- published: 03 Jun 2016
- views: 681793
West Side Story is a 1961 American romantic musical drama film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. The film is an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and was photographed by Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C., in Super Panavision 70.
Released on October 18, 1961 through United Artists, the film received high praise from critics and the public, and became the second highest grossing film of the year in the United States. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 10, including Best Picture (as well as a special award for Robbins), becoming the record holder for the most wins for a movie musical.
In the West Side's Lincoln Square neighborhood in Manhattan in late summer of 1957, there is tension between an American gang, the Jets, led by Riff, and a gang of Puerto Rican immigrants, the Sharks, led by Bernardo. After a brawl erupts ("Prologue"), Lieutenant Schrank and Officer Krupke arrive and break it up, warning both gangs to cease fighting or they will all be arrested. Despite the warning, the Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a rumble for neighborhood control at an upcoming dance.
A boy like that will give you sorrow,
You'll meet another boy tomorrow,
One of your own kind,
Stick to your own kind!
A boy who kills cannot love,
A boy who kills has no heart.
And he's the boy who gets your love
And gets your heart.
Very smart, Maria, very smart!
A boy like that wants one thing only,
And when he's done, he'll leave you lonely.
He'll murder your love;
He murdered mine.
Just wait and see,
Just wait, Maria,
Just wait and see!
MARIA
Oh no, Anita, no,
Anita, no!
It isn't true, not for me,
It's true for you, not for me.
I hear your words
And in my head
I know they're smart,
But my heart, Anita,
But my heart
Knows they're wrong
And my heart
Is too strong,
For I belong
To him alone, to him alone.
One thing I know:
I am his,
I don't care what he is.
I don't know why it's so,
I don't want to know.
ANITA
A boy like that, etc.
Very smart Maria, very smart!
MARIA
Oh no, Anita, no,
You should know better!
You were in love - or so you said.
You should know better . . .
I have a love, and it's all that I have.
Right or wrong, what else can I do?
I love him; I'm his,
And everything he is
I am, too.
I have a love, and it's all that I need,
Right or wrong, and he needs me, too.
I love him, we're one;
There's nothing to be done,
Not a thing I can do
But hold him, hold him forever,
Be with him now, tomorrow
And all of my life!
BOTH
When love comes so strong,
There is no right or wrong,