West Side Story

West Side Story

Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.

  • Released: 2021-12-08
  • Runtime: 156 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
  • Stars: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Rita Moreno, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Corey Stoll, Brian d'Arcy James, Josh Andrés Rivera, Mike Faist, Ana Isabelle, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Maddie Ziegler, Andrea Burns, Kyle Allen, Curtiss Cook, Jamie Harris, iris menas, Sean Harrison Jones, Patrick Higgins, Julius Anthony Rubio, Ricardo Zayas, Sebastian Serra, Carlos Sánchez Falú, Jamila Velazquez, Talia Ryder, Jamiyka Jones, Michael P.J. Marston, Atif Lanier, Cameron Sawyer, Ben Cook, Gabriela Soto, Tanairi Sade Vazquez, Chryssie Whitehead, Eloise Kropp, Michael Ronca, Ilda Mason, iris menas, Tanairi Sade Vazquez, David Aviles Morales, Ricky Ubeda, Andrei Chagas, Adriel Flete, Jacob Guzman, Kelvin Delgado, Yurel Echezarreta, David Guzman, Jess LeProtto, John Michael Fiumara, Kevin Csolak, Kyle Coffman, Harrison Coll, Garett Hawe, Myles Erlick, Julian Elia, Carlos E. Gonzalez, Daniel Patrick Russell, Yesenia Ayala, Gabriela M. Soto, Juliette Feliciano Ortiz, Jeanette Delgado, Maria Alexis Rodriguez, Edriz E. Rosa Pérez, Jennifer Florentino, Melody Martí, Gaby Diaz, Isabella Ward, Leigh-Ann Esty, Lauren Leach, Brittany Pollack, Kellie Drobnick, Skye Mattox, Adriana Pierce, Jonalyn Saxer, Brianna Abruzzo, Halli Toland, Sara Esty, Mike Iveson, Annelise Cepero, Yassmin Alers, Nadia Quinn, Arianna Rosario, Natalie Toro, María Alejandra Castillo, Mannelly Gonzalez Abreu, Maya Haghighi Guliani, Tyler Myers, Jesseudi Marcelino, German M. Castillo, Ciara Calderon, Aubrey Mills, Leonardo Ro, Adrian Castillo, Luke Joseph Fuentes Duculan, Abigail R. Valdez, Navio Lopez, Victor Cruz, Erik Charlston, Clint de Ganon, Dave Phillips, Silvano Monasterios, Ric Molina, Dan Pearson, Hommy Ramos, Jose Ruiz, Jumaane Smith, Dave Noland, Roland Morales, Javier Díaz, Ron Stroman, Rene Ojeda, Feiga Martinez, Mike Massimino, Ryan Woodle, David Bean, Bert Michaels, Joe Lanza, Savannah Renée Rodriguez, Denia Brache, Lesley Bilingslea, Andy Powers, Reginald L. Barnes, Patrick Noonan, Jeff Ward, Pablo Thomas, Paul Niebanck, Ixchel Cuellar, Ricky Garcia, Oscar Antonio Rodriguez, José Ramón Rosario, Doreen Montalvo
  • Director: Steven Spielberg
 Comments
  • filipemanuelneto - 3 June 2024
    A very welcome remake.
    I must be one of the few iconoclasts who has not declared here his undying love for "West Side Story", one of the most successful and acclaimed musicals of all time, and which continues, to this day, to seduce crowds of spectators. As I already had occasion to say then, I expected something different. The story is based on the ethnic conflict between a band of young Anglo-Saxons from New York and another band of immigrants from Puerto Rico, and the unlikely love between the leader of the American gang and the sister of the leader of the Puerto Rican gang. I know that, at the time, the issue was not as delicate as it is today, but I couldn't help but feel that there was a certain prejudice against Latinos. Just think that the main actress was not a Latina, but an Anglo-Saxon whose face was painted and who didn't even sing in the film.

    Blessed be Steven Spielberg when he had the idea to make this remake. The film honors the source material and respects the older film, but corrects the biggest errors I had pointed out, presenting us with a more enjoyable view. It is not a work without problems, but they are different types of problems than those I had pointed out for the 1961 version.

    The director's attentive and meticulous eye is manifested in the careful design of the sets and costumes, in the very complete and profound development of the characters, and in the extraordinary dance choreographies, metrically designed and executed with the greatest professionalism. I also really liked the design of the locations, and the insertion of the entire story in a New York neighborhood that was about to disappear to make way for a modern office space. The soundtrack and songs are, essentially, those that we all expected to find, and are very well performed by the actors, sometimes during filming, instead of in a recording studio.

    One of the aspects that I liked most about this version was the extreme brutality of the rival groups. This time, they don't look like bored choirboys who decided to fight after Sunday mass. Knives, guns, sticks, everything they can use to fight, they use, and they seem more threatening and fearsome, just as you would expect from a gang of authentic juvenile delinquents. I was also pleased to see some of the actors still alive from the 1961 film again, in other characters and roles, especially Rita Moreno, who played a friendly merchant this time. I think it was a good way to honor them and honor their work.

