OSCAR WINNER - 1961
• Best Picture
• Best Director - Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
• Best Sup. Actor - George Chakiris
• Best Sup. Actress - Rita Moreno
• Best Cinematography - Color
• Best Costume Design - Color
• Best Film Editing
• Best Production Design - Color
• Best Score Adaptation
• Best Sound

AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE:
100 Years... 100 Movies (1998): #41
100 Years... 100 Passions (2002): #3
100 Years... 100 Songs (2004):
”Somewhere” - #20
”America” - #35
”Tonight” - #59
100 Years... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition (2007): #51

WINNER OF TEN ACADEMY AWARDS!

”Nothing short of a masterpiece!” - THE NEW YORK TIMES

A triumph on every level, this electrifying musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against the backdrop of gang warfare in the slums of 1950s New York. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and scripted by Ernest Lehman, this film combines the unforgettable Score (”Maria,” ”America,” ”Somewhere” and ”Tonight”) of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with Robbins’ own exuberant choreography to capture the story with heartbreaking richness.

Natalie Wood is at her career-defining best as Maria, a young woman whose first taste of love is fated in tragedy amidst the vicious rivalry of two street gangs - the Jets and the Sharks - one Anglo, one Puerto Rican. Along with Richard Beymer (TWIN PEAKS) who stars as Maria’s devoted lover, the gifted young cast also features Rita Moreno and George Chakiris - both of whom won Oscars for their supporting roles.

Gathering a total of ten Academy Awards (the most for any movie musical), including Best Picture and setting a standard for movie musicals that remains unsurpassed to this day, WEST SIDE STORY is that rare and transcendent fusion of realism and fantasy that will forever be a feast for the eye, the ear and, ultimately, the heart.

TRIVIA:

• When filming ”The Taunting Scene”, Rita Moreno was reduced to tears when she was harassed and nearly raped by the Jets, as it brought back memories of when she was raped as a child. When she started crying, director Robert Wise immediately stopped the scene and all the Jets tried to comfort her, while pointing out that the audience was going to hate them for what they were doing.

• The lyrics to ”America” were subsequently changed for the film. There had been complaints that the Broadway version was too belittling to Puerto Ricans, in that the song mainly ridiculed both Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. The film lyrics emphasize the racism and discrimination that Puerto Ricans were subjected to in America.

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

• Robert Wise’s original choice to play Tony was Elvis Presley.

• During the entire production, the actors wore out 200 pairs of shoes, applied more than 100 lbs of make-up, split 27 pairs of pants and performed in 30 different recording sessions.

• WEST SIDE STORY was the first film to win a Best Director Oscar for two directors (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins). This would not happen again for another 46 years, when brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen shared the award for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

• The boys jeans were dyed, re-dyed and ”distressed,” using special elastic thread to allow for the severity of the choreography.

• Audrey Hepburn was offered the role of Maria, but she turned it down, because she was pregnant with her son Sean Ferrer at the time.

• Jerome Robbins initially refused to work on the film unless he could direct it. Producer Walter Mirisch was nervous about handing the reins entirely over to Robbins, who had never made a film before, so he enlisted Robert Wise to direct the drama while Robbins would direct the singing and dancing sequences. Robbins developed a habit of shooting numerous tales of each scene, to the point where the film went over budget and behind schedule. This led to his firing.

• At the time following the film’s release, WEST SIDE STORY became the biggest selling soundtrack album.

• Despite wanting to play Tony as a more rough and tough type, Richard Beymer confessed that Robert Wise made him play the role as the nicest guy around, which Beymer felt didn’t mesh with the character’s back story.

• Gus Trikonis who played Indio, one of the Puerto Rican Sharks - and who is actually Greek - is the brother of Gina Trikonis, who played Graziella, the tough red-haired Italian girlfriend of Riff, the leader of the Jets.

• Jerome Robbins completed four numbers - the Prologue, ”Cool”, ”I Feel Pretty” and ”America” - before he was removed from the project.

• With its win of 10 Academy Awards, this became the biggest Oscar-winning musical motion picture of all time, breaking the record GIGI had set three years earlier with nine Oscars. MY FAIR LADY and CABARET would subsequently tie for third place with eight Oscars each.

• Natalie Wood’s singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon.

• Principal photography on the film lasted for 6 months, Sound Mixing and Editing for 7.

