1. The
West Side Story
Our Story: “Romeo and Juliet” become “Tony and Maria”. “Montagues” and “Capulets” become “Jets” and “Sharks”. The Jets are a gang of white kids and The Sharks are a gang of Puerto Rican kids. They continually fight over “turf”. Immigration and race are the biggest factors. “Riff” is the leader of The Jets. Tony has left but is still friends with “Riff” and the rest of the gang. “Bernardo” is the leader of “The Sharks”. Maria is Bernardo’s sister. “Chico” is the guy her family wants her to marry. She likes him but doesn’t love him.
Tony and Maria meet at a dance and immediately fall in love. Bernardo sees this and makes Maria go home from the dance early. Tony leaves too and finds out where Maria lives. They begin secretly seeing each other.
Maria finds out about a “rumble” between the two gangs and asks Tony to stop it. He agrees. Things get out of hand and Riff is killed by Bernardo and Tony accidentally kills him. Tony hides at Maria’s apt. They make plans to get away together. But they soon fall apart when Tony is told falsely that Maria has been shot by Chico and then wants him to kill him too. He sees that Maria is alive. They run to each other and Chico shoots him in the back. He dies. Spoiler? Not really. The final scene explains it.

2. The Cast Natalie Wood as “Maria” Richard Beymer as “Tony”
Russ Tamblyn as “Riff”
Rita Moreno as “Anita”
George Chakris as “Bernardo”

3. Credits Writers: Arthur Laurents (and Shakespeare)
Directors: Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
Music: Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim
Choreographer: Jerome Robbins

4. My Review: I liked it a lot. It was a little long at 2 ½
Reviews
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%. 49 critics. 45 fresh, 4 rotten.
ImDb: 7.7/10
My Review: I liked it a lot. It was a little long at 2 ½
hrs. But I’d still give it a score of 8 ½ out of 10

5. Top Films and Music of 1961 Top 5 Songs Top 5 Films
1. “West Side Story” *
2. “The Guns of Navaronne”
3. “The Hustler”
4. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
5. “The Parent Trap”
1. “I Fall to Pieces” by Patsy Cline
2. “Tossin’ and Turnin’” by Bobby Lewis
3. “Michael” by Highwaymen
4. “Cryin” by Roy Orbison
5. “Runaway” by Del Shannon
* “West Side Story” won 10 Oscars, including Best Picture