comment #1

Rosebudsthesled says ...

Richard Beymer=Yes. Very, very bad.
Use of the term "Daddy-O"=In the original libretto and made up by Arthur Laurents. I don't think that's to blame.

comment #2

BurmaShave says ...

I do look forward to the revival that's coming up. Also I've always found this gorgeous and strange:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6BJLjTDtXo

comment #3

scooterzz says ...

i would be very interested in hearing where the idea that 'even back in the day people were shocked - appalled - at the use of the term "daddy-o" comes from....
the play was written in 1955 (produced in '57) when the term was in constant pop culture play (steve allen, mort sahl etc.).... and, even in '61 the term was hardly an anachronism....
in none of the books about laurents, sondheim and bernstein that i have handy is there any mention of this reaction....please provide a link, i'd really like to read where this came from...thanks...

comment #4

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Scooterz: You've made your own point. If Steve Allen, a very middle-class comedian who respected and supported hipper types like Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce but was himself a fairly conservative type, was making fun of beatnik terms like "way out" and "daddy-o" on TV in the mid to late '50s, how could viewers of West Side Story have reacted with anything other than snickers to a movie using "daddy-o" with a more or less straight face?

comment #5

scooterzz says ...

in other words, there is nothing to substantiate your statement that people were 'shocked and appalled'?...you just made it up?...i'm just looking for a reference.....

comment #6

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Scooterz: I've been a journalist since the early '80s. I've known a lot of older people in the trade who've been around. I'm not going to go to the Academy library, make copies of the hipper reviews and column reactions to West Side Story, scan them and then send them to you to prove my point, especially since the soundness of it is logical and more than apparent for the reason I explained above.

comment #7

Mark B says ...

"The rest of it is mixed to painful." I agree that Beymer and Wood are annoying. However, there are at least a few genuinely great moments later in the film, particularly "America". Basically, the movie version is best when it shines the light on the supporting characters such as Moreno and Chakiris.

comment #8

knightrider76 says ...

It's not as bad as GREASE

comment #9

Edward says ...

I'm agree with Jeff about the film version of West Side Story. Great score and dancing and Rita Moreno is fabulous, but that's about it.

comment #10

scooterzz says ...

wells...just for the record, i saw the film when it opened and was old enough to appreciate the reactions it recieved...i've also been covering entertainment since the early-80's and know when someone is talking out of their hat (as you were with that ridiculous statement).....my purpose wasn't to nick your very thin skin but to actually find the source for what you claimed to be fact.... now, i see that it's not.....
no big deal.......

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

Everyone laughs at a certain line in that "I feel pretty" song nowadays. But I'm gonna have to agree with knight on the film being better than Grease.

comment #12

moviemaniac2002 says ...

I grew up with this film, so I won't tolerate having
it mocked or dismissed. It was the "Grease" and
"High School Musical" of us theater-lovin', movie-
goin' baby boomers...and like today's "High School Musical" audiences, we watched it repeatedly.
And keep in mind that 'West Side Story' accomplished something that studios can now do
only by shear accident...it was a true four-quadrant movie, pulling in every demographic group you could possibly measure. (And unlike any of today's movie musicals...you could actually see the choreography...)

comment #13

clancy says ...

Burmashave- Tom Waits sounds like Cookie Monster singing "Somewhere"

comment #14

Chris Willman says ...

There are brilliant things throughout this movie. I guess you either take the casting for what it is and go with it or don't and have it ruined for you. It's... problematic. But I just have a hard time imagining not loving West Side Story, warts and all.