Tonight's Movie: West Side Story (2021)

Today I caught up with the Steven Spielberg remake of WEST SIDE STORY (2021) at my local movie theater.

WEST SIDE STORY was released in December, but with the rise of Omicron I decided to take a few weeks off from going to the movies. I'm back in theaters this month, starting with DEATH ON THE NILE (2022) last week, and happily found that WEST SIDE STORY is still playing.

I love classic musical theater, and WEST SIDE STORY is a show I know as well as any other; I even wrote a paper on it in 9th grade. I've seen the original 1961 film countless times, including at least five times in a movie theater, and I also saw a marvelous 2011 theatrical production.

Some comparisons with the 1961 version, in particular, are inevitable, so I'll state up front that I felt this new version was a solid effort. It wasn't a necessary film, given that I consider the 1961 version a four-star classic, but just as with theatrical revivals, it was interesting seeing a new interpretation. I'd give this new version a respectable three stars, with details below.

I don't think I need to spend much time on the plot, a New York ROMEO AND JULIET story between Puerto Rican Maria (Rachel Zegler), whose brother Bernardo (David Alvarez) leads the Shark gang, and Tony (Ansel Elgort), a founder of the Jets gang currently led by Riff (Mike Faist).

Instead, I'll dive right into my thoughts on the film's pros and cons. In terms of overall quality, as I said, it's a good film. At times it ascends to the absolute heights, specifically during the songs "Maria," "Quintet," and "Tonight," which evoked tears of joy over its beauty.

Much has been made of all the actors in this version doing their own singing, which was not the case for the original film, and I did enjoy the singing very much. Elgort, who I liked in BABY DRIVER (2017), was for me the find of the film; he was tall, handsome, and impressive in terms of both acting and singing, other than one oddly discordant note in "Something's Coming."

Zegler's singing was beautiful; indeed, I've already ordered the soundtrack, which will be the fifth version of WEST SIDE STORY I own. Besides the '61 soundtrack and two Broadway recordings, I've even got a boxed LP set with opera singers Jose Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa!

That said, despite those who look down on dubbing, actors doing their own singing isn't everything when it comes to moviemaking. Zegler was sweet and perfectly acceptable as Maria, and I could easily imagine her in a touring production of the show. I loved her singing, including "A Boy Like That." But up against an actress with Natalie Wood's lifetime of experience, Zegler's version of Maria lacks Wood's depth and emotional resonance as seen in the 1961 film. (Wood always completely devastates me in the final scene, but I was dry-eyed here.) Same role, many of the same lines, but far different characters. Marni Nixon being able to dub Natalie Wood so well gave us a wonderful Maria, end of story.

In terms of comparing the two films specifically, many musical fans will already be aware that the '61 film version rearranged the placement of some of the songs from when they appeared in the stage production, with the changes for "I Feel Pretty" and "Cool" being especially significant. "I Feel Pretty" originally took place after the rumble, and was moved up in the film to capture Maria's excitement prior to meeting Tony (during which they sing "One Hand, One Heart"). The change also kept the story from grinding to something of a painful halt, with the audience watching a happy Maria while knowing Tony killed her brother.

"Cool," a Jets dance which takes place on stage before the rumble, was moved to after the deaths of Riff and Bernardo in the '61 film, with the dance led by Tucker Smith as Ice. The new placement of that dance provides a cathartic moment for both the Jets and the audience, and thematically, everyone calming down over the course of the number helps point the way toward the gangs coming together in the final scene. (And, while I'm at it, I'll comment that I consider that version of "Cool" to be one of the greatest dance numbers ever filmed.)

This new version discarded the '61 song lineup changes, and I think it's a shame as it was truly a case of a film improving on the original source material. Part of what occurs as a result of the reversion to the stage song order is that while this film is only three minutes longer, at 156 minutes, than the 153 minutes of the 1961 version, it feels much longer. The pacing is off, with the bad/sad parts of the story taking forever to get through, to the point I was really ready for it to end a good while before it did.

In terms of other comments on the presentation, the supporting Jets and Sharks aren't differentiated enough; no one really stands out in the manner of Tucker Smith, Tony Mordente, or David Winters in the original version. Costuming might have also helped viewers quickly grasp which gang we're watching. The staging of the opening sequence was extremely well done but being unable to easily tell the gangs apart, when we're just getting to know the characters for the first time, made it less powerful than it might have been.

Much of the film, shot by Janusz Kaminksi, has a cold, grey look, with colors finally bursting out in a handful of scenes, such as an energetic and quite delightful performance of "America" in the city streets. That was one of the scenes which made me very glad I was seeing the movie on a big screen; Ariana DeBose, who's been Oscar-nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Anita, does an excellent job leading the ensemble. The colors and outdoor setting of "America" reminded me a bit of Emma Stone and her girlfriends dancing in LA LA LAND (2016) -- which, in turn, the New York Times reported was inspired by WEST SIDE STORY'S "I Feel Pretty"!

While this WEST SIDE STORY does a better job showing dancers' feet and using longer takes than some musicals of recent decades -- CHICAGO (2002) is one which comes to mind as flawed in this regard -- some numbers periodically cut the feet out or placed the cameras too close to the action, including "Dance at the Gym."  That dance, always a high point for me, had some great moments here but overall its expected excitement was muted.

The role of Doc the drugstore owner, played by Ned Glass in the earlier film, was rewritten to create a role for Rita Moreno as Doc's widow, Valentina; her own cross-ethnic love story with Doc underscores Tony and Maria's new romance. Moreno, who won a Supporting Actress Oscar for Anita in the 1961 version and who also has a 2021 producing credit, is fine, but her role was a little too big, which is another aspect which dragged down the pacing.

It was curious to me that this new film felt "thinner," with less emotional depth, despite adding detail; new bits such as Tony's prison background or Bernardo being a boxer did surprisingly little to add motivations and texture to a story and characters many of us already know so well.

There were also some curious changes which seem to have been done "just because" or to make some sort of minor political statement, like removing "I Feel Pretty" from taking place in an immigrant-run dress shop -- a setting which hints at the possibility of upward mobility and the American Dream -- and instead makes Maria and the girls cleaning ladies in an expensive section of Gimbel's department store, where everything on sale is out of their financial reach. Anita has a dress-making business run out of the apartment; I would have done the number there, if not in the dress shop. Indeed, in the original Broadway production the song takes place in the apartment.

I will say that while it's easy to point out the issues and flaws in a film like this, when there's such an outstanding film to compare it with, I did enjoy myself, including spending time analzying what worked for me and what didn't. Bernstein and Sondheim's music is immortal and will always be one of my favorite scores; the singing was gorgeous, DeBose was a strong Anita, and Elgort was a real find for me in the role of Tony.

My friend Jessica, who also loves the '61 version, covers many of the same points very well in her review at Comet Over Hollywood. I found myself nodding along as I reread it today; I think we only really parted ways on Elgort, and we've since discussed that she liked him better on a second viewing.

Would I see the 2021 version again myself? Yes, or at least sections of it. (I'm not sure I need to relive this film's version of the rumble again.) It's a good movie, it just has really tough competition. I might buy the Blu-ray, which is due out March 15, 2022, or rewatch scenes when it comes to Disney+ as of March 2nd. But when I really want to immerse myself fully in WEST SIDE STORY, I have no doubt I'll return once more to the magic created by Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins, and company in the 1961 release.

Parental Advisory: WEST SIDE STORY is rated PG-13. There is some foul language and intense but not particularly graphic violence.

The trailer is here.

Related 2010 book review: WEST SIDE STORY in the Music on Film series by Barry Monush.

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