34th Academy Awards · 1962
West Side Story
Directed by Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise
“The screen achieves one of the great entertainments in the history of motion pictures.”
The story
In Manhattan’s Upper West Side, rival gangs of Polish-Americans and newly arrived Puerto Ricans clash for control of the neighborhood, even as two young members from opposite sides fall dangerously in love.
What critics & audiences say
Tomatometer92%Fresh#49 of 98 winnersFamous lines
You all killed him, and my brother, and Riff! Not with bullets and guns, but with HATE! Well, I can kill now too, because now I have hate!
Anita: …She is in America now.
Bernardo: Puerto Rico is in America now.
Anita: Sometimes I don't know which is thicker. Your skull or your accent.
Tony: I didn't believe hard enough.
Maria: Loving is enough.
Tony: Not here. They won't let us be.
Schrank: …You want to kill each other? Kill each other, but you ain't gonna do it on my beat. Are there any questions?
Bernardo: Yes, sir. Would you mind translating that into Spanish?
How many can I kill, Chino? How many -- and still have one bullet left for me?
Te adoro, Anton.
Bernardo: …Someday, when you're an old married woman with five children, then you can tell me what to do. Right now, it's the other way around. Now go to bed.
Anita: He's the old married woman.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Fun facts
- Natalie Wood filmed her songs lip-synching to her own vocals and was led to believe they would be used, but the producers had already decided on Marni Nixon's voice; Wood is heard singing only in the final 'Somewhere' reprise.Wikipedia · Score and soundtrack
- Elvis Presley was approached to play Tony, but his manager Colonel Tom Parker turned it down; the part went to Richard Beymer despite his having no history of singing or dancing.Wikipedia · Casting
- Producers found their Maria while watching a clip of Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass: they decided his co-star Natalie Wood was perfect for Maria, but Beatty wasn't right for Tony.Wikipedia · Casting
- After 45 days of shooting, the film was 24 days behind schedule, so Robert Wise dismissed co-director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, who still received co-directing credit.Wikipedia · Production
- When ghost singer Marni Nixon was told all record royalties had been allocated, Leonard Bernstein gave her 0.25% of his own, setting a precedent for all future ghost singers.Wikipedia · Score and soundtrack
- To avoid censorship, the Jets' line 'womb to tomb, sperm to worm' was changed to 'womb to tomb, birth to earth.'Wikipedia · Score and soundtrack
- West Side Story won 10 Oscars, the most for any musical, and was the first film to share the Best Director award between two people.Wikipedia · Accolades
- The film's orchestra was triple the size of Broadway's, including five pianos and five xylophones, but Leonard Bernstein found the result 'overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety.'Wikipedia · Score and soundtrack
- The opening was shot on real Manhattan streets on West 68th Street, an area later razed for urban renewal and now home to Lincoln Center, where the film's 50th-anniversary live score premiered.Wikipedia · Production
- West Side Story influenced Michael Jackson's 'Beat It' and 'Bad' videos; 'Beat It' casts Jackson as a peacemaker between rival gangs in homage to his favorite film.Wikipedia · Legacy