Vivacious Lady (1938)

Intro.

Vivacious Lady was one of those films I hadn't planned on watching, but when I saw it come on television, I was happily surprised.  As a part of a Ginger Rogers marathon, the film emphasized how great she was even without Fred Astaire.  I especially liked Robert Osborne's commentary on the film.  Apparently the film had been delayed several times because RKO had to borrow Jimmy Stewart from his home studio.  And the good rapport between Jimmy and Ginger existed off stage too, as they used to double-date with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.  How cool is that?

Overview

Jimmy Stewart plays Peter Morgan, a shy, conservative professor of botany who, on a trip to New York City, meets glamorous nightclub singer Francey (Ginger Rogers).  As he gets to know her, he realizes that she is very down to earth and a perfect match for him.  They fall in love, marry, then take the train back to his home town of Old Sharon.  Peter, afraid that his parents will object to Francey's way of life, suggests that she stay with his cousin, Keith (James Ellison) while he tries to explain the situation to them.  He also has to explain it to Jenny (Phyllis Kennedy), the blue-blooded woman to whom he is engaged (or was engaged!).  A lot of twists and turns prevent Peter from confronting his father with the truth and keeps the couple apart.  The best parts include Francey attending Peter's botany class as an eager new student, an all out fist-fight between Jenny and Francey, and straight-laced Peter drinking a lot of alcohol during his class.  It all ends with a tearful Jenny and her mother-in-law leaving their husbands and then a train-stopping finale.   

Highlights

Robert Osborne said at the film's introduction how difficult it would be to find the right actor to make the role of Peter believable.  If anyone could do it, that person was definitely Jimmy Stewart.  He makes Peter a quiet, somewhat awkward professor without turning him into a bumbling, absent-minded researcher.  Charles Coburn and Beulah Bondi both give good performances as his parents and get almost as many laughs as the main couple.

Ginger Rogers really makes this film.  She is graceful and charming, with a good measure of sass.  She delivers some stunning one liners with perfect comedic timing.  Her performance reminded me of a softer version of her character in Stage Door - sweet and good-natured with a razor sharp wit beneath those blond curls.  Anyone who thinks she's just Fred's dance partner obviously hasn't seen her other films - and definitely should.   

Review

Vivacious Lady is one of those old fashioned romantic comedies where the emphasis was on the comedy.  It's little known, but definitely worth watching to see Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart together.  My only complaint (and it's minor) is that we don't get to see Ginger and Jimmy dance.  That would've made it a 10+.  Anyway, it's a fun, light movie with endearing characters.  You won't be disappointed!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Intro.

As March was supposed to be Musicals Month, I went in search of musicals tonight and stumbled across Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which I had always assumed was a comedy.  In fact it was cross-listed online as romantic comedy, classic comedy, and classic musical.  Watching the film, I thought back to a film class I once took where we talked about what defines a movie's genre - I mean really, what makes a musical a Musical?  Certainly the genre conjures memories of Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma!, Cabaret, West Side Story and a long list of similar titles.  But what about films like the melodramatic Young at Heart or even something more lighthearted like Robin and the 7 Hoods or Road to Morocco?  Is it the story line?  The number of songs?  What?  I think we finally formed a blurry definition that a musical earns its genre title when it contains three songs performed by characters in the film as a part of the story.  Of course there will always be gray areas, like the super traditional Western Rio Grande (imagine telling the Duke he was in a Musical!), but all in all, I think it's a pretty good rule, and as such Gentlemen Prefer Blondes would be more in the sophisticated, buddy-film type of classic musical.      

Overview

Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw (Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell) are American entertainers with their own successful show.  Their beauty and their talent gets them plenty of attention, most notably of which is Gus Esmond, a shy ordinary guy with a lot of family money.  He is engaged to Lorelei despite his father's wishes.  Instead of them sailing to Europe to marry, he sends Dorothy as a chaperon with the promise that he will meet them in Paris.  While Lorelei is more concerned with money as the basis of a secure marriage, Dorothy is more in line with the idea that love alone is all that a good marriage needs.  On that point they differ, but they are clearly best friends, making the most of their voyage.  Unfortunately, the guy Dorothy meets and falls for, Ernie Malone (played by Elliott Reid), is actually a private detective hired by Gus's father to trail the ever-flirtatious Lorelei.  When he catches her with an older man (who happens to own a diamond mine), he takes pictures.  Dorothy catches him though, and the girls then have to figure out a way to steal the photos back.  Once they do, in gratitude for their work, the mine owner (Charles Coburn) gives Lorelei his wife's diamond tiara.  By the time the girls land in France, they find that not only have their letters of credit and hotel lodgings been canceled by a jealous Gus, but the police are after them for a "stolen" tiara.  The results are hilarious and well choreographed in more than one sense!

