Spielberg's "West Side Story": Hit or Miss?

[PeterRS]

It's one of the iconic movies of the 1960s - the Robert Wise recreation of the smash hit Broadway musical by the gay quartet of Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins. An entire generation grew up knowing many of its main songs and its updating of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" play. Yet the movie was of a time for its time. Nowadays, classic though it is, it does seem dated. So it was perhaps not surprising when Spielberg announced a couple of years ago that he would remake the movie for today's generation.

Many were shocked. How would Spielberg update the story? Would it become the disaster that was his attempt at the Peter Pan story with his flop movie "Hook". Not so, have most critics announced. In fact the movie has received almost universal praise. But its opening box office week-end in North America was way below expectations. Only US$10 million taken when any hit movie should gross upwards ot $150 million.

The covid pandemic and reluctance to be in a large crowd will inevitably have had an effect. But others have pointed out that the shock value of the original, despite the miscasting of Maria and Tony, is no longer shocking 6 decades later when violence is much more common on our cinema screens. Also the US bible Variety Magazine suggests that older movie goers will not be attracted to the movie having already seen the original. It further suggests the movie stands little chance of recouping the $300 million that will be needed to see it go into profit. The movie is now playing in Thailand.

A few critics have gone to town to criticise the movie, especially in this long review below from The New Yorker Magazine which starts –

"A rich and famous artist spends a hundred million dollars to revive a corpse with the blood of young people. The creature is still alive, but barely, and the infusion leaves it deader than when it started. This is not the plot of the latest horror film from A24 but the unfortunate tale of Steven Spielberg’s efforts to remake “West Side Story,” the movie musical about love and ethnic rivalry among New York City gangs. With the screenwriter Tony Kushner, Spielberg has attempted to fix the dubious aspects of the 1961 film, including its cavalier depiction of Puerto Rican characters and its stereotypes of a hardscrabble New York. But, instead of reconceiving the story, they’ve shored it up with flimsy new struts of sociology and psychology, along with slight dramatic rearrangements. They’ve made ill-conceived additions and misguided revisions. In the process, they’ve managed to subtract doubly from the original."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/review-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-is-worse-than-the-original

[Lonnie]

I couldn't stand another letdown after waiting for years for the remake of Dune... turned out it was not for me. (others loved it and praise it to the sky). Now I see a possibility it might happen again with this long awaited movie but I'm certainly not going to allow the New Yorker film critic to make my decision for me.

[caeron]

I read a review that persuaded me. 

It basically asked, "what is the point of rescuing this film by remaking it?" That struck a chord with me.

I don't really have much interest in watching it. Maybe if it comes to one of the streaming services I have, but I am not going to the theater for it, nor to pay to rent it.

[tm_nyc]

When I heard about the Spielberg-Kushner remake of West Side Story, I had a strong negative reaction to the whole idea.  What was the point?  The bad review which PeterRS cites, confirms my initial reaction.  But, for what it's worth, the critical reception & audience reaction has been mostly positive, according to Rotten Tomatoes:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_side_story_2021

It may be that the movie is mainly intended for young people who would rather see something new & don't much care about the 'classic'.

No, I'm not going to rush out to a theatre to see it.  (I might be if I was in Thailand!)

[PeterRS]

Well, my partner and I saw the new West Side Story this afternoon. Not surprisingly, our views were different. Surprisingly, though, whereas I thought I would love it, I was quite disappointed. My younger Thai partner on the other hand really enjoyed it. His only concern near the start was the question he asked, "What's Puerto Rican?" I think he still has no idea why people from a small island would be going to live in New York and want to start gang warfare in the city. That, for me, is a very definite reason for Spielberg to have had more courage and brought the time the show is set much more up to date.

What disappointed me? Certainly not the two lovers Tony and Maria. They were excellent actors and singers. Indeed, most of the acting was very fine. It is much more that the movie looks and feels dated. I found the dancing, the choreography and the big production numbers more convincing in the Robert Wise version (or what I remember of that movie). Indeed, I much preferred a touring version of the musical at the Thailand Cultural Centre during one of the Dance and Music Festivals about 15 years ago. That stage production kept me emotionally involved throughout. Spielberg's movie just lacked that emotional pull.

My last beef was that the balance between the singing and the orchestra was just too much in favour of the singers. Naturally they have to be heard and understood. But in a theatre, the balance engineers keep the smallish orchestra at a good level. Having employed the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to play Bernstein's gorgeous score, it was mostly kept just too much in the background. I came out of the cinema disappointed.

[tm_nyc]

Very interesting!  I guess that now I will have to see it for myself.

[Lucky]

I saw West Side Story this afternoon and I was not disappointed. The old songs were well-performed by the new cast. The singing and dancing was fun. The Puerto Ricans had little charisma, but I was starstruck by Ansel Elgort as Tony. He did a great job. Sadly, after the film wrapped, he was accused of causing pain to a sexual partner several years ago. Naturally, she waited to say anything until he had a big movie role.

[tm_nyc]

I like Ansel Elgort very much so I hope the accusations against him don't affect his career.  To me, it sounded like a 'he said, she said' situation but thousands of Twitter users may disagree!

[Lucky]

I watched the original 1961 film yesterday, and liked it at least as much as the new one.

[TotallyOz]

On 12/18/2021 at 9:44 PM, PeterRS said:

Well, my partner and I saw the new West Side Story this afternoon. Not surprisingly, our views were different. Surprisingly, though, whereas I thought I would love it, I was quite disappointed. My younger Thai partner on the other hand really enjoyed it. His only concern near the start was the question he asked, "What's Puerto Rican?" I think he still has no idea why people from a small island would be going to live in New York and want to start gang warfare in the city. That, for me, is a very definite reason for Spielberg to have had more courage and brought the time the show is set much more up to date.

What disappointed me? Certainly not the two lovers Tony and Maria. They were excellent actors and singers. Indeed, most of the acting was very fine. It is much more that the movie looks and feels dated. I found the dancing, the choreography and the big production numbers more convincing in the Robert Wise version (or what I remember of that movie). Indeed, I much preferred a touring version of the musical at the Thailand Cultural Centre during one of the Dance and Music Festivals about 15 years ago. That stage production kept me emotionally involved throughout. Spielberg's movie just lacked that emotional pull.

My last beef was that the balance between the singing and the orchestra was just too much in favour of the singers. Naturally they have to be heard and understood. But in a theatre, the balance engineers keep the smallish orchestra at a good level. Having employed the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to play Bernstein's gorgeous score, it was mostly kept just too much in the background. I came out of the cinema disappointed.

I didn't see this in BKK. Where did you see it? I want to view it as well.

Thanks for the review and the heads up. I still have good memories of seeing this in multiple regional productions over the years.

[PeterRS]

Saw it in Bangkok a week or so ago. But it was clearly not going to continue its run for more than a day or two. We saw it on an afternoon showing and there cannot have been more than a dozen people in the cinema.