westsidestory

Restoring West Side Story for its 50th Anniversary


Classic musical West Side Story will be back on the big screen from 16 September, celebrating its 50th anniversary in an all-new restoration from Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios.

Starring Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn and George Chakiris, West Side Story went on to win 10 Academy Awards and explores the rivalry between two teenage street gangs – white working class Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks. When a member of the Jets falls in love with the sister of the Sharks’ leader, things look hopeful at first, but rapidly go downhill.

West Side Story was the first of three musicals that acclaimed filmmaker Robert Wise directed in the large format Panavision 70 and Todd-AO processes. It was shot in 65mm for intended theatrical projection in 70mm and six-track stereo sound. A 35mm reduction negative was also produced to allow the film to be shown more widely.
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West Side Story Blu-ray Debuts November 15th

Five decades after its historic debut, a timeless classic returns to dazzle audiences young and old. Based on the hit Broadway musical of the same name, the iconic film West Side Story returns in brilliant Blu-ray form November 15, 2011 from Twentieth Century Home Entertainment. With a record-breaking ten Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Original Score, the film took home more awards than any other movie-musical in the history of cinema. This monumental production not only featured the timeless lyrics from master American composer Stephen Sondheim, but a brilliant score from Leonard Bernstein, and beautiful direction from Robert Wise. West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition boasts hundreds of hours of restoration, new 7.1 digital audio, and a collection of bonus features spotlighting the harmonious songs and elaborate dances of the original film.

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WEST SIDE STORY

Perhaps more influential than "successful" during its initial run (it didn't win the Tony for Best Musical, nor did it have an exceptionally long run during its premiere engagement), I would suspect that when most people hear "West Side Story," they think of the film version that grossed millions and won ten Oscars, including Pest Picture. Based on the 1957 musical with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents (with an obvious assist from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), the 1961 film version, co-directed by Robert Wise and the play's original director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, stars Natalie Wood as Maria, a newly-arrived Puerto Rican girl who works in an upper West Side Manhattan dress shop with Anita (Rita Moreno), the girlfriend of Bernardo (George Chakiris), Maria's gangleader brother.

Battling Bernardo's encroaching Puerto Rican "Shark" gang are the established white "Jets," led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), who call the small section of streets and crumbling tenements where they live home turf. After tit-for-tat violence escalates between the rivals, Riff decides an all-out rumble is called for, to end once and for all the ambitions of the Puerto Rican gang. To aid his efforts, Riff calls on his old friend and former leader of the gang, Tony (Richard Beymer), who has forsaken membership in the gang because he realized the pointlessness of the petty back-and-forth squabbling inherent in the subculture. But Riff, playing on old loyalties, convinces Tony to at least show up at the dance, where Tony meets Maria, and it's love at first sight. Unfortunately, Bernardo's hatred for whites ("They only want one thing from a Puerto Rican girl."), well earned on the streets, blinds him to Tony's sincerity, and he sends Maria home. Riff and Bernardo agree to a war council, where later, Tony suggests a "fair fight" with no weapons. Maria, upon learning of the coming fight, pleads with Tony to intervene and stop it, setting into motion a series of tragic events that destroys the one ray of hope in the neighborhood's festering racial strife.
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