Highlights

Most musicals are well remembered because of their unforgettable songs.  In this case, I only have 6 little words for you: "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."  In that number alone, Marilyn Monroe makes the entire picture, not to mention her legend.  However, Jane Russell is just as amazing and a great scene stealer earlier in the film with "Bye Bye Baby" and "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?"  And the girls are also great together with their signature song, "Two Little Girls from Little Rock" and "When Love Goes Wrong" (the latter of which is my favorite from the show).

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are phenomenal in this film, and would be even without the music.  I think they make a great team and give an interesting picture of two very confident, independent women who stick together no matter what.  But as free and fun-loving as they are, you have to remember that it's a 1950's romantic comedy, so there's only one way it can really end (I won't say more, I promise!).  Even with the obvious sexual stereotypes, it's nice to see women have the upper hand, and no one handles it better than these two actresses.  And you can't help but laugh at the line: "If we can't empty his pockets between the two of us, we don't deserve the name 'woman'."

Review

Whatever you want to call it - a comedy, a musical, or a buddy film - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is definitely worth watching.  The humor, the music, and the great relationship between two such dynamite actresses all make for a great time!

Boots and Saddles (1937)

Intro.

I know I've probably mentioned this before, but I love the television channel Encore Westerns.  I love it not for the lesser known movies or reruns of Gunsmoke, but because every Sunday at noon they have a salute to Gene Autry, and play one of his films.  I know it isn't a well known or even very popular station with people my age, but one of my simple pleasures is to curl up with a cup of coffee on Sunday mornings and watch another Gene Autry Western.  They have commercials for it to, and my favorite shows clips of Gene singing and throwing punches as the voice-over calls him the original American Idol.  It's easy to see why so many young boys and girls looked up to him.

Overview

Boots and Saddles is a pretty standard Gene vehicle, and like his other pre-WWII films, it's heavy on the singing, followed by equal parts comedy and action.  This time Gene's the foreman of a ranch whose owner has just died.  The owner's pre-teenaged son Edward is coming from England to collect his inheritance, but unbeknownst to Gene, the boy intends to sell the ranch.  Gene and Frog then face two problems - first is to get the prim and proper boy to fall in love with the West and the ranch.  Second is to find a way to make the ranch more profitable so that they can pay off the owner's debts.  Jim Neale (played by Bill Elliot) wants to buy the ranch to raise horses to sell to the Army.  Gene takes his idea and sets out to sell the ranch's horses to the Army instead.  A lot of good humor results from a series of misunderstandings when Gene mistakes the Colonel's daughter for his maid and Frog gets mistaken for a new recruit.  It all winds up with a race between Neale's horses and Gene's horses - Neale's riders wear black hats and Gene's wear white (naturally).

Highlights

Gene does sing a few great numbers in here, namely the song that lends itself to the title, "Take me Back to My Boots and Saddles."  Gene also serenades the colonel's daughter Bernice (played by Judith Allen) with "The One Rose (That's Left in My Heart)."  He is nicely backed up by the locals in both songs, unlike the comedic song "Why Did I Get Married?" that he sings to Bernice once he figures out who she really is.

The other point worth mentioning is the relationship between Gene and Bernice.  She's upset with him because he's just a cowboy, and her boyfriend happens to be Neale.  They start out on a bad foot because Gene and his boys block the road with all their horses, preventing she and her father to pass on their surrey (which makes for some funny Western road rage).  Well, when Gene shows up and mistakes her for the maid, she plays along.  She even tells him that the Colonel is deaf and likes it when people shout at him (which, of course, Gene does, causing the Colonel to think Gene is hard of hearing).  Later Gene goes to pick Bernice up for a date and she tells him she has to clean the room first.  He discovers a family photo of she and the Colonel and realizes what he had suspected is true.  So he gets even by finding all kinds of things needing to be cleaned, including how awful the floor looks and how she'd better scrub it.  It's a funny give and take that adds not only humor but a good dynamic to the film, even if it is a bit stereotypical. 