    Rachel Zegler is a young Latina, daughter of a Colombian mother, and extremely talented. She is an actress tailor-made for the role of Maria, and made the most of the opportunity to advance her professional career. In fact, she is excellent, sings very well and is quite competent as an actress. Ariana DeBose and David Alvarez are also very good choices and enrich the film with commitment, competence and charisma, especially DeBose, who seems to have a huge personality and enormous personal brilliance. Mike Faist is excellent in his role. As for Ansel Elgort... he tries, he tries to adjust and struggles with the character and the material, but I think he never fully found himself on stage. Something is missing there. But this is my personal opinion.
  • bchvh - 11 March 2024
    Spielberg Understood the Assignment
    While this was Steven Spielberg's first movie, he very clearly approached it with great respect and care. It is astonishingly well done, and a marked improvement over the original movie.

    The dancing and choreography are inspired, the visuals are breathtaking, and the singing is first-rate, with the orchestra led by Gustavo Dudamel. Finally, a production team understands the value of casting from Broadway, instead of slotting celebrities into the roles with the hope of not ruining the musical.

    There are some minor changes from the original, all in the service of the story. Most of all, it is marvelous to see.

    It is a shame that it was released during the height of the pandemic, and therefore seemingly a box office failure. In reality, it is a triumph. It is, by a long shot, my favorite movie musical of all time. Again, Spielberg's reverence for the material shines through-- I hope he takes on more musicals in the future.
  • kosmasp - 8 November 2023
    Best side story (?)
    No pun intended - and not even trying too hard to do a West Side vs East Side kind of thing. That would be 90s ... I do wonder if that would have been a good idea for a remake. Make it about that culture back then. You had a rivalry back then .. it would have made for a lot of controversial stuff .. that could have been included.

    That said, this movie tries to be even more inclusive and more political correct. Some things may not have aged well from the original - that is not true for Rita by the way. Who was in the original movie and has been invited back to the ... dance (and singing of course).

    Spielberg is a great director. I did not expect this to not be good and I was right. Still I do like the original way better than this one. But if you have never seen the original ... well maybe it makes sense - and you will like this even more.

    The ending did surprise me a little bit - I thought they'd go a different route ... other than that (not sure how much one will like it) this is more than solid.
  • ArtVandelayImporterExporter - 9 December 2022
    How do you say Woke Side Story in Spanish?
    West Side Story, the Broadway musical, is arguably the apex of the American stage musical. It's almost hard to believe that a show with such daring music would be a hit with theatregoers brought up on Broadway Melodies of 1934 or the yodelling of Irene Dunne, much less middlebrow dreck like Guys and Dolls or The King and I.

    Of course it was adapted into a flawed movie the first time around, starring Natalie Wood as the white breadiest Puerto Rican in cinema history. Nevertheless, the source material had so many great songs and propulsive choreography that it was still very entertaining.

    Fast forward a lifetime and you have rapidly decaying Stephano Spielbergo trying to prove he's the most boring director on earth.

    Here we have a bunch of 35-year old ethnics and a talentless California boy staight out of the cast of 90125, trying to make something of music that is as bland as an Auto Tuned boy band, choreography that is less edgy than the nightclub scenes in Saturday Night Fever, and super-fake staging with washed-out colors like it's a sequel to Fight Club.

    The most likely result of watching this cinematic atrocity is that a generation of people who never saw the original movie or have not seen the show live on stage will fail to appreciate what a complete work of genius West Side Story is, if only they hadn't let Spielbergo wreck it.
  • vivadegaulle - 2 October 2022
    Ethnically Authentic?
    The singing and most of the choreography is good -- except that silly airplane dance Tony and Maria do. Good scenery. Otherwise, this remake is unappealing. Why the profanity? I heard at least two GDs. Given that one would want young folks to see this movie, why expose them to transgression of the 3rd Commandant?

    The Puerto Rican characters are authentic, which is fine except that the dialogue is frequently in Spanish, leaving viewers like me ignorant of Spanish in the dark. Even when the dialogue is in English it's so heavily accented that, at times, it's difficult to comprehend.

    Authenticity doesn't apply to the Jets, however. Tony is supposed to be a "Pollock," but the actor playing him looks distinctly Jewish rather than Polish-American. Most of the Jets look Jewish so that it's difficult to differentiate them physically from the Sharks. A Jewish street gang - as was originally envisioned in the novel - would be fine, but that's not what is being portrayed here. One doesn't get to know the members of the Jets as the 1961 movie presented. The tomboy character is turned into a scary bull dyke.

    The change to the lyrics of Officer Krumpke is mediocre. Rather than Bernstein's:

    My daddy beats my mommy My mommy clubbers me My grandpa is a commie My grandma pushes tea

    the Spielberg version is:

    My father is a bastard My ma's an S. O. B My grandpa's always plastered My grandma pushes tea

    Were these alterations made because the writers are too woke to acknowledge any occurrence of domestic violence among poor families, and too fragile in their anti-anti-Communism? "My ma's an SOB" is a terrible, unimaginative line.
  • kyleott - 3 September 2022
    Negatives outweigh the positive
    I have to tip my hat to the updated gritty realistic portrayals that went on. I love the few twists and takes on the original that threw curveballs to people to the original. But...the lack of subtitles during the Spanish speaking scenes, while forward thinking, make this movie a complete waste on those that don't know the original story. They are missing whole chunks.

    For that, the Hollywood agenda, I have to knock this otherwise 9 to a 3. As a non Spanish speaker and a novice to the story, if I had seen this in theaters I would have asked for my money back. It is nothing against the Latino influence in film and I think it is great to include native language to the characters, but to purposely exclude the majority who speak English, is wrong.