West Side Story – Spielberg remake (1 Viewer)

[Wayne_j]

Indeed, little-remembered fact was that post on Jurassic Park was completely overseen by George Lucas at Skywalker while Spielberg was shooting Schindler's List in Europe. Hence Lucas being at the top of the "special thanks" list in the credits.

It wouldn't surprise me if Peter Jackson did the same for post for Tin Tin.

 

[mplo]

http://deadline.com/2018/01/steven-...est-side-story-directing-vehicles-1202262857/

Spielberg usually gets what he wants, but I cannot understand the value of remaking this film when the original is as close to perfect as it gets. If he wants to make a musical, I'm all for that but I wish he would use his considerable clout and talent to film one that hasn't been made into a movie before.

I mean, if someone is going to make a West Side Story remake, at least Spielberg is too good to dismiss. But it still seems like a missed opportunity for him to do something genuinely new.

Thoughts?

Quite frankly, I do not think that anybody, including Steven Spielberg, should re-make the film West Side Story. It's too iconic, too special and too much in a class by itself to be re-made, at all. Steve Spielberg has done a number of really fabulous films, but West Side Story is what it is, and definitely should be left alone.

 

[mplo]

I think that's a great rule of thumb for all remakes, musical or not. If the original film was great, leave it alone. If the original film had a great idea that was done badly, take another shot at it.

With some extremely rare exceptions, however, re-makes of already-existing films very seldom turn out as good, let alone better, than the original.

 

[mplo]

If Spielberg is interested, I'd assume he has some good and different take on the material. Remake or not, I'm not particularly into musicals so while I'll see it based solely on Spielberg, I'm not counting the days or anything.

I don't know, TravisR. I sincerely wish that Spielberg would leave West Side Story alone and do something else. There are other musicals that haven't yet been made into movies.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Quite frankly, I do not think that anybody, including Steven Spielberg, should re-make the film West Side Story. It's too iconic, too special and too much in a class by itself to be re-made, at all.

There are other musicals that haven't yet been made into movies.

I certainly agree that there are plenty of musicals that don't have any filmed versions available, where it would be worthwhile to have one.

But the more I think about it (and you can see the evolution of my views in some of these threads), the more I think there's an opportunity to do some good with a new West Side Story, specifically with their intention to do more racially appropriate casting.

West Side Story is perhaps the most famous film in existence to involve Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican issues, and yet, the overwhelming majority of the Puerto Rican roles are played by people who are not of Latin descent. I don't know what it would be like to be a young Puerto Rican growing up, and watching this famous movie for the first time, and seeing the people that were supposed to be like me actually being played by white people wearing brown makeup. What kind of signal does that send?

I completely understand that the casting was of its time. I think the movie is still phenomenal. But I think the casting issue alone presents a valid reason for taking a second shot at this musical.

The last time West Side Story was revived on Broadway, that was the approach they took. All of the Puerto Rican characters were played by people of Latin descent this time. And some of the dialogue and songs were translated into Spanish, on the reasoning that native Spanish speakers conversing with each other might not necessarily be speaking or singing in English. I didn't get to see that production so I don't know how well that actually played, but given that those changes were commissioned by the play's original author, I think it's entirely valid and acceptable.

 

[mplo]

First, I'll start out by saying that West Side Story is my all time favorite movie, hands down. Many people complain about the dubbing of the singing by Marni Nixon and Jimmy Bryant for Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood, who star as Tony and Maria. Due to my great love for this great classic movie-musical, I'm more than willing to overlook the dubbing, and to take into account that dubbing was very common during that period.

West Side Story is a wonderful musical all around, and is one of the few musicals that was really successful on both stage and screen. The fact that West Side Story was preserved as a larger than life-sized piece of theatre when it was transferred from stage to screen is one of its strengths and best qualities about it. Having said all of the above, I firmly believe that the film West Side Story should not be re-made, by anybody, including Steven Spielberg, for the following reasons:

A) Like most, if not all movies, West Side Story strongly reflects the times in which it was made. When the film West Side Story first came out, the upper West Side of Manhattan, where the story is set and takes place, was an extremely poor, rough and run-down part of the city. Today, it's very gentrified, and no longer a slum area. That, alone, would make the setting of a West Side Story re-make extremely difficult, if not impossible.

