West Side Story

West Side Story, motion-picture musical about star-crossed lovers from different cultures in New York City, based on the 1957 stage play by Arthur Laurents and Jerome Robbins, which was inspired by Romeo and Juliet (1595?) by William Shakespeare. Released in 1961, this film won ten Academy Awards, including those for best picture, best director, and best music. Maria (played by Natalie Wood) comes to North America from Puerto Rico and quickly learns to avoid the Anglo-Americans and their gang, the Jets. Maria's brother Bernardo is the leader of the rival Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, and loyalties are strained when Maria falls in love with Tony, the former leader of the Jets. Tony and Maria imagine a better life together, but gang warfare intervenes with tragic results. This box-office hit features the popular songs “America,” “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Jet Song,” and many others.

Director

Robert Wise Jerome Robbins

Cast

Natalie Wood (Maria) Richard Beymer (Tony) Russ Tamblyn (Riff) Rita Moreno (Anita) George Chakiris (Bernardo) Tucker Smith (Ice) Tony Mordente (Action) Eliot Feld (Baby John) David Winters (A-Rab) Burt Michaels (Snowboy) Robert Banas (Joyboy) Scooter Teague (Big Deal) Tommy Abbott (Gee-Tar) Harvey Hohnecker (Mouthpiece) David Bean (Tiger) Sue Oakes (Anybodys) Gina Trikonis (Graziella) Carole D'Andrea (Velma) Jose De Vega (Chino) Jay Norman (Pepe) Gus Trikonis (Indio) Robert Thompson (Luis) Larry Roquemore (Rocco) Jaime Rogers (Loco) Eddie Verso (Juano) Andre Tayir (Chile) Nich Covvacevich (Toro) Rudy Del Campo (Del Campo) Suzie Kaye (Rosalia) Yvonne Othon (Consuelo) Jo Anne Miya (Francisca) Simon Oakland (Lieutenant Schrank) Bill Bramley (Officer Krupke) Ned Glass (Doc) John Astin (Glad Hand) Penny Santon (Mme. Lucia)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Picture (1961): Robert Wise—Producer Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (1961): George Chakiris Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (1961): Rita Moreno Academy Award for Best Director (1961): Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins Academy Award for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration—Color (1961): Boris Leven—Art Direction, Victor A. Gangelin—Set Decoration Academy Award for Best Cinematography—Color (1961): Daniel L. Fapp Academy Award for Best Costume Design—Color (1961): Irene Sharaff Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1961): Thomas Stanford Academy Award for Best Music—Scoring of a Musical Picture (1961): Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal Academy Award for Best Sound (1961): Fred Hynes of Todd-AO Sound Department, Gordon E. Sawyer of Samuel Goldwyn Studio Sound Department Directors Guild of America Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (1961): Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical (1961) Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor (1961): George Chakiris Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (1961): Rita Moreno Selected for Registry by the National Film Preservation Board (1997)

Trivia

The actors in the rival gangs were instructed to play pranks on each other off the set to keep tensions high.

Quote

Riff (singing): “When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way!”