Review

Definitely one of Gene's better pre-WWII pictures, Boots and Saddles is very entertaining and wholesome, with some good, clean fun.  Yes, it's dated and pretty old-fashioned, but the film doesn't take itself seriously and neither should its viewers.  I recommend it as a good, solid singing cowboy film that doesn't disappoint its genre or Gene's fans. Oh, and Champion of course steals the show, making the film even better.

Boom Town (1940)

Intro.

I had no intention of watching Boom Town when it aired on television a few nights ago.  However, I had just turned off Doctor Zhivago and was casually channel surfing when I saw it about fifteen minutes into the film.  I almost changed the channel when I realized that this was the original plot line for the film North to Alaska (1960).  My jaw dropped, I laughed out loud and sat riveted as I watched the rest of the movie (which after the first half hour stopped being like North to Alaska).**

Overview

Big John McMasters (Clark Gable, handsome as ever) is an oil driller in Texas when he meets and becomes partners with Square John Sand (Spencer Tracy). Together they start their own drilling and hit oil.  Finally able to support a wife, Sand sends for his long-waiting girlfriend from back East, Betsy (Claudette Colbert).  McMasters meanwhile goes into town for some fun and winds up meeting Betsy.  While she figures out who he is, he doesn't know who she is, and a few drinks and crazy stunts later, they are married.  The next morning they have to tell Sand, who comes to tell McMasters that they've hit a bigger well and that they are millionaires.  Fortunes go from good to bad though when the men later have a falling out and decide to flip for the entire multi-million dollar operation.  McMasters loses, and packs up with Betsy and hits the road.  Each man has his fortunes rise and fall and we watch them handle it differently.  Meanwhile Betsy is strong, adventurous and most of all, happy when McMasters isn't a millionaire because that's when he needs her.  Finally McMasters gets back on top of the oil industry and winds up in a huge office in New York.  He and Sand meet up several times, but never do they bury the hatchet.  When they meet for the last time, Sand sees that Betsy is unhappy in New York, mainly because McMasters is spending so much time with his pretty employee Karen (Hedy Lamarr).  Sand decides to take action - first by proposing to Karen to get her away from McMasters, and then by joining a rival oil company and trying to put McMasters out of business.  What follows is a great turn of events including a trial, a big night of drunken fighting and of course a happy ending.

Highlights

There wasn't a single person in this film that was anything less than entertaining and talented.  It was great to see two actors of equal reputation against each other - it kept me (and I'm sure also audiences of 1940) from really choosing sides because one actor was more well known than the other.  And Gable and Tracy make a great team.  All in all, this film isn't about oil or business or the fortunes and failures of life, it's about friendship, and these two men act their parts beautifully.

At the heart of the film (both plot-wise and character-wise) is Claudette Colbert.  I always love watching her because she is so sure of herself.  Take this film for instance: imagine marrying a guy you've only known for a day - and you still haven't told him who you are!  Betsy is happiest when she is needed, but won't complain when she's put aside either because she worries about her son (although she does consider leaving McMasters before she's pregnant).  Her character is not only charming and warm, but gracious, forgiving and strong.  It takes quite a woman to cause such a long fight between two best friends, and it takes an even better woman to end it.  Not many actresses could pull the role off convincingly, but Claudette does.

Review
What I really loved about Boom Town was how the film played with the audience.  Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, another twist of plot threw the whole thing off course and we had to start over.  It was engaging, fun, humorous and a bit sad but with good pacing.  The writing was good, the acting superb and the whole picture was just plain enjoyable.  And Frank Morgan, just one year after playing the title role in the Wizard of Oz, is just as upbeat and fun to watch here.  I would definitely recommend watching Boom Town anytime you want a great old-fashioned comedy/drama/buddy movie (and unlike North to Alaska, the theme song won't get stuck in your head for days and days!).        


 **North to Alaska, I should mention, is a Western parody starring John Wayne in Clark Gable's role.  He and Stewart Granger (in Spencer Tracy's role) have a gold mine in Alaska instead of an oil rig in Texas, and when John Wayne goes to Seattle to get Stewart Granger's girlfriend, he finds that she's married.  In desperation, he hires a call girl to come as a "replacement" girlfriend, only to wind up falling for her himself.  It is a parody, so you get to see the Duke making fun of himself, which is hilarious.  It also has a great (although way too addictive) theme song.  So if you watch it, don't blame me if you find yourself humming it in the elevator at work a few days later.

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Intro.

