West Side Story (1961)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Jerome Robbins
Robert Wise

Escritores:

Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
Arthur Laurents (book)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

23 diciembre 1961 (Japan)

Género:

Musical | Romance | Drama

Frase comercial:

"BEST PICTURE!" Winner of 10 Academy Awards! - 1961 (post-Oscar)

Plot:

Musical about two youngsters from rival NYC gangs who fall in love.

Plot Keywords:

Love | New York City | Street Gang | Tragedy | Puerto Rican

Premios:

Won 10 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 6 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

An Uncompromisingly Great film

Reparto

Natalie Wood	...	Maria
Richard Beymer	...	Tony
Russ Tamblyn	...	Riff
Rita Moreno	...	Anita
George Chakiris	...	Bernardo
Simon Oakland	...	Schrank
Ned Glass	...	Doc
William Bramley	...	Krupke
Tucker Smith	...	Ice
Tony Mordente	...	Action
David Winters	...	A-rab
Eliot Feld	...	Baby John
Bert Michaels	...	Snowboy
David Bean	...	Tiger
Robert Banas	...	Joyboy

También conocida como:

Amor sin barreras (Argentina) [es]
West Side Story (Spain) [es]

Duración:

152 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés | Español

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

2.20 : 1

Sonido:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Clasificación:

USA:Approved (certificate #19949) | West Germany:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Netherlands:MG6 | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 (re-rating) (1970) | Sweden:15 (original rating) | Ireland:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Peru:PT | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986)

Locaciones de Filmación:

10th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Compañía:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivialidades:

"West Side Story" played for almost two years on stage in New York, racking up a total of 732 performances.

Errores:

Continuidad: After the war council, Schrank says that he rebuked the Jets the same day. That means that all events before the war council were on that day too. The dance started at 10 PM, and that leaves very little time for America, the balcony scene and the war council.

Citas:

[first lines]
[the Jets dance across the streets of New York, eventually coming to a playground where they toss around a basketball. The ball is intercepted by Bernardo, leader of the Sharks]
Riff: [snaps fingers at Bernardo] Come on.
[Bernardo drops the ball, Riff picks it up]
Riff: Beat it.

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in Maré, Nossa História de Amor (2007)

Banda de Sonido:

Intermission

An Uncompromisingly Great film

Although I think I've seen just about every musical there is from the forties to the seventies, I'd never seen West Side Story until last night. An amazing omission on my part, as having seen it, I just think it's simply wonderful.

I bought the DVD "on spec" in a CD/DVD exchange store in Sydney for $10. I've had it in my hand a couple of times before but have always put it back on the shelf. This time I went through with the purchase and am now wondering what could have come over me, not buying it before.

Those here who have said you really need to watch it on the Big Screen are absolutely right. In my case I watched it using a video projector throwing the image, big, bright and beautiful, onto a 12 foot screen. The photography used the wide screen format uncompromisingly. There was no caution here to frame the action for possible television cropping, or even much consideration given to a 2.35:1 "Cinemascope" presentation. Super Panavision's aspect ratio is not as wide as Cinemascope's 2.35:1, and every square inch of screen space was used for one or another important element of composition.

Bernstein's music is a tour de force. Having watched On The Town only a few days back, it was interesting to contrast the two musicals. On The town is, of course, 15 years or so older than West side Story, but a comparison between the two scores is chalk and cheese. You could tell that Bernstein was holding himself back in On The Town. It wasn't his project. The numbers were almost self-censored. But West side Story was his baby, and it shows.

The sheer brilliance of the music, the enchanting daring of it, its raucous atonality coupled with sweetness of melody are awesomely impressive, as show-stopper after show-stopper is thrown onto the screen to continually up the amazement quotient, time after time.

I played West Side Story loud, very loud. The surround sound knocked my socks off from the opening aerial ambiance of Manhattan streets to the orchestrations themselves. I remember Bernstein in the documentary about the concert version of West Side Story saying, aside to the camera, after "Cool, Boy" was recorded, "You know, this is pretty good..." One of the great understatements, even if coming from the music's creator.

See this film. Play it loud. Watch it on a big screen if you can. If you do you may, like I did, sit there thrilled, swinging your head from one side of the Super Panavision screen to the other, trying to take in the overwhelming avalanche coming at your eyes, your ears and your heart. It was an almost perfect transfer from film to DVD: color, sharpness, depth.

It's been a long while since I've watched a film with a silly grin on my face right through, sometimes gasping at the sheer knock-out brilliance of what film-making can be at its best. West Side Story was one of those times.