Portions of Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story (20th Century, 12.9) had me in tears. Dude tears, of course — the eyes well up but you don’t go all the way and start sniffling with Kleenex. I’ve been listening to that original 1957 Broadway stage show album all my life, and earlier tonight it all came back and started flooding through me. I tried to tweet my reactions as best I could on the Metro North train back to Wilton. The final 25 or so minutes don’t work as well as they should, but I forgave the film anyway.

Posted on 9.23.01: No matter what Steven Spielberg winds up doing with West Side Story (and I’ve already stated my belief that he’ll probably improve upon Robert Wise’s 1961 multi-Oscar-winner), he can’t go wrong if he simply includes Leonard Bernstein‘s “Scherzo (Vivace Leggiero)” passage. If he doesn’t include it, that’ll be a negative.

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