A New, Old Story
This is very belated – almost to the point of meaningless now, although since it concerns a Steven Spielberg movie, I don’t think such things are ever out of date. Though this most certainly is not even remotely timely.
It’s about the new version of the movie West Side Story, which was a remake of the 1961 Oscar-winning Best Picture. I’d been asked by people what I thought of it, but put off answering because I got an awards-season DVD and saw the movie long before it opened. Then, it finally opened, but most people still weren’t going to theaters yet, so I put it off further. And at least it began streaming – and I waited until I thought enough people had a chance to see it, so I put off commenting a little longer. Then, some news got in the way. And more news. And it started to seem much too late to write anything. So, I put it off. Again.
But I realized enough is enough. It’s a movie. It got a lot of attention. And being from Steven Spielberg, that seems enough to merit comment at any time. No matter how belated. And it’s now airing on HBO, so…why the heck not? And if I don't write about it now, and keep putting it off, I might not get to it until the next time it gets remade.
(Side note: a slight digression first. When Leonard Bernstein, stage director Jerome Robbins and book writer Arthur Laurents were initially developing the idea, the gang conflict in New York City at the time was between the young Italian and Jewish neighborhoods. And so the musical was originally going to be called East Side Story. But because of schedules, they put off working on the show for six years. When they picked it up at that point, with Stephen Sondheim now involved, the big gang conflict was between young Americans and Puerto Ricans, on the West Side.)
Okay, on to the remake.
For starters, my biggest reaction after seeing the movie was the same as I had before – I don’t know why anyone, let alone Steven Spielberg felt that West Side Story should be remade. It won the Oscar for Best Picture. It was wonderfully made. It was a little dated and flawed in some of its casting. It was made 60 years earlier, so a lot of the audience hadn’t seen it on a big screen – or maybe ever. But by that standard, why not remake most every movie? It seems to me the best movies to remake are those that are okay, moderately enjoyable, but miss the mark on too many levels. Or those that were wonderful, but made so long ago that technology and life have passed them by and almost rendered them obsolete. You remake those to bring out what’s missing in them and breathing new life into the works. My question about remaking West Side Story isn’t that it’s sacrosanct and How Dare You Remake a Classic??!! (honestly, I like the original a lot, I love the score by Bernstein and Sondheim, but I don’t loooove the movie like some of my friends) – it’s rather a case of: why?? What new and so much better are you bringing to it that the original lacks. To me, the only thing on that level is the casting of the Natalie Wood as the Puerto Rican Maria, and maybe that the two leads don’t do their own singing, though that’s minor. And that’s not enough to justify remaking it. As far as I can tell, the main reason it got remade was because it was Steven Spielberg’s favorite movie musical growing up, it was important to him, and so he wanted to make the movie. I get it, fair enough. Personally, I think if something is your favorite and that meaningful, it might be nice to leave it as is, if it doesn’t cry out for remaking. But that seems to be the reason. Well…it got remade. So, you deal with that.
And as a movie, I thought it was quite good. Very well made. The two leads were spot on, and did their own singing, wonderfully. There were some changes for the better and some for the worse. But overall it was essentially the same movie. Often with similar shots. The filmmakers said they didn’t watch the original before making their new version – but they didn’t have to, they’d likely all seen it enough times. It was director Spielberg’s favorite movie musical, after all. He didn’t have to see it again. So – it was very good. And pretty much the same in its foundation and even, to a large degree, throughout.
Without going through all the specifics of the film, I think it’s worth addressing what I think are the best changes – and the one worst, a change so bad that it comes close to mucking up the movie for me.
For my taste, the best change was the filming of “America’ which is a song I’ve never much cared for, basically a dance number on the rooftop, a bit confined and claustrophobic, performed at night in the dark, though with very clever lyrics whose point is made earlier on and largely get repeated. This new version, though, opened it up to the city with huge enthusiasm, giving it a cross-cultural impact that explodes in the bright daylight with vibrant colors through the entire neighborhood, in different locales and a microcosm of America, which helps deal with what the song is about, giving the number both conflict and utter joy, as more people enter, as well, and the song now gets a visual story that builds. What was probably my least favorite number in the show (stage and original movie) may now be my favorite. And perhaps the highlight of the film.
