50 years ago: West Side Story becomes one of the greatest musicals of all time

West Side Story Released: October 18, 1961 Studio: United Artists Genre: musical/romance Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 43.66 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 549.54 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise Screenwriting: Ernest Lehman Starring: Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn Review: Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare’s “tale of ill-fated lovers” FS got refashioned in the late ‘50s as a “landmark, highly-honored, ground-breaking Broadway musical.” FS In 1961, it was “transposed to the big screen and set on location in 1950s New York on the Upper West Side.” FS The story centers around two New York gangs rivaling “for turf on the sidewalks and streets of the city.” FS The Puerto Rican Sharks are led by Bernardo (Chakiris) while Riff (Tamblyn) leads the white Jets. Bernardo’s sister, Maria (Wood), falls for Tony (Beymer), a Jet. “His attempts at peace-making during a rumble accidentally lead to the deaths of both gang leaders and further tragic circumstances in a tear-stained scene set on an outdoor basketball court.” FS The “energetically-choreographed musical” FS features “some of the most memorable dance sequences in film history.” A07 It owes much of its success to Jerome Robbins, who directed and choreographed the Broadway production. He initially was the sole director for the movie version, but the studio brought in Robert Wise for the non-musical sequences and eventually fired Robbins for “his painstaking perfectionism” T95 which threatened to double the budget. However, he’d already put his stamp on the opening sequence (“The Jet Song”), “America,” “Cool,” and “I Feel Pretty.” The soundtrack became a blockbuster success on the scale of a Michael Jackson Thriller in the 1960s, thanks to composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. They contributed classics like “Somewhere,” “Tonight,” and “Maria” which have become part of the American musical lexicon. Sources: A98 American Film Institute (1998). “AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies” A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Box Office: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 10, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor – George Chakiris, Best Supporting Actress – Rita Moreno, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Musical Score Nominations: 11, including Best Adapted Screenplay Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker First posted 5/30/2023.

The Searchers released 50 years ago today

The Searchers Released: May 13, 1956 Studio: Warner Bros. Genre: Western Box Office (numbers in millions) Domestic: 10.90 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: ? Worldwide: ?

Directing: John Ford Screenwriting: Frank S. Nugent, Alan Le May Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Natalie Wood, Henry Brandon Review: The Searchers, based on the novel by Alan Le May, is “a complex, epic, ‘psychological’ Western story” FS set in the Old West in the post-Civil War era. Glenn Frankel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who wrote The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend, says the movie “is perhaps the greatest Hollywood film that few people have seen.” MSN “Nobody made westerns better than John Ford, and he never made one better than this.” TV He “had been making westerns for almost four decades before he acknowledged the racism inherent in cowboys vs. Indians and directed his masterpiece,” RS “which is miraculously purified of its racist furies in a final moment of epiphany.” T95 It was “beautifully filmed in his most popular locale, Monument Valley.” FS In “the role of his career” RS John Wayne “as the flawed hero” TV “turns in a deceptively simple performance” TV which is “by turns explosive and melancholy,” TV that would forever define his swaggering macho style.” TV He is Ethan Edwards, an Indian-hating Civil War Confederate veteran, who spends five years in pursuit of his teenage niece, Debbie (Wood). She was kidnapped by Chief Scar (Brandon) who led a Comanche Indians massacre of a frontier family. On his journey to track down and kill the chief, Edwards “is accompanied by half-breed adopted nephew Martin Pawley (Hunter), who is equally determined to save the girl.” FS The movie is “a pilgrimage into the dark heart of an outsider” TV as Edwards is plagued by the thought of his niece being raped by savages and doesn’t know if he wants to rescue or kill her. “Few film images are more haunting than that of Wayne standing alone in a doorway, cut off from his family by torments he can’t define.” RS Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud RS Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years” T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 0 Nominations: 0 Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin Martin Scorsese First posted 9/3/2019; last updated 6/6/2023.