image of it. I've tried photographing mine, but because it's behind glass it doesn't photograph well. :-(
Absolutely, SP! I couldn't possibly write music, but as an amateur writer I don't think I could ever manage to write lyrics like these either.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the WSS fan club, Ayak! There are a lot of us about. :-) Thinking back, for a mass-appeal film like a musical, it was quite daring for its time, before the huge social revolution of the 1960s changed things so much.
ReplyDeleteYou youngster, you! :-) It must have been fun growing up with the sound-track as you did. I was 17 when I first really discovered the music and words and yes, Sondheim is superb and he was so young when he wrote this.
ReplyDeleteGlad you're another fan, Janice and it's lovely to know that younger people love it too. You're right - I was wrong to say to Fly that it would look dated. Its setting may be in the 50s but the story still is completely topical and the words and music could never date. I hope you have your DVD evening with your daughter.....
ReplyDeleteI remember so well when this film came out -- I think I was 16 and it was a huge huge event. Everyone in our high school had to have a date and it seems to me that we all went on the Friday or Saturday night. I loved the opening sequence -- a birds eye view of New York city was amazing. And I loved 'America' and 'Officer Krupke' especially. The whole production was such a masterful combination of opera and ballet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, Broad. You give such a vivid picture of the immense popularity of the film when it was first released. Obviously it didn't have the quite same impact on this side of the Atlantic.
ReplyDeleteThe opening sequence is fantastic and it was a very brave choice to have something so static and almost abstract at first. "Officer Krupke" is one of my favourites too and it was between that and the Jets song for the post. :-)
You will be pleased to know (I hope!) that this is yet another link between us - and this very day, I was listening an old cassette of this at lunchtime when our player gave up the ghost!
ReplyDeleteIt is truly a masterpiece andthe film is certainly just as potent as a book.
We have a selection of this music in the car for our travels and our children love it too.
I used to play in a symphonic band and it was my greatest pleasure to play highlights from WS Story - I could hardly contain myself from skirt-swishing and whooping when it came to 'America'.
As for Leonard Bernstein - larger than life, outrageous man, so full of energy - I adore his music!
Off to get FR to download an internet version so we can watch it this evening.
As ever, a fantastic post.
Axxx
LOL and thanks, Annie. It's uncanny how these things happen! Yes, it's a masterpiece, but a masterpiece that never seems to be shown on TV nowadays, which I find sad. I do hope FR managed to fend it on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI must introduce the grandsons to it next time they come. Being musical I think they will really appreciate the extraordinary quality of the music and they are old enough to enjoy the funny and touching words. Must check if they've ever played any of it in their band at the Music Centre.
If I'm honest I struggle with musicals, but I have to agree that WSS is one of the very best.
ReplyDeleteAloha Perpetua...
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful memories your post brought back to me. I was a dancer in my youth and, since the American road show used the studio at which I practised for their rehearsals, I got to know many of the cast (mainly the boys heheheh). It was such a great time because everyone knew they were creating something so different, exciting and new. Later when I was with a community theatre company, I danced Anita in their production. It remains my very favorite musical. And of course the DVD is practically a monthly movie night event.
They aren't everyone's cup of tea, Mark. I caught my love of musicals from my father, who took me and my sisters to see several as children, and the love has never left me.
ReplyDeleteAstrid, thanks so much for sharing your memories like this. How fantastic to have been there as the road show was rehearsing and to have danced Anita yourself later. No wonder you love West Side Story so much.
ReplyDeleteI too saw the West End stage production when it first came out, and well remember coming out of the theatre with tears streaming down my face, as were all the other people around me. The stage version is different in a number of respects, and I didn't find the ending as powerful in the film - and they altered the words of some of the songs (notably 'America', which by then I knew by heart!)and the order of things for the film, and that irritated me. But it's a wonderful show, and I have the full score somewhere among my shelves of music. Bernstein was a genius - have you heard any of his other music? Book by A Laurents, lyrics by Sondheim (concept by Jerome Robbins - it says in the score, which I've located!!)
