Spielberg’s West Side Story

[newintown]

Oy.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

The original film is a classic, no doubt about that, but I do think an updated film version can provide something really interesting to watch even if it does not reach the heights of the original film. I'd like to see an actual Latina play Maria and maybe ramp up the romantic chemistry between her and Tony. And unfortunately, there are people who simply cannot watch older films and need HD quality video, updated filming techniques, etc.

[BrodyFosse123]

No I don't think so. I think the original is a great film, but very dated. 

You ARE aware that WEST SIDE STORY takes place in the late 1950s and is a time-stamp of gang culture and racism of that era, right?  Both the original 1957 Broadway production and the 1961 film adaptation were timely as they were both products of that time.  Both were present-day (for 1957 & 1961) and not period pieces.  

This and MFL are the two movie musicals I would love to see remade...for the same reason.  I would really like to see more realistic settings.  MFL is obviously entirely filmed on a soundstage.  95% of WSS is.  

WEST SIDE STORY was a stylized interpretation therefore the "look" of the original Broadway production as well as the film was intentional.  The sets and locations were designed to look artificial and with an artistic abstract interpretation - those bright colors, the abstract sets, etc.  It was a creative choice as was just having the opening prologue shot on location in NYC.  

[newintown]

"Updated?" Gangs fighting with knives in playgrounds hasn't been a "thing" in NYC for about 50 years.

West Side Story tells a particular story about a particular time and place. If that's "dated," that's what it is. "Updating" won't be an improvement, just something different.

If, however, Kushner and Spielberg created a new, contemporary musical about race relations and gun violence - that might be interesting.

[ErikJ972]

OMG West Side Story takes place in the 1950's?

Yeah of course I know that. I'm talking about the style of filming etc. And yes it was timely when it came out. OVER 50 YEARS AGO. Now much of the style of the film comes off as dated.

And I'm not trying to knock the film. I love it. I think it's a classic. But have you ever tried to watch it with a younger person? I have. And more often times than not it's greeted with laughter, 

[newintown]

Oy.

[newintown]

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel should be redone, too; it's really so dated and unrealistic. If you go see it with young people, you'll notice that they laugh at it.

[bk]

The "style" of filming?  Have you seen La La Land, which pays homage to exactly that kind of style?  Funny how that works.  

I also love the HD video comment - West Side Story was filmed in 70mm and if you ever see a proper print of it projected that way it blows away HD video because - it's FILM, it's crystal clear and amazing.  As to updated filming techniques?  a) there are no new filming techniques - in one way or another they've all been done before.  b) what do you want - fast editing?  Shots of feet.  Musical numbers shot in master shots from fourteen different angles and then assembled in the editing.  Because nothing they would do today would top the Prologue of the film version - it's designed beautifully, cut perfectly, and choreographed and danced beautifully.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

newintown said: "The ceiling of theSistine Chapel should be redone, too; it's really so dated and unrealistic. If you go see it with young people, you'll notice that they laugh at it."

Think of it this way. Shakespeare gets retold all of the time, some productions are great while others are WTF. There are film versions that come out once a generation. WSS can be like that. The text would probably remain true. If the new version is bad, then the original film will still be lauded as a classic and the musical will continue to be done in dozens of productions every year. I don't think a new version would tarnish the original in any capacity. If it's that bad, then it'll just be dismissed and forgotten.

I think people are being way too aggressive about some of these comments. Yes, the original was filmed beautifully and I truly believe the prologue was shot perfectly. However, not everybody agrees and we know film quality has changed since 1961. It doesn't mean just because 4K technology is used that it will be shot better, edited better, or have the same artistic flair. I'm just saying there are people out there who won't look at the film because it does look like it was from 1961 no matter how beautiful it still is. It's like when I watch an Ozu film, I know it was made the period when it was made but that doesn't make it any less of an artistic achievement. Don't yell at me about it, it's just a fact for many people (and I don't mean film buffs who LOVE to revisit classic cinema).

[ErikJ972]

I'm not making the argument that everything old needs to be redone.

Some things age better than others. I don't think I new, updated version of West Side Story will take anything away from the original. If anything I think it IS a way to get younger viewers to go back and revisit the original.

 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

And speaking of La La Land, it was a homage but it also used new film techniques and invoked a style of camera movement that screams contemporary film today. And yes, there have been new techniques that have developed since 1961 and will be developed. Film, like all art, is always evolving. Learning from the classics, veering away, going back again, finding new ground, etc.

[ErikJ972]

^^THIS.

[Marlothom]

I just hope they cast Bernardo and Maria so that they can reasonably be siblings.  Not a DARK skinned Bernardo and a very light skinned, light eyed Maria.  One of my biggest pet-peeves in the many productions I've seen across the years.  

[Tom5]

I still doubt it will happen, but even if Spielberg does come through with a very fine remake - not unlike, say, Sydney Pollack's fine remake of Sabrina - it will evaporate with time and the original will endure.

[newintown]

If Tony Kushner is on board to write a new screenplay, then it seems unlikely that the “text will remain true.”

