Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins

Who on Earth doesn?t know the story of West Side Story? The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet set in New York City in the 1950?s. The film was actually completed in 1961 and won a whopping 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, quite an honour for a musical. It has also been voted one of the top 100 films by the AFI.

West Side Story?s Juliet is Maria (Natalie Wood) who has come to America from Puerto Pico with her family. The Romeo is Tony (Richard Beymer). The problem is that Tony is a member of The Jets and Maria?s brother Bernardo (George Chakiris) is the leader of their great rival, The Sharks, and naturally the two gangs despise each other and constantly fight over territory. They also have a tendency to dance down the streets a lot and sing, but what does one expect from a musical.

Maria and Tony meet at a dance and fall instantly in love even though Bernardo does not approve of their relationship. Bernardo?s girlfriend, Anita (Rita Moreno) is not particularly fond of poor Tony either because he is not Puerto Rican. They would much rather see Maria with Chino. As one would expect, the relationship is doomed and when Bernardo kills Tony?s best friend Riff (Russ Tamblyn) in a rumble. Tony steps in and kills Bernardo in revenge. What will become of Tony and Maria now?

A lot of the lines and ?lingo? used in this film is dated now and some of the Puerto Ricans look like they have far too much fake tan on their faces but one can not deny the brilliance of this movie. It probably has one of the best known soundtracks going around with classic songs such as ?Maria?, ?I feel pretty?, ?America? and ?Somewhere? peppered throughout the movie. The choreography and costumes are still a visual feast even forty or so years after it was completed and the story of love taken away so tragically will always stand the test of time.

Most of the performances by the lead actors are brilliant, both Rita Moreno and George Chakiris won ?Best Supporting? Oscars for their roles and rightly so. However, I was not really convinced by Natalie Wood?s performance. She was one of the most beautiful actresses going around at the time and that probably won her the part but the truth is that she couldn?t sing and her accent was appalling at times. That said, most people would not watch this movie for the acting and will simply be blown away by this cinematic masterpiece?s complete package.

The only real complaints that I must make about the film is it is a tad unrealistic that a girl and boy can fall in love after only just meeting and that the girl, Maria in this case, can forgive the boy, Tony, for stabbing her own brother to death. I mean, come on, I know that this is Hollywood and fairy tale and all, but come on!

Also, the film takes about ten or so minutes to really get going and a number of those minutes are spend watching different colour screens as you get a run through of the various musical tracks. This is acceptable when watching it on stage but not really for a film. Other than that, I love this film and I don?t know of anybody that doesn?t shed a tear for Maria in the closing scenes. A truly Kleenex moment and a worthy winner of all those Oscars.

West Side Story is a film that I have not watched in a long time and even though I knew the story line well I was still amazed at how beautiful the film looked on our big screen. If you are a fan of musicals then this DVD is a must. It comes in a box set with a plethora of extras and includes a 5.1 audio, which is a definite bonus. It is certainly a movie that I can see myself watching again and again and the other beauty of DVDs is if I don?t want to listen to Natalie Wood then I can use the scene selection option to just sit back and enjoy the wonderful songs whenever I want.

Of all the films based around Shakespeare?s classic tale, West Side Story is certainly the best and indulging yourself with this DVD will certainly be money well spent. This is an absolute must for the avid DVD collector!

THE EXTRAS

There are a plethora of extras available on this box set. Other than Scene Selection, which allows you to choose from 32 different scenes (including all the songs), this DVD comes with a Collectable Film Book. This rather extensive book will tell you every thing you needed to know about the movie and how the stage play was born. There is the entire screenplay by Ernest Lehman, which includes all the song?s lyrics and an introduction by Ernest Lehman, which was written in 2002. Apparently Ernest Lehman was the only person nominated from West Side Story that didn?t win an Oscar. There are plenty of photos, short biographies of the stars and production staff, behind the scenes memos, film reviews and an original Lobby Brochure Reproduction. An excellent addition to this DVD.

You can also choose when watching the film if you would like the original film?s intermission music, which has been restored to 5.1 audio, to be included or eliminated.

Other special features which appear on a separate disc include:
? West Side Memories ? An hour long documentary. We get to hear from many of the people responsible for this film that are still alive today. It was great seeing what Rita Moreno, Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer actually look like now. Seeing the actual movie footage and how much better it looked in the finished product was quite amazing.
Overall, this documentary is extremely informative and well worth watching. I learnt that Marni Nixon actually provided the singing for Natalie Wood and that Natalie didn?t get on with Richard Beymer at all. You will actually hear Natalie Wood singing some of the songs in this documentary. Marni Nixon had to try to match her singing with Natalie?s mouth movements. Some of the other actors were also dubbed at times.

This documentary also has sub titles available in the following languages; English, French, Italian, Dutch, German and in something called ?Castellano? (which I have never heard of).

? Production Design and Storyboard ? Firstly there?s a Montage of some of the storyboards and the actual scenes from the movie. There are also some storyboards of scenes that never went ahead. All of this is to the sounds of some of the movie?s classic songs (Nearly 5 minutes). There?s also the Production Design Gallery which is a series of drawings of some of the sets (under 1 minute) and finally there?s a Storyboard Gallery (runs for nearly 6 minutes), which shows original drawings of many of the scenes in the movie which some additional information. I must say that Maria actually looked like Natalie Wood by Tony looked nothing like Richard Beymer.
? Behind the Scenes ? These are basically still black and white pictures of the following:
1) Jerry Robbins holds an audition (just still pictures)
2) Early Rehearsals (more still pictures)
3) Up in the air
3) Natalie prepares
4) On the recording stage
5) Irene Sharaff presents costume design
6) On location in New York
7) Behind the scenes
8) Close up on Natalie
9) Artwork and autographs

The photos aren?t all that big and this feature was a bit dull. It was like watching an old slideshow. Who wants to be subjected to that?

? Trailers ? there?s four to choose from ? an animated one (2 minutes) which is a waste of time, Academy Award Winning (4 minutes), which was obviously used after it won all the awards, the Original trailer (nearly 4 minutes) and finally the Original Theatrical trailer (4 minutes). I think on my DVD they got the two middle trailers around the wrong way as the Original Trailer actually discussed the Oscars.

CONCLUSION

This West Side Story Box Set is a must for fans of this film, or fans of the musical genre in general. It comes with a disc of special features as well as a Collectable Film Book. The film itself has a new 5.1 audio track and the classic songs like ?Tonight?, ?America?, ?Somewhere? and ?Maria? sound better than ever. West Side Story is a Romeo and Juliet tale set in 1950?s New York but this time it revolves around Tony (Richard Beymer), co founder of the gang ?The Jets? and Maria, a Puerto Rican (Natalie Wood) whose brother Bernardo (George Chakiris) is the leader of The Jets biggest rival ?The Sharks?. Of course like Romeo and Juliet, this story can only end in tragedy but not before you get to marvel at the beautiful costumes and wonderful choreography that was partly responsible for this film winning 10 Academy Awards, unheard of for a musical!