You know how some films you aren't really interested in until you hear them referenced in another film?  That's how it was for me with Doctor Zhivago - I hadn't really heard a lot about it or had a desire to see it until I watched the modern romantic comedy Must Love Dogs (2005).  In that film, John Cusack's character is obsessed with Doctor Zhivago.  He says that he wants a love like that - a sweeping, epic love that is so powerful that "even after you're dead, it still hurts."  I couldn't resist a line like that, so when Doctor Zhivago aired on TCM recently, I took the opportunity to watch one of the great epics of Hollywood as well as #7 on the AFI's list of America's Greatest Love Stories.

Overview

While it's a bit difficult to summarize a movie that runs for three and a half hours, I'll try my best.  Basically the film focuses on the lives of Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie).  From the beginning it seems that these two people were destined to meet - orphaned Yuri goes to live with his parents' friends and their daughter Tonya.  He grows up, becomes a famous young poet and then a doctor.  Lara grows up in a dressmaker's shop with her mother, and winds up falling prey to her mother's lecherous boyfriend Komarovsky, who rapes her.  They first cross paths when Lara's mother attempts suicide and Zhivago comes to her aide.  Then after she is raped, Lara comes to a big high-class society party and shoots Komarovsky just as Yuri and Tonya announce their engagement.  Well, Yuri and Tonya marry, and Lara marries her boyfriend, the idealist Pasha.  When WWI breaks out, Pasha enlists, and when he goes missing, Lara volunteers as a nurse to look for him.  She winds up serving in a country hospital with Zhivago, and they find a growing fondness for each other.  They call it off for the sake of their families, but it's clear neither can stop thinking about the other.  Yuri goes home to the middle of a revolution, and his well-off family is being targeted by the Bolsheviks.  They are forced to move to their country estate in order to avoid further persecution.   As it turns out, Lara lives in the town nearby their new cottage.  Zhivago frequents the town often, first to spend time writing at the library and then to just meet up with Lara.  What was a mutual fondness has blown up into a full love affair and we can see that while Tonya is Yuri's closest and oldest friend, Lara is his true love.  It's sad and painful to watch the hardships faced by all of the characters, and only gets worse when on his way back home from breaking it off with Lara (Tonya is pregnant), Yuri is shanghaied and forced into service with the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.  Kept away for more than a year, Yuri is desperate to see his family.  He finally makes it back to town, only to find his family has fled to Paris.  He finds comfort in the arms of Lara, who seems to be the only person left in the area.  They finally have their time together, but it isn't meant to last - Lara's husband Pasha has been killed for his part in the war, and the troops are coming for Lara and her little girl.  Komarovsky offers them a way out, and Lara and her daughter go.  Zhivago, full of hatred for Komarovsky, ducks out at the last minute and reunites with his family in Moscow, but spends even his last breath trying to find Lara again.

Highlights

Framing:  The film's story is actually a long flashback told by Alec Guinness (who is awesome!!), who is Yuri's estranged brother, Yevgraf.  The film starts with him questioning a young girl about her background and we learn that he is looking for his niece, the child of Yuri and Lara.  She says she isn't the girl, but he seems positive and begins to tell her all about Yuri and Lara.  The film beautifully closes with her leaving the room and walking off, slinging a balalaika over her shoulder.  We know from the story that Yuri's mother played the balalaika like a master, and her instrument was Yuri's most prized possession.  It's a simple yet beautiful way to tie the story together and confirm for most viewers that she is indeed Lara and Yuri's child.

Cinematography: Doctor Zhivago is absolutely gorgeous.  The scenes are so well presented and carefully detailed.  I loved all the shots of Zhivago looking through windows at other worlds (oh so much symbolism, I'll have to leave it for another time!).  There are also some really well-coordinated shots that either allude to deeper meanings or foreshadow future events (like the blood on the snow from the massacre).  I read on IMDb about how most of the film was shot in Spain, where a ten-acre replica of Moscow was built in the countryside.  Perhaps the most breathtaking scene is when all that snow finally melts and we see Zhivago's cottage surrounded by thousands of daffodils (actually 4,000, all of which had to be shipped in from the Netherlands).  Now that's epic film-making!  No wonder it won an Oscar for best cinematography.