• The original stage version of Maria’s song ”I Feel Pretty” included the lyrics ”I feel pretty and witty and bright / And I pity / Any girl who isn’t me tonight.” In the film this night scene was changed to the late afternoon and presumably for this reason, the rhyming words ”bright” and ”tonight” were changed to ”gay” and ”today.”

• Elliot Feld (Baby John) collapsed and ended up hospitalized with pneumonia during the demanding filming of ”Cool”.

• George Chakiris was the only one out of the main characters to not be dubbed. This was because he had no challenging solos to sing.

• WEST SIDE STORY became the second highest grossing film of 1961, coming in just behind Disney’s classic 101 DALMATIANS.

• The song ”Gee Officer Krupke” was banned by the BBC because of its mentions of drug use and sexual ambiguity.

• Russ Tamblyn had originally tried out for the role of Tony. It came down to just him and Richard Beymer, with Beymer ending up with the part. But then the casting directors called him back and asked him to read for Riff and he got the part.

• A 50th anniversary screening of the film on 9/08/2011 in New York City was attended by George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn, Marni Nixon and producer Walter Mirisch, as well as gang members Robert Banas (Joyboy), David Bean (Tiger), Harvey Evans (Mouthpiece), Bert Michaels (Snowboy) and Eddie Verso (Juano).

• The film ran in Paris for a total of 249 weeks, making it the longest running film in French history.

• George Chakiris (Bernardo) had previously played Riff in the London production. Tony Mordente (Action) had played A-rab in the original Broadway production.

• Lee Theodore (nee Becker), who played Anybodys in the original Broadway production, served as an assistant choreographer for the film.

• Jim Bryant was selected over every singer in the world to be Richard Beymer’s voice double. The producers flew people from all over the world to audition, putting them up at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

• Despite winning an Oscar for his work in this film, this was the only film that Jerome Robbins ever directed.

• Rita Moreno’s singing voice was partially dubbed by Betty Wand, who had also dubbed Leslie Caron’s singing in GIGI.

• Six members of the original Broadway cast appeared in the film:

- Tommy Abbott (Gee-Tar)
- William Bramley (Officer Krupke)
- Carole D’Andrea (Velma)
- Tony Mordente (Action - film; A-rab - Broadway)
- Jay Norman (Pepe - film; Juano - Broadway)
- David Winters (A-rab - film; Baby John - Broadway)

• Rita Moreno did do her own singing for the ”America” and ”Quintet” sequences.

• Russ Tamblyn did all his own singing for this film except for ”The Jet Song” for which Tucker Smith sang for him. Smith played Ice, Riff’s lieutenant in the film.

• Richard Beymer later revealed that he and Natalie Wood did not have a close rapport off camera, describing her treatment of him at the time of filming as aloof at best. Beymer believed that part of the problem was a screen test from a previous film that went south while additionally it has been speculated that Wood herself was upset that Beymer won the role of Tony over her then boyfriend Warren Beatty who was just one of many non-singing actors to audition for the part.

• WEST SIDE STORY opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 1957. The music was written by Leonard Bernstein, the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and the book by Arthur Laurents. The production was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins and the cast was led by Carol Lawrence as Maria, Larry Kert as Tony, Mickey Calvin as Riff, Ken Le Roy as Bernardo and Chita Rivera as Anita. The production ran for 732 performances before closing on June 27, 1959. The production received six 1958 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Lawrence and won two for Best Choreography (Jerome Robbins) and Best Scenic Design (Oliver Smith).

• The film rights of the play were bought for $375,000.

• One of the two musical films produced and directed by Robert Wise and written by Ernest Lehman to feature the main protagonist named as Maria: Natalie Wood in WEST SIDE STORY and Julie Andrews in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Both musicals also featured a song entitled ”Maria”. Robert Wise would go on to win both a Best Picture and Best Director Oscar for both films as well.

• WEST SIDE STORY had its television premiere on NBC in March 1972.

• WEST SIDE STORY garnered eleven Oscar nominations in 1961 and won ten including Best Picture, Best Director (Wise and Robbins), Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), and Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno). It also received seven Golden Globe nominations and won three for Best Picture - Musical/Comedy and Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress for Chakiris and Moreno respectively.

1961

PG

027616914798

Movie

2.20:1

152

Canada

1961-12-23

1.33:1 - Full Frame

2

4

Snap Case

~$8.15

2025-06-24

2018-02-07 18:26:05