West Side Story (1961) - The Making Of

There is not one dull part in this movie. Every scene was done with so much style & grace & it take me back to my childhood growing up in Manhattan ghettos & loved living it.

My favorite movie ever! Thank you!

Grew up watching this all the time since Tucker Smith was my uncle. He was the best and miss him very much.

I love Russ Tamblyn’s dancing.

Everyone loves the original West side story

I saw them first movie in 1961,I was 11yrs old. Love the dancing and singing and intensity. It really communicated teenage angst and needing to belong. It shows the animalistic feelings that people give into when they don't have good examples of strong direction from their parents. The best version is the first movie, by far.

The greatness of West Side Story is that every component of the show is so extraordinary and moreover so well integrated. Just one example: the music is remarkable but so are the orchestrations, which are a story unto themselves. Glad to see Sid Ramin, Bernstein's childhood friend and one of the two orchestrators of the original stage production and the film, being interviewed.

I was 4 turning 5 years old. 1972. I watched the movie on our black and white TV. My Mom had purchased the album. It folded open like a book of songs and pictures of what I was watching. I remember matching each scene with the still photos as I watched. Looking back on that time, I remember music and movement. That was huge for me. The music matched the physicality. I cannot explain why this movie affected me so deeply and forever. So many individual moments with music and things I didn’t understand yet.

Fabulous! Thanks for posting. I love both the 1961 and 2021 WSS versions. All artists interpret in their own way.

I grew up watching WSS every year it came into my TV. I cried very hard with the ending music. I remember having a crush on Bernardo and Tony. I was probably around 9 or 10 having to see it for the first time.. I was born in Manhattan on April 2nd 1960. Can't believe that much time has gone by. WSS and the Wizard of Oz were my top notch favorites until 1973 when JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR came out and I had a new crush on Ted. Neeley . I was hooked on the music ever since. In 1995 and :96 The musical came to Syracuse where I got to meet Ted Neeley twice and he remembered me!!

I grew up with the movie as much as The Wizard of OZ!

I was 11 when the original West Side Story was released in theaters but didn't get to see it until two years later. I had a classmate who saw it and after he told me about it, all I could think of was seeing that movie. However, the Catholic Legion of Decency categorized it as "Morally Objectional" and my mother wouldn't let me see it. When I became old enough to go to the movies by myself, I went to the theater where it had been playing for two years straight, I bought a ticket for .25 cents, plopped down into a seat and finally saw the movie which would occupy my consciousness for years. Oddly (maybe not?), as an Anglo, I thought Bernardo was the coolest character in the movie! Living in Brooklyn, I could identify with the characters, the fighting and the romance between Maria and Tony. It was the music though, which really impressed me, I still feel the same emotion listening to it now, as I did as a pre-teen kid, its my favorite musical score. I don't care much for musicals but West Side Story I love and listen to frequently.

RIP Stephen Sondheim

Brilliant. For all time. 💔

Can’t and won’t watch the remake! There is only one Mona Lisa!

Es la mejor película del Mundo.

Thank you for this. Tucker finally gets some of his due here and it's appreciated.

We were given the stage version of WSS in the 50s by a very hip music teacher, Mr Warnock BW Smith in a secondary modern school in the industrial north of England. I've been living with the music and the story since I was 13 or 14 and still love it. I eventually got to make a waxwork of Leonard Bernstien for Madame Tussauds. A highlight of my waxworking career.

118 times I’ve seen it. My favorite movie of all time.

Absolutely wonderful retrospective / tribute / study of its contribution to societies all over the world!