B) The romance scenes, especially between Tony and Maria, as well as Bernardo and Anita, would be a great deal steamier, and more explicitly sexual. One of the beautiful aspects of West Side Story is the lack of explicitly sexual scenes and nudity.

C) Many police departments here in the United States, especially in the poorer sections of large urban metropolises, have become much more militarized. A re-make of the film West Side Story would more than likely reflect that, therefore making both Lt. Schrank and Ofcr. Krupke much harsher, rougher, and meaner to both gangs, the Jets and Sharks, but especially the Sharks.

D) There would be much more "blue" language, and even more overt prejudice and hatred, not only between the Jets and the Sharks, but on the part of the police, as well, especially the Sharks. The hatred between them would be even more intense, and the overall conflict not only between the Jets and Sharks, but between the two gangs and the police would be far more dangerous. Although I'm no stranger to "blue" language, it would entirely inappropriate for a film such as West Side Story.

E) The fights between the Jets and the Sharks, as well as the breaking up of the fights by Lt. Schrank and Officer Krupke, would be far more graphic and intense.

F) The Rumble, too, would be extremely graphic. Guns (automatic assault weapons, in particular), rather than switchblade knives or fisticuffs, would be employed, and more people on both sides would be killed, and the deaths, including the deaths of Riff, Bernardo and Tony, would be much, much bloodier. There would not even be a hint of reconciliation between the Jets and Sharks in the end, either.

G) Both the Jets and the Sharks, as well as Lt. Schrank and Ofcr. Krupke, would end up behaving in even more extreme fashions towards each other.

H) The Candy Store scene, in which Anita goes to Doc's Candy Store, at Maria's request, to warn Tony that Chino's gunning for him would more than likely end differently: Anita would end up not only being roughed up and insulted by the Jets, but more than likely raped, as well.

I) The Bernstein musical score would more than likely be turned into something that combined hip-hop and rap music, which would be totally inappropriate for something such as West Side Story.

J) A re-make of the film West Side Story would cut the heart and soul right out of it by destroying what is really great about the original film. Making a more up-to-date version of the film version of West Side Story wouldn't work. There's only one reason for anybody to re-make the film West Side Story: To turn it into a super piece of junk, where people treat each other even more harshly, the language and insults are "bluer" and more profane, where there are more explicit sex scenes, more deaths, more bloodshed, and a musical score full of rap and hip-hop music, with dancing that's much more frenetic and harder to interpret.

 

[mplo]

I certainly agree that there are plenty of musicals that don't have any filmed versions available, where it would be worthwhile to have one.

But the more I think about it (and you can see the evolution of my views in some of these threads), the more I think there's an opportunity to do some good with a new West Side Story, specifically with their intention to do more racially appropriate casting.

West Side Story is perhaps the most famous film in existence to involve Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican issues, and yet, the overwhelming majority of the Puerto Rican roles are played by people who are not of Latin descent. I don't know what it would be like to be a young Puerto Rican growing up, and watching this famous movie for the first time, and seeing the people that were supposed to be like me actually being played by white people wearing brown makeup. What kind of signal does that send?

I completely understand that the casting was of its time. I think the movie is still phenomenal. But I think the casting issue alone presents a valid reason for taking a second shot at this musical.

The last time West Side Story was revived on Broadway, that was the approach they took. All of the Puerto Rican characters were played by people of Latin descent this time. And some of the dialogue and songs were translated into Spanish, on the reasoning that native Spanish speakers conversing with each other might not necessarily be speaking or singing in English. I didn't get to see that production so I don't know how well that actually played, but given that those changes were commissioned by the play's original author, I think it's entirely valid and acceptable.