And I liked that they found a good, new place for “I Feel Pretty,” a song lyricist Stephen Sondheim always hated – because his friend (and NU grad, as readers of these pages know…) Sheldon Harnick (who wrote Fiddler on the Roof) told him that a young, new, Puerto Rican immigrant to America would never talk like that, and Sondheim realized he was right, and it always grated him, and he was very public about hating it. But this new placement, making it sarcastic about fine society works very well. A friend of mine didn’t like the new version because of it’s light-hearted placement in such a tragic context. But I wasn’t bothered by that – Maria is unaware of the tragedy that’s taken place, and so the contrast (to me) added a sense of drama to the number.
Also, as I mentioned above, I thought the Hispanic casting is a nice improvement.
Of the changes that didn’t work well for me, the biggest by far was – for me – so big that it’s the only one I’ll address. And that’s giving the song “Somewhere” to Rita Moreno. On the positive side, it made the song extremely touching in a world-weary way. And it was nice of the filmmakers to give a song to Moreno, who’d won an Oscar in the original film, playing a totally different role. Nice, though unnecessary to the plot. But as touching as the song was, sung by this older woman weary at the problems still around her in society, it was a big mistake. And some others I’ve spoken to feel the same, some on their own, others after I explained my reason.
As touching as the song is here, I think the song HAS to (as in “has to!!!”) be sung by Tony and Maria, as originally written, otherwise the last scene makes no sense and is problematic. The song between them – that they sing to each other – is a buffer that explains why Maria is willing to go off with Tony…after he has told her that he’s killed her brother!! Without them – Tony and Maria -- singing it to each other, what happens in the story is that we see the scene where Tony tells Maria he killed her brother, and then the very next time we see her (after Rita Morena has been given the song to sing wistfully to herself about life in general), Maria is down on the street looking for the boy who killed her brother to run away with him! When in the original story and over the past 60 years Tony and Maria sing to each other about wanting “a place for us” – the “us” is themselves, a place they, so deeply in love, can run off to, and put this horrible world where he has killed her brother away and live in peace. When Rita Moreno sings it, “us” is about Puerto Ricans in general, being accepted into society. It’s an absolutely valid sentiment, but totally wrong for what’s to come in the story.
I can understand why the filmmakers wanted to give a song to Rita Moreno, but that’s mostly “ego” talking to give her a star turn. But structurally, the song doesn’t exist for her, it was written (intentionally, with good structural reason) for Tony and Maria. “Hold my hand and I’ll take you there.” Changing it did NOT ruin the movie for me – I liked movie, it was well-done. But it absolutely weakened the ending, which is not how you want the last impression of your movie to be. Without them singing the song to each other, where they literally are expressing their realization that they can have no life together there and therefore have to find “a place for US” – it makes no realistic sense that she’d go off with him. The song explains why Maria agrees to go off with the boy who killed her brother, to hopefully find that place someday, somehow, somewhere. Even if one likes how it was done this new way, it’s only “fine” and “nice” at best. But with Tony and Maria singing it to each other, the ending is more than “fine” and “nice” – it’s makes proper sense, is more impactful, and therefore is ultimately much more moving. And if one is still not convinced, keep in mind that the play that West Side Story is based on is Romeo and Juliet. And in Romeo and Juliet, you give the last, big, emotional, heart-wrenching, soaring song to…Romeo and Juliet!! You don’t give it to the shopkeeper.
Fortunately, I still liked the movie very much. I just would have like it even more if they ended it as it had been ended for 60 years for a reason, and not removed the plot structure at the last minute. And I’d have been okay if they didn’t remake it at all. But given that they did, it was generally well done.
But as long as we're talking about going out on a song, well...we might as well go out on the song I never much cared for, but loved its production in the new movie. Here then is "America."
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