Love Story: So all of this leads to one question - is it truly one of the greatest love stories of all time?  I would say yes and no.  I have to say I was a bit troubled by the fact that both Zhivago and Lara were married.  And not just married, but Zhivago seemed happily married.  I do have to give him credit though - he broke it off with Lara when Tonya was pregnant with their second child.  But as their story unfolded, I could better empathize with them and in the end secretly hoped they would end up together.  It's a chemistry you don't often see, even if that whole "getting the girl out of harm's way but not being able to go with her" sounds a bit like another great love story I've written about....  Of course, that heart-wrenching ending where Zhivago thinks he sees Lara for the last time is so poignant that you can't help but feel the pain of his loss.  If you don't empathize with the characters for the whole film, you can at least admire their great courage in the face of such a devastating time.

Review & Recommendation

Doctor Zhivago is such a beautiful story, I'd definitely recommend this to everyone, although some of the scenes and topics are not appropriate for young ones.  I'd also say you may want to brush up on your Russian history before watching to avoid too much confusion (I found myself trying very hard to remember my high school history class!).  However, deep down, the film is really a simple love story - two people who love each other in spite of all the hatred and chaos in the world around them.  You know from the beginning they can never live happily ever after, but somehow that loss only makes it that much more powerful.  It's a definite must see for classic film fans and hopeless romantics alike.  And finally I can't resist saying it: "We'll always have Varykino."    

Check out all of the cool stuff about Doctor Zhivago on IMDb's FAQ page.  And when you watch, keep an eye out for young Yuri Zhivago - he's played by Omar Sharif's real life (and completely adorable!) son.      

Public Cowboy #1 (1937)

Intro.

Public Cowboy #1 is probably Gene Autry's most referenced film.   I did a research paper on early Westerns a few years ago, and I remember reading countless articles all of which mentioned this picture.  So it was a real treat to watch it last week.  All the hype is due - not only is this an entertaining vehicle, but it clearly demonstrates (better than most of Gene's pictures) the role Gene holds as a hero of the working class during the Depression.  He represents the farmers and ranchers who are hit the worst and his fight soon becomes the fight of all men and women of the time.

Overview

Gene plays a deputy sheriff out in cattle country, where the older sheriff has raised him like a son.  The film opens with the two of them good-naturedly helping their ranching neighbors to round up some strays.   The ranchers have been complaining because of some mysterious rustling - it seems that their cattle are disappearing without a trace.  We as the audience learn that the cattle are being stolen by the Chicago and Western packing company headed by a guy named Shannon.  He's got airplanes passing over head and radioing the packing truckers when and where there is an unguarded herd.  The truckers drive in, kill the cattle and ship them off in minutes, leaving the ranchers on horseback completely baffled.  The sheriff is outwitted as well, so the town votes him out of office and brings in a "modern" police force that promises to use new scientific methods to capture the crooks.  However, the rustlers didn't count on Gene's determination to solve the case the old-fashioned way and give the Sheriff back his pride.  He manages to do just that with the help of Frog's home-made shortwave radio, a funny undercover job and a pretty female newspaper editor named Ann (played by Helen Morgan).  The final show-down is a triumph not only for the ranchers, but for audiences of any generation feeling the pressures of change and technology.

Highlights

Gene, as in most of his pre-WWII films, has a lot of singing in this film. All of the songs are worth mentioning, but especially good were "Old Buckaroo" and the haunting "Wanderers of the Wasteland," the latter of which opens the film on somewhat of a somber note.  My favorite song though is "The West Ain't What it Used to Be," which Gene sings to Ann once they've met and later adds to in an attempt to serenade her.  I've typed up the lyrics, and here's a sample that backs up the whole sentiment of the film - that the West, both in the physical sense and in the mental image of America's promise, has changed.  Whether or not we can call this progress positive is another subject that isn't mentioned.

"There's a New Deal in the West today,
Where the antelope used to play,
I met a deer this very day,
Oh, the West ain't what it used to be."

"There ain't much left of the West no more,
The cowboys all turned troubadour,
A gal I know is an editor,
Oh, the West ain't what it used to be."
-music and lyrics by Fleming Allen

One of the topics I've written about before (and have read a good deal about) is the portrayal of women in Westerns.  Usually they are marked as the innocent, fragile beacon of civilization that must be protected.  However, with the development of a less rough-and-tough hero (I mean, come on, he sings after all) there's a shift towards making women much stronger, more independent characters.  Ann is the epitome of that - she not only writes for the newspaper, she runs the whole office.  She works harder and is more stubborn than her male counterparts.  She represents the best aspects of progress, and while Gene doesn't fit in with her world (as evidenced by him constantly knocking things over in the newspaper office), he does respect her.  When he teases her about her strong work ethic, he says "I guess I'll have to learn how to cook then."  All I want to say is "yes, Gene.  Yes you will."

