"West Side Story" (2021)

Ever since it became known that director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner were planning a remake of the 1961 Oscar winning film classic "West Side Story", I have been anxiously awaiting the release of this new version.  The COVID pandemic delayed its scheduled 2020 release to 2021, and today, I got to see it on a big screen in a dark movie theater.  It was wonderful.

Let's get the subject of remaking classic movies out of the way first.  I have written on this topic many times, and I think i made my feelings best known in this post from September, 2016.  Read it now to get my full opinion if you're interested, but in short, I have no problem with remakes if they are done right and with quality.  The presence of Speilberg and Kushner on the project assured, or should assure, movie lovers of that.

On to the movie.

Speilberg has kept "West Side Story" as a period piece, set in late 1950's era New York City as urban renewal is busting up neighborhoods in the name of  Robert Moses' idea of "progress."  You probably all know the story...gang/turf warfare between second and third generation Americans of Eastern European descent, the Jets, and first generation Puerto Rican immigrants, the Sharks....former Jets leader Tony falls in love with Maria, the sister of Sharks leader Bernardo...current Jet leadership wants Tony to come back to the gang to rumble with the Sharks and drive them out for good...Bernardo wants the Sharks to rumble to stake their claim to the neighborhood and, more specifically, to personally beat the shit out of Tony for daring to fall for his sister...tragedy ensues.  

Yes, Bill Shakespeare did this first back in the 17th century when he wrote "Romeo and Juliet", Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim took it to Broadway in 1957, and Robert Wise put it on screen in 1961.  All were brilliant, and Speilberg's 2021 version is AT LEAST as good, and probably better than the '61 film version.  It is sure to reap many Oscar nominations, and I hope that Speilberg can snag another Oscar for his mantel for directing his first musical film.

A nod to the actors in the lead roles:

Tony - Ansel Elgort

Maria - Rachel Zegler

Anita - Ariana DuBose

Bernardo -  David Alvarez

Riff - Mike Faist

Valentine - Rita Moreno

Elgort, Alvarez, and Faist all present  greater "street cred" as gang bangers than did Richard Beymer, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn in the 1961 version. I can never be negative toward Natalie Wood, but I will give the nod to Zegler in this version because (a) she is authentically Latina, and (b) she did her own singing, unlike Wood in the prior film.  I will call it a draw between DuBose and the sixty years younger Rita Moreno as Anita.  And bringing the now 90 year old Moreno to play the owner of the drug store (she's Doc's widow in this version) was a master stroke by Spielberg.  She is tremendous.  Could she be the first person to receive an Oscar for playing different roles in two versions of the same movie?

Some other specific observations....

• The magnificent Bernstein/Sondheim music is still there.  Nothing taken out, nothing added.  If you tell me that these are the greatest lyrics ever written for a musical, I won't argue with you.
• Kushner gave Tony a back story.  We now know why he is working a steady job and trying to stay away from the gang life.
• The staging of "Tonight" as performed by Tony and Maria had me in tears.  Literally.  Lots of reasons for that, not the least of which were Zegler's and Elgort's singing and that it is just a beautiful song when heard in the context of the show.
• The dancing in this version was less balletic and more muscular (my God but that sounds pretentious on my part doesn't it?) than in the 1961 movie.  Made it more believable to me.  Particularly, the opening number, "When You're A Jet", and "Cool."
• Speilberg took "America" off of the rooftops and put it into the streets, and it was fabulous.  Led by DuBose and Alvarez, it was probably the best dance number in the show.

• The staging of the dance number in the gym, where Tony and Maria first meet, is almost identical to the original version, but you somehow feel closer to the action in this one.
• A fabulous presentation of "Tonight Quintet", maybe my favorite number in the play/movie, when the Jets, the Sharks, Anita, Tony, and Maria all sing about what is about to happen "tonight."
• The issues addressed in this show - immigration, prejudice, intolerance - are as relevant in 2021 as they were in 1957 and 1961, maybe even more so, and this version addresses those issues, but it doesn't bang you over the head with a hammer (as Hollywood sometimes tends to do) in doing so.
• A note to "Hamilton" fans.  Ariana DuBose played the role of The Bullet in the original Broadway production and the film version of  "Hamilton" that can be currently seen on the Disney+ streaming service.

I will tell you that if you refuse to see this movie because "there is no reason to remake" classic movies, you are being foolish and depriving yiouself of something really special.  If you do see it, and cannot bring yourself to admit that it is AT LEAST as good as, and perhaps even better than, the 1961 film, you just may have no soul.

"West Side Story" is the best movie that I have seen in 2021.  A full Four Stars from The Grandstander.