ReplyDeleteI think George Chakiris was my first film star crush, having seen this film with my folks :D
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting, J, and ties in with what I’ve been reading online about the differences between the stage and screen versions. It seems that some of the language (e.g. in ‘Gee, Officer Krupke’) had to be toned down for the film because of the censorship standards of the time. There had also been complaints that the original words of ‘America’ were too belittling to Puerto Ricans and these were changed to emphasise the discrimination and racism they experienced in the US. The rearrangement of musical numbers was done by the director, in order not to break the tension after the Rumble, but wasn’t popular with everyone.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bernstein, yes, a genius, and I love his 'Chichester Psalms'.
Hi Maz and welcome. Yes. George Chakiris was so handsome, real heart-throb looks and my heart duly throbbed. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a long time since I saw this film but I know what you mean about the effect a film can have. I also feel the same about certain stage performances, musicals and plays, but rarely feel moved by anything on TV. Maybe it's the irritating effect of the adverts !!
ReplyDeleteThe down side is that in the same way we feel our lives can be enriched and our thinking changed by a film or play, other people can be inspired to evil deeds perhaps, which is a scary idea but something I have felt for a long time. If my emotions and ambitions can be changed, so can those of people intent on doing harm rather than good.
Jean, I think TV is so all-pervasive in most people’s lives that it’s difficult for it to have the same effect as a one-off such as a film or a book. Having said that I’m old enough to remember the furore caused by ‘Cathy Come Home’ back in the 60s and the good that came from it.
ReplyDeleteThe converse of this is, as you rightly point out, the possibility of people being inspired to do wrong by something seen or read. I can’t see how this can be avoided, especially with the way the internet disseminates information good and bad so very quickly. All we can try to do is mitigate the worst effects.
Oh yes, the film really was an eye opener. I'm not a great one for musicals but this was different.
ReplyDeleteI still have the original LP.
Absolutely, Friko. I think what you say was true for a lot of people not usually keen on musicals. Take care of that LP. It's probably a collector's item.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading this on Valentine's Day, Perpetua, and I've loved every word of it - yours, the music, the script. West Side Story is one of my favorites, and it is one of our daughter, Jennifer's as well. She loves it so much that she named her lovebirds Juan and Maria!
ReplyDeleteI first saw West Side Story as a young teenager. The draw for me was George Chakiris! Growing up in a large Greek family where my cousins were among my best friends, word spread quickly about the cute Greek guy that could dance. We were all smitten. It wasn't until I was a little older that I was more appreciative of the story line and the use of modern dance.
I had the opportunity to hear Rita Moreno speak at a conference some years ago. What a thrill that was, especially as she spoke about this movie.
What a thrill this was for me to read today as I start to catch up on my favorites - like you! Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day.
Aww, West Side Story. That was the first musical I ever went to see when I was a kid in Manchester. Seen a few more since then but West Side Story will never be beaten! Genius!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Penny. Glad you enjoyed the trip down memory lane, especially on Valentin'e Day. I certainly enjoyed writing it and recalling the profound effect the film had on me.
ReplyDeleteI love the glimpse you give here into your Greek family background. No wonder George Chakiris had so many fans. Mind you, they weren’t all Greek, as I thought him the most handsome man I’d ever seen and a great dancer. :-)
Lucky you to have heard Rita Moreno speaking about the film. I thought she was wonderful in it, so talented and beautiful as actress, dancer and singer, and fully deserving the Oscar she won for it.
Hi Julia and welcome. Another member of the West Side Story fan club I see. :-) Being the first you saw, it would set a standard almost impossible for other musicals to reach – at least in my opinion and obviously yours. So much talent in one film.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I love this too, for me the definitive version is the original Broadway soundtrack, which you originally borrowed from the library when I was in my teens (before I'd ever seen the film). I sought out the same recording on CD, much later, and still adore listening to it. Haven't ever played any of it, though: we once did an fiendish Elmer Bernstein [no relation - I checked!] piece at Music Centre, and I suspect that much of WSS is equally challenging.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I’m glad you reminded me about this. I’d completely forgotten borrowing it (probably on LP or cassette before the library fire) and must confess I can’t really remember it after so long. Definitely one for my Amazon wishlist, so that I can compare it with the film soundtrack, of which I know every note. :-) It’s a shame you haven’t yet tried playing any of it, though I’m sure you’re right about its level of difficulty. Perhaps in the future....?
ReplyDelete