Reviving West Side Story on Broadway, on stage, is one thing. I stand by my opinions, however, that, as a film, West Side Story should be left alone. Also, when one looks at the Credits, particularly the list of credits of people who played the Sharks and their girls, there were a good number of the actors/actresses who played the Sharks that had Spanish-sounding names. As far as the casting issue goes, my only criticism is that Richard Beymer was a somewhat weak, lackluster Tony, partly because of the constraints that he had put on him by Robert Wise.

 

[Worth]

I don't think there's been any hint that the remake would take place in a contemporary setting.

 

[mplo]

I don't think there's been any hint that the remake would take place in a contemporary setting.

The thing is that New York, generally, has changed a great deal, and the West Side of Manhattan, which is now gentrified, wouldn't be such a great place for a re-make of West Side Story, especially since this movie-musical is about poorer kids who reside in and emigrate to a rougher, run-down part of the city of New York, and have much rougher and tougher lives.

 

[mplo]

The thing is that New York, generally, has changed a great deal, and the West Side of Manhattan, which is now gentrified, wouldn't be such a great place for a re-make of West Side Story, especially since this movie-musical is about poorer kids who reside in and emigrate to a rougher, run-down part of the city of New York, and have much rougher and tougher lives.

More to the point, the gangs would more than likely be shooting at each other, as gangs in real life do, nowadays. Back when West Side Story came out as a film, rumbles between gangs that included fisticuffs and/or switchblade knives were a reality. That's no longer the case, now.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The fact is, for everything that West Side Story does do well...

It's still a film where the leading characters are essentially being played by white actors wearing a version of blackface.

And while I can view the film in the context of the time that it was made, I'm also very much in favor of having another version of the story being put on record with more racially appropriate casting. If the whole point of the story is that love can transcend boundaries, then there must be a boundary that it transcends.

I don't think that Robert Wise and Co set out to make something that would be racially insensitive or offensive. I think they made the best film that they could in the time they made it.

But I also think there's room in the world for a version of West Side Story where Maria is played by someone who actually looks and sounds Puerto Rican. I think the representation matters. There's also the unintentional subtext of having Maria played by a white girl and Anita played by someone who is Puerto Rican - it unintentionally suggests that Maria (played by a white actress) is okay for a white man to date, but that Anita (played by a Puerto Rican actress) is not okay for a white man to date.

And look, I don't think that Robert Wise set out to make that statement. But just in the way that we now reevaluate classics like Gone With The Wind and The Birth Of A Nation, accepting their filmmaking genius while seeking to put their problematic historical views in context, I think a similar reevaluation of West Side Story is probably overdue.

Fortunately, the original West Side Story will always exist and be available to us. The making of a new version doesn't diminish the original in any way. If anything, it frees the original from the weight of having to be appropriate to our values and standards in 2018.

 

[mplo]

I agree that this is a remake that does NOT need to be done. Actually, IMO, almost ALL of the remakes that have been done in the past ten or so years should never have seen the light of day. I'm really tired of the retreading of old material.

I think it's a foolhardy notion whether they do it in period, update it for present day, or let the Sharks speak and sing in Spanish.

If you want to remake a classic film musical, remake one that wasn't done very well the first time around: Porgy and Bess or Camelot or do the musical version of Irma La Douce or Fanny.

Excellent points, Matt Hough! I couldn't agree with you more! Well said!

 

[mplo]

The fact is, for everything that West Side Story does do well...

It's still a film where the leading characters are essentially being played by white actors wearing a version of blackface.

And while I can view the film in the context of the time that it was made, I'm also very much in favor of having another version of the story being put on record with more racially appropriate casting. If the whole point of the story is that love can transcend boundaries, then there must be a boundary that it transcends.

I don't think that Robert Wise and Co set out to make something that would be racially insensitive or offensive. I think they made the best film that they could in the time they made it.

But I also think there's room in the world for a version of West Side Story where Maria is played by someone who actually looks and sounds Puerto Rican. I think the representation matters. There's also the unintentional subtext of having Maria played by a white girl and Anita played by someone who is Puerto Rican - it unintentionally suggests that Maria (played by a white actress) is okay for a white man to date, but that Anita (played by a Puerto Rican actress) is not okay for a white man to date.