While Ann may represent the good side of progress, the rustlers and Shannon represent the bad side.  All of the fears of the time are played out here - the fear of losing land and livelihoods and the fear that technology will put the working man out of business.  The film clearly references the very popular crime drama genre of the day - calling the packing company "Chicago & Western" alludes to it being run by gangsters (as well as Shannon wearing dark tailored business suits).  Even the title is a play on the James Cagney hit, The Public Enemy (1931).  Cowboys can not only beat bank robbers and horse-thieves, but they can also take down modern criminals, something the new police-scientists can't accomplish.  It's clear from the beginning that this is a fight Gene has to win - he has to preserve that last part of American fortitude and the can-do spirit, even in the most difficult of times.  His triumph is our triumph.

Review

I love Westerns, as you probably have guessed by now.  And of all the Gene Autry films I've seen, I think that Public Cowboy #1 is definitely one of, if not the absolute, best.  It isn't just about how the story works or how the cinematography looks - this is a film that captures the feeling of a certain time and place and endures because that feeling is universal.  So I definitely recommend this film, especially if you are a fan of how film reflects history or how the Western evolved.

As I read this all back over, I realize how serious this post sounds.  So let me leave you with a more lighthearted thought: I've heard a lot about the funny debate in the past few years about who would win in a fight - ninjas or pirates.  Well, let me end by saying my money's on the cowboys.

If you're interested in reading more, there's a great article by Lynette Tan called "The New Deal Cowboy: Gene Autry and the Anti-Modern Resolution."  If you think all B-Westerns are lousy oaters, then this article may change your mind!      

West Side Story (1961)

Intro.

Each of us has that "list" of films we want to see, but for one reason or another haven't gotten around to seeing.  Whenever someone recommends a movie to us, we say we'll put it on our list.  West Side Story was one of those movies on my list.  I had always been meaning to see it, so when it was featured on TCM a few days ago as part of their 31 days of Oscar marathon, I finally got my chance.  I already knew it was based on Romeo & Juliet, but it surprised me by being unpredictable.

Overview

For the most part, West Side Story does mirror Romeo & Juliet.  The feuding families have been replaced with rival teenage gangs - the American born Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.  Of course there's a dance at the school gymnasium, where Maria, the sister of the Sharks leader Bernardo, meets Tony, one of the founding members of the Jets.  Tony has since given up the gang life in order to work and make a life for himself.  His best friend Riff now runs the Jets, and has asked him to help with a war council against the Sharks.  Bernardo, furious that Maria danced with Tony, accepts Riff's challenge to a rumble.  The agreement is that one man from each side will fight with only his fists - no weapons.  Meanwhile, Tony and Maria get together, but she pleads with him to stop the fight.  Tony arrives as the rumble begins, and his attempts to stop it only further anger Bernardo.  Needless to say, the fight gets way out of control and ends with both Riff and Bernardo dead.  Bernardo's friend Chino goes after Tony for revenge and after a few fateful twists, the film closes with both gangs realizing just what their hatred has done.

Highlights
The music and choreography are definitely the shining features of this film.  It feels almost like an opera, with its sweeping dance sequences and limited amount of dialogue.  The beginning was a bit difficult for me to get interested in, as it felt a little on the long side.  Also, it took some time for me to really appreciate and accept a bunch of teenage gangsters trying to assert their territory by dancing down the street.  But as soon as we meet Maria and Tony, the film changes both in depth and color.  Everything in the Puerto Rican homes is bright, rich and multi-colored, which makes it the perfect setting for Maria and Tony to reunite and declare their love.  In addition to the wonderful performances of Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno does an outstanding job as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita.  Especially good is the number done by the Sharks and their women called "America", which focuses on the hardships faced by immigrants.

Review
I was surprised that Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer both had their singing dubbed, and I have to confess it took some of the magic away.  The film does feel a bit dated, and as I mentioned before the beginning is a little long.  Still, I can see why the film earned its 10 Oscars, as it beautifully touches such difficult topics as teenage angst and rebellion, fated love, and prejudice.  It is one of the most simple story lines that has produced such a complex and dynamic musical.  If West Side Story is still on your list, move it up to the top and watch it soon.