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BEGGING FOR IT Westside Story almost begs you to go at it. Natalie Wood is no Puerto Rican, Richard Beymer is no co-star, Sue Oakes as probably the first unambiguous dyke in an American musical, and the Jerome Robbins choreography really not much more than highly disciplined high school gym exercising wrought with anxiety. Said musical supervisor Saul Chaplin of the dancers, “They didn’t dance out of joy, they danced out of fear.” And why purple-dressed Rita Moreno and purple-shirted George Chakiris won supporting performance Academy Awards—they kick up some sizzle and in this movie that’s the equivalent of an East coast tsunami. Imagine what this primer on the dangers of racism would have been without their zesty, sassy version of “America.” This is the musical NYT critic Bosley Crowther used the blurb “a cinematic masterpiece” for, as every close up, medium shot, long shot, angle and every bit of editing punched up as socially relevant “art.” But the harder the movie makers strive to achieve it, excepting “America,” the more cardboardy it feels. And taxing: looking awfully pretty, Natalie just ain’t cuttin’ the gym floor as Juliet-Maria; her accent isn’t acting—it’s an update on the artificial she tried on us in The Burning Hills and Kings Go Forth. She was reportedly upset when learning Marni Nixon would dub her warbling, yet together they revved up the fraud when the soundtrack became a phenomenal sing-along success. (Nearly 65 years later some of us still can’t get “Tonight” and the much less injurious “America” out of ours heads.) Beymer’s Romeo-Tony is the uniting martyr in the tragedy, an impossible task because when Tony implores avenging Chino to kill him, there are many watching who want to pull the trigger. Beymer earned two coveted Harvard Lampoon honors for his request: Worst Actor and Least Promising Young Actor; Wood won the Roscoe Award “for so gallantly persisting in her carerr despite a total inability to act.” The Lampoon’s Merino Award went to Moreno “for saving the movie from Beymer and Wood.” Filmed in Panavision 70. (Opening 2/20/1962 at the Michael Todd, running 38 weeks.) Oscar wins: best picture, supporting actor (Chakiris), supporting actress (Moreno), color cinematography, color art direction/set decoration, color costumes, sound, scoring for a musical picture, film editing and direction, shared by Robert Wise and Robbins, the latter fired for escalating the budget by $300,000 due to his “perfectionism.” Nominated for best adapted screenplay. ROLL OVER IMAGE
Text COPYRIGHT © 2000 RALPH BENNER (Revised 6/2023) All Rights Reserved. |