And look, I don't think that Robert Wise set out to make that statement. But just in the way that we now reevaluate classics like Gone With The Wind and The Birth Of A Nation, accepting their filmmaking genius while seeking to put their problematic historical views in context, I think a similar reevaluation of West Side Story is probably overdue.

Fortunately, the original West Side Story will always exist and be available to us. The making of a new version doesn't diminish the original in any way. If anything, it frees the original from the weight of having to be appropriate to our values and standards in 2018.

One has to also bear in mind, however, that not all people of Latin descent are dark-skinned. Like Blacks and Caucasions, Latinos/Latinas, in real life, also range from being very dark-skinned to being very light-skinned, as well.

 

[mplo]

I agree that this is a remake that does NOT need to be done. Actually, IMO, almost ALL of the remakes that have been done in the past ten or so years should never have seen the light of day. I'm really tired of the retreading of old material.

http://deadline.com/2018/01/steven-...est-side-story-directing-vehicles-1202262857/

Spielberg usually gets what he wants, but I cannot understand the value of remaking this film when the original is as close to perfect as it gets. If he wants to make a musical, I'm all for that but I wish he would use his considerable clout and talent to film one that hasn't been made into a movie before.

I mean, if someone is going to make a West Side Story remake, at least Spielberg is too good to dismiss. But it still seems like a missed opportunity for him to do something genuinely new.

Thoughts?

Hollywood has run out of creative ideas. That's why there are so many sequels and re-makes, and re-treads of older films coming out nowadays.

 

[mplo]

May I quote John Waters:
"You shouldn't be remaking the good movies...you should be remaking the bad ones in the hopes of making them better."

Yay!! I second that! Thanks!

 

[mplo]

I would agree that Wood and Beymer were miscast. But the fact remains that as written, both Tony and Maria are the least interesting characters in the show. Even when I saw the recent stage revival with better casting in the roles this was apparent.

Even in the stage play of West Side Story, it was the Jets and the Sharks in conflict who walked off with the show, if one gets the drift.

 

[mplo]

My problem with WSS from the first time i saw it as a teenager on a rerelease in the late '60s is that it seemed dated coming out just before the social revolution of the '60s. With 50 years of social change I think a remake would be fine and Spielberg can give it more gravitas. Musicals are meant to be re-interpreted on stage and a re-do could add more grit and realism to a story of the streets.

I don't know, jimmyd05. I, too, first saw the film West Side Story as a High School Senior, at around Christmastime of 1968, during the national re-release of it, and I fell in love with the film right then and there. As somebody who was still a teenager in high school when I first saw the film West Side Story, I identified with the Jets, the Sharks and their girls regarding kids being kids, and so on, but when I got a little older and began seeing it in independent movie theatres in and around Boston, i developed a deeper view point of it; I loved (and still love) the story behind West Side Story, but also began to really appreciate the film West Side Story for the work of art that it really and truly is, and I still do.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

One has to also bear in mind, however, that not all people of Latin descent are dark-skinned. Like Blacks and Caucasions, Latinos/Latinas, in real life, also range from being very dark-skinned to being very light-skinned, as well.

I'm well aware of this. But ultimately, it comes down to this: Maria is arguably the most famous Puerto Rican character in the history of American theatre and film, and in the film, she's played by a white woman in makeup.

 

[mplo]

I'm well aware of this. But ultimately, it comes down to this: Maria is arguably the most famous Puerto Rican character in the history of American theatre and film, and in the film, she's played by a white woman in makeup.

Maria doesn't seem to be made up at all. She was not made up to be dark-looking.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I'm not really sure why you're arguing this particular point, particularly since I'm stating my opinion for why I think a remake could do some good.

Having the Puerto Rican lead played by a while person of European descent is problematic casting for a 2018 audience.

I believe in 2018, we can do better. And I believe that the symbolism behind a change towards more racially appropriate casting has the potential to do a lot of good.