The movie adapts Shakespeare’s famous love tragedy Romeo and Juliet into a modern song-and-dance movie about the love tragedy between young men and women from two opposing gangs on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, exploring social issues such as race, prejudice and violence.
The movie’s sets are gorgeous and the scene design retains the essence of the original musical while adding visual elements unique to the movie, making the whole movie both infectious as a stage play and enjoyable as a movie, and presenting the story through the language of the camera in the best possible way.
The film was not only a box office success, but also won 10 Academy Awards in 1962, including Best Picture.
1961 / USA / Drama Romance Dance Song and Dance Crime / Jerome Robbins Robert Wise / Natalie Wood Richard Bemel
Plot Synopsis:
Two feuding gangs of hoodlums in Manhattan’s West Side slums, the Rocket Gang, led by the white Reeves, and the Sharks, led by the Puerto Rican Bernardo, are at war with each other.
The two gangs hated each other and often got into fights.
At a West End dance, the two gangs dance with each other, and Tony (Richard Beymer), a friend of River’s, falls in love at first sight with Maria (Natalie Wood), Bernardo’s sister.
When Bernardo finds out about the two’s love affair, he forces his men to take his sister away.
At night, Tony stands at Maria’s window and calls out to her, and the two fall firmly in love.
The next day, Maria hears that the Sharks are going to fight the Rockets and asks Tony to stop them.
Tony rushes to the scene and tries to stop the fight, but in the chaos, his best friend Reeve is killed, and he accidentally kills Bernardo in self-defense.
This leaves Maria in a state of conflict and anguish, she endures the scolding and insults of her family but cannot let go of Tony in her heart.
Bernardo’s best friend armed with a gun looking for Tony to settle the score, learned the news Maria rushed to report the news, but the tragedy rushed before her happened ………
