/west side story
USA
1961 PG 140 mins
directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
"It's impossible to begrudge the vertiginous energy and feeling that make this one of the great American musicals, and one radically told through dance."
Tim Robey - Daily Telegraph (UK)
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
Trailer
Featured review by Bosley Crowther - New York Times 1961
We also highly recommend the late Roger Ebert's Review in The Chicago Times.
Distributor: Park Circus
NB: This film will begin at 6.30 in Cinema 1 and 6.40 in Cinema 2
/star box score - 3.99
5 votes - 90
4 votes - 99
3 votes - 51
2 votes - 13
1 vote - 5
Total votes - 258
/cast
Natalie Wood - Maria
Richard Beymer - Tony
Russ Tamblyn - Riff
Rita Moreno - Anita
George Chakiris - Bernardo
Simon Oakland - Schrank
Ned Glass - Doc
William Bramley - Krupke
Tucker Smith - Ice
/crew
Directors - Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
Screenplay - Ernest Lehman, adapted from the plays by Jerome Robbins and William Shakespeare and the book by Arthur Laurents
Producer - Robert Wise
Associate producer - Saul Chaplin
Executive producer - Walter Mirisch
Music - Leonard Bernstein and Irwin Kostal
Lyrics - Stephen Sondheim
Choreography - Jerome Robbins
Cinematography - Daniel L. Fapp
Film editing - Thomas Stanford
Production design - Boris Leven
Costume design - Irene Sharaff
Filmed on location in New York in the Church of St. John the Apostle, Columbus Avenue, West 68th Street and 110 Street.
/Jerome Robbins
director
born and died New York 1918-1998
"Dance is like life. It exists as you are flitting through it, and when it's over, it's done." Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins went on to become a dancer and celebrated choreographer, earning raves for his ballet debut piece “Fancy Free.” He eventually served as director and/or choreographer on a number of musicals destined to become classics, including The King and I, West Side Story, Gypsy and Fiddler on the Roof. Robbins won an Oscar for his directorial efforts on the film version of West Side Story, and later focused on creating ballets for the stage. He died on July 29, 1998.
/Robert Wise
director
born 1914 Winchester Indiana
died 2005 Los Angeles
"You can’t tell any kind of a story without having some kind of a theme, something to say between the lines.”
Robert Wise grew up poor, so poor that in the Great Depression he had to cut short a college education through lack of funds. And so he moved to Hollywood where his older brother worked at RKO. His brother found him a lowly job there. After a period of odd jobs he moved into editing and amongst other films, edited Citizen Kane. A few years later he moved into directing, initially into B movies and later into just about every genre. His films include The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles, Run Silent, Run Deep and The Andromeda Strain. He was well known for attention to detail with his main aim to connect with his audience.
A complete filmography can be found on IMDB