As usual, many are misunderstanding critiques of potential issues and Hollywood “thinking.” No one is saying remakes shouldn’t happen. But some do believe perfect movies don’t benefit from a remake, whether the young find it he poor dusty tired original “relevant,” “dated,” or whatever.

[darquegk]

If Spielberg is making a remake, and Kushner is on board, why NOT make some changes? Try things, go crazy but be respectful. The worst it can do is not live up to the original and fade into obscurity. If Spielberg just wants to refilm and restage the Jerome Robbins visionary production of the original, he wouldn't be bothering with this. We're going to see something new here, and I don't know if I'll love it, but I'm open to its existence.

The original isn't "dated," but it contains some things that are somewhat jarringly of their time in a way less-culturally-educated viewers might not be able to get behind. There's the brownface, for one. And then there's the fact that, for better or worse, the mere sound of the trained human singing voice has changed in sixty years. The use of dubbed vocals has led a few people I've seen the movie with to quip "they sound so much older than they look... and they already don't look like teens."

 

[JustAnotherNewYorker]

I love the original, and see no need for a remake

However, I do recall that in the original conception it was "Lower East Side Story". I'd be interested in *that*. Of course they're have to write new songs, but I'd certainly buy a ticket if they could find some talent to either write an entire new score or adapt/as to the original

[GavestonPS]

JustAnotherNewYorker said: "I love the original, and see no need for a remake

However, I do recall that in the original conception it was "Lower East Side Story". I'd be interested in *that*. Of course they're have to write new songs, but I'd certainly buy a ticket if they could find some talent to either write an entire new score or adapt/as to the original"

IIRC, the proposed East Side
Story dealt with Jews v.
Catholics (i.e. Eastern
European v. Western
European immigrants). The
creators decided the set-
ting was already dated by
the mid-1950s and ESS was
shelved until Robbins (I
think) got the idea of moving
to the West Side and Latinos
v. "Americans".

***

Confidential to darquegk:
"go crazy but be respect-
ful" is an oxymoron.

[bk]

ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "And speaking ofLa La Land, it was a homage but it also used new film techniques and invoked a style of camera movement that screams contemporary film today. And yes, there have been new techniques that have developed since 1961 and will be developed. Film, like all art, is always evolving. Learning from the classics, veering away, going back again, finding new ground, etc."

What new film techniques were those.  Go watch a Jacques Demy film and report back.  Because that's what the "auteur" of La La Land was doing - Jacques Demy, just as he did in his first film (something about someone on a bench).  Everything about La La Land was ripped off from far better films.  

 

[Christopher Lippolt]

What a great response

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

The original WSS movie got me to love filmed musicals...i knew the OBC inside and out,  and when the movie came out a group of theatre geeks from my high school packed into a station wagon and saw it at our local drive-in...i was transformed...i saw this classic movie recently at the refurbished EGYPTIAN THEATRE on Hollywood Blvd in 70MM,  and it was glorious as described by others here...with that being said...STEVEN SPIELBERG is the best director of my generation...we are 1 year apart in age...if anyone can do this he can...this is not RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH doing A CHORUS LINE...that oner deserves an OY!!

[theatregoer3]

What new film techniques were those. Go watch a Jacques Demy film and report back. Because that's what the "auteur" of La La Land was doing - Jacques Demy, just as he did in his first film (something about someone on a bench). Everything about La La Land was ripped off from far better films.

Agree 100% with this. And when I watch WSS today, I’m still blown away by some of the shots. The camera work is extremely impressive by any standards. 

 

[Babe_Williams]

newintown said: ""I would love to see younger audiences become obsessed and interested in WSS."

The original can't inspire that?"

not necessarily, but sometimes its a hard sell to get people under 25 to want to watch a movie that is over 50 years old and to get excited about it. Plus, some of the things that were considered okay in that era as far as the casting in that movie would go over like a lead balloon today. 

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

bk said: "ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said: "And speaking ofLa La Land, it was a homage but it also used new film techniques and invoked a style of camera movement that screams contemporary film today. And yes, there have been new techniques that have developed since 1961 and will be developed. Film, like all art, is always evolving. Learning from the classics, veering away, going back again, finding new ground, etc."

What new film techniques were those. Go watch a Jacques Demy film and report back. Because that's what the "auteur" of La La Land was doing - Jacques Demy, just as he did in his first film (something about someone on a bench). Everything about La La Land was ripped off from far better films.

"

I'm quite familiar with Jacques Demy and own the Criterion Collection blu-ray of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I know LLL was paying homage to those films and others and was trying to invoke some old-style filmmaking, but you cannot tell me that LLL isn't also a product of the way film and the technology surrounding film has evolved in the 50 or so years since both West Side Story and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort came out. It's like when Todd Haynes was paying homage to Douglas Sirk and the 1950s melodramas with Far From Heaven. You can see the inspiration and where many of the creative decisions were coming from, but it also looked like a film from 2002 paying homage, not an actual 1950s film.

[newintown]

Technology is mere icing on the cake, not what the form is essentially about (except,perhaps, for wonks).