West Side Story (1961)

In 1950s New York, the Lincoln Square neighbourhood is the home of street gang The Jets.  The Jets have seen off any number of challengers in the past, but there's a new threat now: The Sharks, a gang of recent Puerto Rican immigrants to the city.  The Sharks are worrisome enough that Riff, leader of The Jets, intends to organise a formal 'war council' with them.  Before that happens, though, he wants to try and recruit old friend Tony back into the gang.

Tony, meanwhile, is looking to move on from the scuffles and loitering that seem to be the two major components of life in The Jets.  He's got himself a job, and has his eyes firmly set on the future.  He rejects Riff's recruitment speech, but accepts an invitation to attend a dance that night, where Riff plans to invite Bernardo, leader of The Sharks, to the war council.

When Tony arrives at the dance, his firm focus on the future is instantly forgotten.  He spies the lovely Maria across the dance floor, and from that moment on he only has eyes for her.

If only Maria wasn't the sister of a certain Bernardo ...

So in case you weren't aware, or it somehow wasn't obvious from the above, West Side Story is adapted from Romero & Juliet.  You've got your two warring sides, and your star-crossed lovers, but instead of swords and Shakespearean English, you've got flick knives and musical numbers.  Because make no mistake, this is a musical.  There are some songs here you will probably recognise, even if you didn't know their source before this: "America" and "Somewhere" being the two most obvious.

So is it any good?  Well, it won ten Oscars (including Best Picture) the year it came out, so clearly plenty of people thought so, but I can't say that I'm one of them.  The characters are thin and Tony's rather too insipid a leading man for my tastes.  And while there are some good song and dance numbers here, there are plenty more that didn't do a great deal for me.  Finally, at nearly 2 and a half hours long, it feels rather indulgent in its run time and pacing.

I'd like to see a new version, more tonally in keeping with The Warriors or The Wanderers.  That would be interesting.  This, not so much.